On the Conservative Reaction to 15-Minute Cities

On today’s episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck Marohn dives into controversies surrounding the concept of the 15-minute city.

Podcast, Marohn, ST Podcast, Walkability, Top StoryStrong TownsMarch 13, 2023Podcast, podcast, walkability, 15-Minute Cities, politics, mixed use, Neighborhoods

Why Is It So Difficult To Build Walkable Places?

A recent report from Smart Growth America highlights the extent to which zoning laws (in a staggering percentage of U.S. communities) stifle our ability to create walkable, human-centered places.

Incremental Housing, Safe & Productive Streets, Walkability, Top StoryBen AbramsonFebruary 14, 2023zoning, walkability, Safe and Productive Streets, Incremental Housing, Smart Growth America, urbanism, suburban experiment, Development

Are National Parks for Commuting? DC Decision a Big Win for Human Power

During the pandemic, streets across the U.S. were reclaimed for human activity—but now, many cities are undoing those changes. Not so in DC's Rock Creek Park, where road closures have been made permanent.

Bikeability, Safe & Productive Streets, Walkability, News, Top StoryBen AbramsonJanuary 20, 2023Parks, parks, Washington DC, Pedestrian Safety, pedestrian safety, bikeability, walkability, Safe and Productive Streets, #SlowTheCars

Top of the Bottom-Up: Taking Matters Into Our Own Hands to #SlowTheCars

After the local government did nothing, this Strong Towns advocate bought a dangerous road in her community and made it safer.

Podcast, Taking Action, The Bottom-Up Revolution, #SlowtheCars, Parking, Walkability, Success Story, Safe & Productive Streets, Top StoryStrong TownsJanuary 5, 2023The Bottom-Up Revolution, Hawaii, children, #SlowTheCars, walkability, Safe and Productive Streets, taking action

Main Streets Designed Like State Highways: How They Work and How To Change Them

Two prominent communities in Berkshire County, MA, are in the midst of deciding what to prioritize on their main streets: cars or people?

Not Just Bikes: Crossing the Street Shouldn't Be Deadly (But It Is)

This latest Not Just Bikes video demystifies deadly street design by contrasting what it’s like to navigate streets on foot in the U.S. and Canada with what it’s like in the Netherlands.

Henderson Highway Blues

A mother reflects on the fears she faces while navigating a dangerous highway with her children, as pedestrians.

#SlowtheCars, Dear Winnipeg, Walkability, Top Story, Emma Durand-WoodEmma Durand-WoodAugust 5, 2022highways, canada, Canada, Winnipeg, Safety, