Daniel Herriges



by Strong Towns

Daniel Herriges serves as Content Manager for Strong Towns, and has been a regular contributor since 2015. He is also a founding member of the organization. Daniel has a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Minnesota. His obsession with maps began before he could read. His budding environmentalism can be traced back to age 4, when he yelled at his parents for stepping on weeds growing in sidewalk cracks. His love of great urban design and human-scaled, livable places has also been lifelong. Daniel has a B.A. from Stanford University in Human Biology with a concentration in Conservation and Sustainable Development. After college, he worked as an environmental activist for several years, in support of indigenous people's rights and conservation in the Amazon rainforest. He can often be found hiking or cycling. Daniel is from St. Paul, Minnesota.

 

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RECENT ARTICLES BY Daniel:
Forget Gas and Insurance. How Much Does Your Daily Commute Really Cost You?
Forget Gas and Insurance. How Much Does Your Daily Commute Really Cost You?

Your daily commute sucks. Is it also making you go broke?

The California High-Speed Train that Wasn’t: The Opportunity Cost of Megaprojects
The California High-Speed Train that Wasn’t: The Opportunity Cost of Megaprojects

California’s high-speed rail project appears indefinitely on hold. What is the opportunity cost of all the things the state hasn’t done during the decade-plus its leaders have spent fixated on this?

What's Missing From the Green New Deal
What's Missing From the Green New Deal

The proposed Green New Deal is ambitious and urgent—but completely omits any mention of local land use. Can sweeping federal policy mix with the kind of decentralized, bottom-up change we need?

The Hidden Value of a Poor Neighborhood
The Hidden Value of a Poor Neighborhood

All over North America, poor neighborhoods often punch above their weight when it comes to contributing real value and resilience to their cities—in both financial productivity and other, less quantifiable strengths.

Car-pocalypse Not Now: Why Predicted Gridlock in Seattle Was (Again) a No-Show
Car-pocalypse Not Now: Why Predicted Gridlock in Seattle Was (Again) a No-Show

Why are we still surprised when a highway closes and fears of traffic pandemonium don’t come to pass?

The Neighborhood Traffic Trade-Off
The Neighborhood Traffic Trade-Off

We’ve gotten very good at keeping traffic off of neighborhood streets. But at what cost to our cities?

What's the Real Size of Your City?
What's the Real Size of Your City?

Many of the most pressing problems we face can only be addressed if we know when to think about them locally, and when to think about them regionally.

Legalizing More Homes: It Matters How You Do It
Legalizing More Homes: It Matters How You Do It

We need to solve our housing affordability problems, but not by ignoring context and embracing “orderly but dumb” means.

Bringing You Practical Answers Through the Strong Towns Knowledge Base
Bringing You Practical Answers Through the Strong Towns Knowledge Base

The Strong Towns Knowledge Base is where we bring you answers and practical advice tailored to questions you submit, by crowd-sourcing the collective wisdom of our movement. Every Friday morning, we’ll be spotlighting something new from it.

Growth and the Fallacy of Control
Growth and the Fallacy of Control

The pitfalls of rapid growth are real. But trying to micromanage how, where, and even if our cities are allowed to grow is not the answer.

Three Cheers for Minneapolis (The 3 is for Triplex)
Three Cheers for Minneapolis (The 3 is for Triplex)

Minneapolis just became the first major U.S. city to embrace a key Strong Towns principle: every neighborhood should be allowed to evolve to the next increment of development.

Best of 2018: Why Are Developers Only Building Luxury Housing?
Best of 2018: Why Are Developers Only Building Luxury Housing?

"Developers in my city are only building luxury housing. They're not building anything that ordinary people can afford." If you’ve said this lately, or heard someone else say it, here are five possible reasons why.

Best of 2018: Gentrification and Cataclysmic Money
Best of 2018: Gentrification and Cataclysmic Money

Gentrification and concentrated poverty are two sides of the same coin. We’ve engineered our cities so that neighborhoods get either too much investment or too little: the trickle or the fire hose.

If We Win, You Won't Hear About It
If We Win, You Won't Hear About It

If Strong Towns is successful—really successful—you won't hear about it, because the vast majority of the change we produce won't be attributed to us at all. It will be embedded in the broader culture.

