Edward Erfurt
Edward Erfurt is the Chief Technical Advisor at Strong Towns. He is a trained architect and passionate urban designer with over 20 years of public- and private-sector experience focused on the management, design, and successful implementation of development and placemaking projects that enrich the tapestry of place. He believes in community-focused processes that are founded on diverse viewpoints, a concern for equity, and guided through time-tested, traditional town-planning principles and development patterns that result in sustainable growth with the community character embraced by the communities which he serves.
"What we have is not a failure of vision, but one of process."
Why “growth paying for growth” often leaves cities weaker, not stronger.
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Understanding the planning “pyramid” and how commissioners can use their position to shape better outcomes.
A contentious project in Des Moines reveals a deeper issue: cities often react to proposals instead of clarifying what’s possible.
The housing people are looking for may not be what cities are built to deliver.
In its Housing-Ready City Toolkit, Strong Towns recommended a 24-hour turnaround for permits. That's not an exaggeration.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, a man lost his life trying to catch the bus. When you look at where it happened, two things become clear: This was inevitable. It was also preventable.
Good urbanism isn’t an academic abstraction but a lived experience we can see and feel in the world around us.
Statewide zoning reform isn't producing the wins everyone expected. An architect reveals why: the permissions may have changed, but the reflexes never adapted.
Across the country, it’s clear that what truly makes a city resilient isn’t the plans, grants, or programs—it’s the people who care for one another and invest in their communities.
Small, precise zoning code text revisions can be a game-changer for communities facing housing shortages.
Better communication isn’t complicated. If your city wants more incremental development, start there.