Nate Hood

Nathaniel Hood has been a regular contributor for Strong Towns since 2011 and was the first person to ever donate money to Strong Towns. He is a founding member of Streets.MN and lives in St. Paul. Nate can be found online at Thoughts on the Urban Environment and Streets.MN. Nate also runs a weekly newsletter that includes two short, smart, witty paragraphs, and one local Twin Cities recommendation. You can sign up here.


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Podcasts Nate is featured in:

RECENT ARTICLES BY Nate:
4 Easy Steps to Squash the "There's No Parking" Argument
4 Easy Steps to Squash the "There's No Parking" Argument

Here is a quick how-to guide for dealing with people who claim your city lacks adequate parking.

Who gets to decide how a neighborhood is redeveloped?
Who gets to decide how a neighborhood is redeveloped?

A new redevelopment plan for an empty site in St. Paul, MN has pitted neighbors against neighbors, and blurred the lines of typical narratives that explain opposition to urban development.

The Benefits of Closing a Street
The Benefits of Closing a Street

What if we moved beyond temporary "open streets" events and used what we learned there to make lasting changes to our street design?

It's not just an accident
It's not just an accident

Car-centric policy dominates our legal system and the way police conduct business. And it's not holding people truly responsible.

Best of 2016: Suburban Poverty Meets Homeowners Associations
Best of 2016: Suburban Poverty Meets Homeowners Associations

What will happen to homeowner's associations in an America with increasing suburban poverty? It will be messy.

An Unlikely Success Story: The Failure of the North Minneapolis Greenway
An Unlikely Success Story: The Failure of the North Minneapolis Greenway

This is the beauty of tactical urbanism: even in its failures, you find success.

Book Interview: Nate Hood and Pedestrian Safety
Book Interview: Nate Hood and Pedestrian Safety

Nate Hood chats with Chuck Marohn about pedestrian safety efforts—the good, the bad and the ugly—in his hometown of St. Paul, MN.

A Big, Sad Hole in the Cold Vermont Ground
A Big, Sad Hole in the Cold Vermont Ground

It was going to be great, but it didn't turn out like the planners said it would.

Suburban Poverty Meets Homeowner's Associations
Suburban Poverty Meets Homeowner's Associations

What will happen to Homeowner's Associations in an America with increasing suburban poverty? It will be messy.

What to do with all of those big empty boxes...
What to do with all of those big empty boxes...

In Austin, MN an old K-Mart was transformed into a popular museum—a big box reuse success! Or was it?

4 Easy Steps to Squash the "There's No Parking" Argument
4 Easy Steps to Squash the "There's No Parking" Argument

Here is a quick how-to guide for dealing with people who claim your city lacks adequate parking.

Time to Change the Default
Time to Change the Default

Pedestrian safety programs acknowledge a problem, but fail to truly solve it.

Avoiding Another Flint
Avoiding Another Flint

This is how we do business in America. We’ve dedicated our resources to building new things with little regard to fixing it first.

This isn't an annexation. It's a bailout.
This isn't an annexation. It's a bailout.

This story is not unique: a mid-sized Minnesota town is preparing to adopt a 50-year-old neighborhood. As the neighborhood struggles to pay for long-term maintenance on its roads and pipes, it seems like neither annexation nor autonomy will really solve the problem.

The Fight for Pedestrian Safety
The Fight for Pedestrian Safety

The American transportation system is designed at every corner to favor the automobile, and it's a system that needs to end.

The Fight for Pedestrian Safety
The Fight for Pedestrian Safety

Getting even modest pedestrian improvements can be an uphill battle. We have a design bias and process that is inherently unfriendly to pedestrians and bicycles. 

Dear Milwaukee, Learn from the mistakes you didn't make
Dear Milwaukee, Learn from the mistakes you didn't make

Dear Milwaukee, learn from the mistakes you didn't make. Don't build an entertainment district. Instead, let your city develop incrementally.

Free Libraries: Embracing a Little Chaos
Free Libraries: Embracing a Little Chaos

Great cities are chaotic. It's what makes them interesting. Regulating out things like Little Free Libraries does nothing but hurt your city.

Wasted: Before & After 125 Million Dollars
Wasted: Before & After 125 Million Dollars

The structural problem in our road building system is that we’ve based these large financial decisions on faulty premises and inaccurate estimations. We’ve justified and enabled the subsidizing of less efficient forms of development through the aid of cost-benefit analysis. The 494 /169 interchange looks great on paper at first glance. It’s going to create jobs, handle more traffic, help the economy, and save time.

Going Viral: A Suburban Engagement (Photoshoot)
Going Viral: A Suburban Engagement (Photoshoot)

Engagement photos are either urban or rural. They are either a former factory or a leafy meadow, the brick wall of a forgotten factory or an empty beach. Never the subdivision. Never the cul-de-sac. 

4 Easy Steps to Squash the "There's No Parking" Argument
4 Easy Steps to Squash the "There's No Parking" Argument

Four simple steps to combat those who claim that there isn't enough parking in your downtown or neighborhood.

The Expensive Road to Nowhere #DuctTapeTour
The Expensive Road to Nowhere #DuctTapeTour

A vast majority of our infrastructure is predicated on treating non-automobiles as second-class citizens. This is the status quo. One doesn't need to look far to find examples.

Transportation Troubles
Transportation Troubles

The 10th Avenue Bridge is a local street with a local bridge that serves local traffic. Yet, in many cases, the general public narrative finds it necessary to criticize state legislators for not allocating money to support a project that has no state or regional significance. Herein lies the disconnect between how we think transportation financing works and how it actually works.

Seeking Good People: Help for "Advice Room" #CNU23
Seeking Good People: Help for "Advice Room" #CNU23
So American
When what we've been doing clearly isn't working, counter-intuitive might be our best option. And that option is making our spaces unsafe so we can make them safe.
We just don’t get it
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