More and more, New York City is becoming a ghost town where only the super rich can afford to live, and retail can’t afford to stay open. But is simple greed the reason why?
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Following a recent fatal crash, the University of Kentucky is taking a hard look at campus drinking culture. But the city of Lexington needs to pick up the slack on the reasons students feel compelled to drive.
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Strong Towns’s Aubrey Byron interviews John Simmerman and Amanda Popken, who presented on placemaking and tactical urbanism at our recent North Texas Regional Gathering.
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In this episode of our podcast It’s the Little Things, Jacob chats with Bill Huston, crowdfunding legend (like, top 19 crowdfunding consultants in the world according to Inc. Magazine kind of legend). For over 15 years, Bill has helped Strong Citizens get funding for their big ideas.
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Members are invited to ask their burning questions of renowned walkability expert Jeff Speck on Friday, November 9 at 12:00pm CT.
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When we obsess over the speed of travel—whether in our cars or on public transit—we’re missing the point of transportation. It’s not about how far you can get in a given time: it’s what you can get to.
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The New York Times has released an interactive map of (nearly) every building in America. What can we learn from it about America’s suburban experiment, through the marks it has left on the landscape?
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In Akron, Ohio an alternative-news monthly called The Devil Strip serves to identify, connect and inspire people throughout the community. The newspaper helps bring Akronites together to envision and shape the city’s future.
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This week on the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck talks with Sam Quinones, author of Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic. What are the origins of the unprecedented rise in narcotic addictions and deaths, and what connections, if any, are there to the way we live and build our places?
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High home prices near many of Portland, Oregon’s rail stations are essentially mandatory. On most nearby lots, dividing the land into so much as a duplex would be illegal. If that’s not a recipe for luxury housing, what is?
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Hilton Hotels sacrifices their customers in the name of efficiency. There is a lesson there for your city about the tradeoffs of efficiency.
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This week, we explored the history of wide streets as a political project, why a successful place isn’t as simple as plopping down the right kind of buildings, how local planners find themselves hostage to decades-old “lines on paper”, the power of placemaking and art to bring a downtown back to life, misconceptions about what causes traffic congestion, and more.
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In this week’s Upzoned podcast, Kea and Chuck discuss the new federal Opportunity Zones program. Is a big bucket of money what disinvested neighborhoods need? Or is using a federal program to develop a neighborhood like steering an ocean liner with a canoe paddle?
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Our Gathering Coordinator Ivy Vann recaps #StrongTownsNTX, the North Texas Regional Gathering. We brought together aspiring change-makers and seasoned experts from all over Texas and beyond, and helped them connect with each other and learn how to make their own communities stronger.
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A proposed bill in Washington State would require cities to allow a minimum housing density near transit stations. It is a well-intentioned response to a very real problem, but its one-size-fits-all nature risks unintended consequences.
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How much of car culture is attributable to the early designers and marketers who figured out how to make cars stylish and beautiful? A new book profiles GM’s Harley Earl, one of the forerunners of America’s automotive obsession.
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Across the Rust Belt and Midwest, immigrant entrepreneurs and residents are helping to mitigate the financial challenges faced by declining and shrinking cities.
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In this episode of our podcast It’s the Little Things, Jacob chats with Alissa Walker, urbanism editor at Curbed, about how you don’t have to be a professional urban designer to have an impact on the built environment. Documenting your own observations can capture the attention of your peers and inspire much-needed improvements to the livability of your city.
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Novelty Colonies are unusual, themed settlements that promise the resident an alternative to the vinyl-sided raised ranch houses of suburbia. However, the charm of these settlements is superficial, and the good ideas they do offer would be better incorporated into our existing towns.
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A nonprofit placemaking organization is bringing events, parks, public art and more to downtown Fort Smith, Arkansas, one playful experiment at a time.
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