Norm Van Eeden Petersman
Norm Van Eeden Petersman is the Director of Membership at Strong Towns. He is a skilled communicator of the Strong Towns message and a community builder. He leads DelPOP, a land use reform and housing advocacy group in Delta, British Columbia, and is a leader of the Strong Towns Toastmasters Club.
Norm has a Master of Divinity and a Bachelor in Political Studies. He spent 10 years pastoring churches in Canada as a preacher, teacher, and leader. He worked in communications for the second-largest city in British Columbia and carried out infrastructure-related stakeholder outreach for Canada's Minister of Health and Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario in Ottawa, ON.
Norm has published articles on housing, transportation, faith, and culture and his writing appears regularly on the Strong Towns site. You can connect with him on Twitter at @normvep or on LinkedIn.
Places are not static; they are dynamic. And sometimes, “for-awhile” uses can be the bridge that gets us from stagnation to vibrancy.
When cities attempt to prescribe the exact way a building must be used, they risk regulating away the very life of a place.
Here are six proven techniques that allow communities to preserve mature trees while restoring sidewalks to safe, walkable condition.
John Locke’s 17th-century proviso can help us understand the tangled web of private property rights, public space, and parking rules in North America today.
Edmonton is proving that communities don’t have to accept neglect as inevitable. Here’s how it’s turning derelict properties from liabilities into catalysts for renewal.
An intersection redesign in Fairbanks, Alaska, proves that road projects are not always improvements—and that DOT priorities are often out of touch with reality.
Student journalist William Donofrio is part of a growing group of changemakers who are noticing, documenting, and sharing the struggles their places face.