We Grew a Movement. Now We Grow Our Impact.

This is Member Week at Strong Towns, which always gets me thinking about how I’m spending my time, and what this movement I’ve devoted so much of my life to has become. This year, that reflection feels especially personal.

I started writing the blog that would become Strong Towns in November 2008, when my youngest daughter, Stella, was just eight months old. There were many late nights spent writing after she, her older sister, and my eternally supportive wife had gone to bed. Back then it was a manic side project, one that consumed most of my spare energy (and some I probably couldn’t spare).

This fall, we dropped Stella off at college. I’ve raised an entire adult in the time we’ve been working on this project.

I’ve heard people in recent years call Strong Towns an “overnight phenomenon.” I get it; exponential growth means there are millions who just found us this past year. To them, it might feel like we suddenly appeared, but we’ve been at this a long time.

And many of you have been at this a long time, too.

The three chapters of Strong Towns, so far

Time has a way of clarifying what matters.

When I look back on these seventeen years, I see a long string of experiments. Some fizzled out quickly while others grew into cornerstones of what we do today. There were projects that didn’t quite land, ideas that needed to mature, and partnerships that taught us hard but lasting lessons. Every step forward came with a few stumbles, but also with new relationships, new insights, and a deeper conviction about why this work matters.

Through all the starts and stops, one truth has held: when people are given the chance to see their city differently, they act differently. They care more. They take ownership. And that’s what keeps us moving.

Chapter 1: Ideas (2008–2015)
A blog, a podcast, a hectic travel schedule stitched together with shoestrings and generosity, and one very persuasive set of arguments about why the North American development pattern doesn’t work. We were small, but we were right.

Chapter 2: Reach (2015–2021)
We built a content engine. We reached millions per year. “Strong Towns” stopped being a quirky URL and became a movement. If the only goal were awareness, we could’ve stopped here.

Chapter 3: Mobilize (2022–2025)
We shifted from “share more” to “organize better.” Local Conversations grew to 300+ real, active groups. We’re seeing benches built in Buffalo, pre-approved house plans unlock infill in places like Kalamazoo, and “meet-ups to mentorships” ecosystems in cities like South Bend. The work is getting real, local, and contagious.

For Strong Towns, the first season was about assembling ideas and sharing them widely. The second was about proving those ideas could scale into a movement, and they did. Millions have found us.

The third season has been about organizing that movement, building its capacity to do meaningful, on-the-ground work. Hundreds of local Strong Towns groups now meet, collaborate, and take action in their own communities.

In the time it took my wife and me to raise an infant into an adult, Strong Towns has moved from spreading ideas to helping people put those ideas into practice. We’re literally demonstrating the incredible power of the incremental approach to change that we champion.

Now we’re entering the fourth chapter of Strong Towns, the one where impact becomes the center of gravity. And I’m asking you to help us make that leap.

Your membership matters more than ever

The hard, slow work of laying the foundation is done. Now it’s time to build on it.

This next season for the Strong Towns movement is about turning potential into proof, helping more communities see visible, measurable change. The systems are in place, the people are ready, and the approach has never been more relevant. What we need now is the shared commitment that keeps it all moving. That’s where you come in.

If you’ve wondered, “What exactly does my membership do?”—here’s a taste of what it does this coming year:

1. Stronger local groups. We’re in the process of hiring a full-time coordinator to train and equip our 300+ Local Conversations so more of them graduate from talk to tangible, local victories.
   
   
2. An expanded member experience. For years, members have asked for a simple way to connect—to chat, share ideas, and learn from others in the Strong Towns movement. Our growth now gives us the capacity to do that the way we’ve always envisioned. We’re about to launch that new experience, and it’s going to be everything we hoped for, and more.
   
   
3. Action toolkits that cities can actually use. The Finance Decoder, Housing-Ready Toolkit, and Crash Analysis Studio are helping communities see their finances, housing, and streets in a whole new way. And soon, members will be able to bring Strong Towns technical support directly to their own city through in-person Crash Analysis Studio workshops focused on making streets safer.
   
   
4. More “socially contagious” wins. Our media platform magnifies local victories, turning small, neighborhood successes into national examples that inspire others, build momentum, and accelerate change across the continent (and, increasingly, around the world).

In short: Your membership turns Strong Towns from a set of arguments into a set of outcomes.

Help us make the next Strong Towns chapter unmistakable: thousands of small, local projects that add up to durable, bottom-up change.

• Join or renew as a Strong Towns member today.
  
  
• If you’re able, make it monthly, that steady support is what lets us say “yes” to more local leaders faster.
  
  
• And then use us: connect with others, bring ideas, training, and resources to your city, start (or strengthen) a Local Conversation, or plug into our member community and learn the next right step for your place.

When I look at that photo of baby-Stella on my back, I feel joy and deep gratitude for how far we’ve come. Dropping her at college this fall was bittersweet, a reminder of how quickly time passes, but also how much can change when you stay committed to something you love. 

We’ve put in the work to get here, all of us. Now it’s time to make it matter.

We grew a movement. Now, let’s grow our impact.

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