A Guide to Busting Parking Myths in Your Town
A Guide to Busting Parking Myths in Your Town

“There’s no parking around there!” How to hit the streets and collect the data yourself, and figure out whether your neighborhood actually has a parking shortage—or, more likely, an excess.

How Is Strong Towns Different?
How Is Strong Towns Different?

There are a lot of worthy movements and organizations that want your time, energy, and money. Here are some things that set Strong Towns apart.

The Comcast of Transportation?
The Comcast of Transportation?

Two recent articles illuminate a troubling trend toward locking ride-share, bike-share and scooter users onto proprietary platforms, making it harder to plan trips that could really free us from car-dependence.

We Regulate the Wrong Things
We Regulate the Wrong Things

Most cities’ zoning and development regulations obsess over things that are easy to measure, like building height and density, at the expense of the things that actually determine whether we’re building quality places.

When it Comes to Housing, Do Millennials Have a Different American Dream?
When it Comes to Housing, Do Millennials Have a Different American Dream?

Forget Barbie. What does the Millennial Dream House look like?

The Trade-Offs That Shape Our Cities
The Trade-Offs That Shape Our Cities

Local advocates who are at each others’ throats often have legitimate, but conflicting, aims. Talking about the trade-offs involved isn’t going to make us all start agreeing with each other. But it might make our disagreements more productive.

Value Per Acre Analysis: A How-To For Beginners
Value Per Acre Analysis: A How-To For Beginners

Want to do the kind of value-per-acre analysis that you’ve seen on Strong Towns before, but don’t think of yourself as a data wizard? Here’s a step by step guide for beginners.

The Difference Between Mobility and Accessibility
The Difference Between Mobility and Accessibility

When we obsess over the speed of travel—whether in our cars or on public transit—we’re missing the point of transportation. It’s not about how far you can get in a given time: it’s what you can get to.

6 Strong Towns Observations From a Map of Every Building in America
6 Strong Towns Observations From a Map of Every Building in America

The New York Times has released an interactive map of (nearly) every building in America. What can we learn from it about America’s suburban experiment, through the marks it has left on the landscape?

The Good and Bad of a Proposed Minimum-Density Housing Bill in Washington State
The Good and Bad of a Proposed Minimum-Density Housing Bill in Washington State

A proposed bill in Washington State would require cities to allow a minimum housing density near transit stations. It is a well-intentioned response to a very real problem, but its one-size-fits-all nature risks unintended consequences.

64.6 Brings a Community Together in Revitalized Downtown Fort Smith
64.6 Brings a Community Together in Revitalized Downtown Fort Smith

A nonprofit placemaking organization is bringing events, parks, public art and more to downtown Fort Smith, Arkansas, one playful experiment at a time.

Helping Low-Income Homeowners Become Landlords in Denver
Helping Low-Income Homeowners Become Landlords in Denver

A pilot project in Denver aims to help low-income homeowners add accessory dwelling units to their property. If it succeeds, it will help people remain in their communities, build wealth, and deliver affordable homes to a new generation of neighbors.

A Texas-Sized Pavement Problem
A Texas-Sized Pavement Problem

Collin County, Texas officials claim they need $12.6 billion for new roads in the next 30 years, and none of it for maintenance of what they’ve already built. That way lies madness.

Can You Build a Resilient Place from the Ground Up?
Can You Build a Resilient Place from the Ground Up?

Can a master-planned community be consistent with Strong Towns principles of iterative, bottom-up placemaking? We take a tour of Serenbe, Georgia, an experiment in New Urbanism and eco-conscious living on the far outskirts of Atlanta.

Right-Sizing Akron's Kenmore Boulevard
Right-Sizing Akron's Kenmore Boulevard

Akron, Ohio is tackling its stroad problem, one oversized boulevard at a time. “Right-sizing” this neighborhood main street will make it safer and more inviting and hospitable for small businesses.

Austin's Bad Party: The Failure of CodeNEXT
Austin's Bad Party: The Failure of CodeNEXT

Austin’s CodeNEXT process, a dramatic overhaul of the city’s zoning code, tried to placate multiple constituencies with a “grand bargain.” The result was a draft code that satisified almost no one and failed to solve the city’s housing and growth challenges.