“The Strong Towns voice needs to be heard by elected and appointed officials across the US. ”
— Toby Dougherty of Hays, KS
“Strong Towns is doing some of the most important work in this country.”
— Stephen Lassiter of Tulsa, OK
“Strong Towns is a simple concept with a never-ending depth behind it.”
— Lawrence Andre of Mission, KS

Thank you to everyone who became a member this week. We can't do this without you.

See you back here on Monday when we resume our regular schedule.

Featured
The Problem with Austin Urbanism
The Problem with Austin Urbanism

Fast-growing Austin is at a crossroads. Officials there are weighing the adoption of a new land development code. Will the city settle for the status quo—drive-by urbanism and a code that doesn’t adequately address the need for more housing? Or can something better emerge?

This Neighborhood in Germany Shows Us Why American Planned Communities are So Abysmal
This Neighborhood in Germany Shows Us Why American Planned Communities are So Abysmal

We all know the pitfalls of master-planned communities, right? Sterile. Homogenous. Certainly not adaptable or resilient over time. Is there a way around it? Maybe, if this fascinating case study from Germany has anything to teach us. And it all starts with one word: Baugruppen.

A Bottom-Up Revolution in York, Pennsylvania
A Bottom-Up Revolution in York, Pennsylvania

Salvador “Sal” Galdamez—founder and president of nonprofit York XL—shares how you can bring your neighbors together around bottom-up action to create more prosperous, healthy, and empowered neighborhoods.

Building Healthier Places That Reflect Our Values: A Conversation with Dan Burden of Blue Zones
Building Healthier Places That Reflect Our Values: A Conversation with Dan Burden of Blue Zones

Dan Burden has been called the “Johnny Appleseed of pedestrian and bike design.” You asked one of the world’s foremost experts on planning for healthy, active communities your questions in our latest Ask Strong Towns—and now we’re sharing the video.

Want to Show People What Their City Could Be? Build It.
Want to Show People What Their City Could Be? Build It.

A leading infill developer in Victoria, BC is building beautiful homes that address the housing crisis and make neighborhoods stronger. They’re also changing the conversation about what’s possible.

Think Buses and Trains are Empty? Take a Look at Rural Highways
Think Buses and Trains are Empty? Take a Look at Rural Highways

Skeptics cite empty buses and trains as proof that public transit isn’t worth the investment. But what if they applied their same standard to our rural highways?

A More Humane Economics
A More Humane Economics

Our economic system prizes growth above all. This has created a looming disaster, at both the local and national levels. How did we get here? And is there an alternative?

How to Become More Attached to Your City
How to Become More Attached to Your City

Want to feel a deeper attachment to the neighborhood you call home? Here are six action items guaranteed to connect you with neighbors and inspire creative ways to leverage your resources for the common good.

Four Ways Traffic Engineers Thwart Public Will
Four Ways Traffic Engineers Thwart Public Will

Public officials trying to make their city’s street more humane are often thwarted by the professional engineers giving them advice. If that’s your city, it’s time to make a change.

Top 5 Recent Stories (September 9-September 13, 2019)
Top 5 Recent Stories (September 9-September 13, 2019)

The Strong America Tour kicks off this week in the Pacific Northwest. Everywhere we go — Spokane, Seattle, Kenmore, and Victoria — we see residents breathing new life into even the unlikeliest of neighborhoods.

How America's Highway Funding System is Like Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (and No, That's Not A Good Thing)
How America's Highway Funding System is Like Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (and No, That's Not A Good Thing)

Hint: even if you get a road for free, you still have to pay to maintain it.

Making Room in the New Seattle (Part 2)
Making Room in the New Seattle (Part 2)

In Seattle, policy victories tend to be long-fought and hard-won. What will it take to achieve a city that can flex, evolve, and meet its residents’ needs in a more organic way, without every change becoming an arduous political battle?

My City's Needs Are Growing Faster Than Its Budget. That's Why We Need the Strong Towns Message.
My City's Needs Are Growing Faster Than Its Budget. That's Why We Need the Strong Towns Message.

My bedroom community’s streets are aging, and we recently learned that we need to double our pavement preservation spending to keep them from declining further. Here’s what we’re doing about it—and why the Strong Towns philosophy is instrumental for us.

Making Room in the New Seattle (Part 1)
Making Room in the New Seattle (Part 1)

A remarkably diverse coalition of activists is moving the needle in Seattle on the question of who—and what—belongs in the city’s neighborhoods. And they’ve scored two big policy victories in 2019. Is it enough?

Want to Understand How Freeways Destroyed U.S. Cities? Watch This Guy Play Cities:Skylines.
Want to Understand How Freeways Destroyed U.S. Cities? Watch This Guy Play Cities:Skylines.

A Youtuber who goes by donoteat01 brilliantly uses the Cities:Skylines video game as a storytelling tool—in this case, to help us understand the ugly human consequences of the postwar urban freeway-building era.

How One Strong Towns Member is Helping His Seattle Suburb Rediscover "People-Oriented Places"
How One Strong Towns Member is Helping His Seattle Suburb Rediscover "People-Oriented Places"

Cary Westerbeck—Strong Towns member and Founder of Bothellites for People-Oriented Places (Bo-POP)—shares how you can create people-oriented places in your own community, including how to educate people about people-oriented places, how these places create more financially resilient places, and how you can demonstrate your vision. 


The Way We Use Traffic Projections is a Lie. Even at the National Academy of Sciences.
The Way We Use Traffic Projections is a Lie. Even at the National Academy of Sciences.

A new report on the interstate highway system from the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences is not propaganda for the road-building industry. So why does it still read like it is?

Heat Islands and Our Health
Heat Islands and Our Health

The poorest neighborhoods also tend to be the warmest. That’s according to a fascinating study of the 97 largest American cities. Here’s why extreme heat is more likely to affect the poor and what communities can start to do about it.

Filling In: Room for Revival in Spokane
Filling In: Room for Revival in Spokane

How modifications to one city’s development codes are making it possible to add wealth and vibrancy to its struggling neighborhoods… without taking on huge future liabilities.

Big, Impersonal Institutions Are Failing Us. Loyalty to Our Communities Might Save Us.
Big, Impersonal Institutions Are Failing Us. Loyalty to Our Communities Might Save Us.

Patrick Deneen, author of the bestselling Why Liberalism Failed (hint: he doesn’t mean the political left), talks with our own Chuck Marohn about the political crisis facing Western societies, and how rediscovering a sense of rootedness in community—defaulting to loyalty over “looking for the exits”—might be the answer.

The Ruin and the Mansion
The Ruin and the Mansion

Two very different buildings in Spokane illustrate the unfulfilled promises of the post-war suburban experiment and the potential for new life in even the unlikeliest of neighborhoods.

The Strong America Tour Starts this Week
The Strong America Tour Starts this Week

The Strong America Tour starts this week with a swing through the Pacific Northwest. Here’s what to expect.

Top 5 Recent Stories (September 2-September 6, 2019)
Top 5 Recent Stories (September 2-September 6, 2019)

The power and peril of looking backwards. We look back to learn much-needed lessons, but how do we avoid romanticizing a past that maybe wasn’t that great to begin with?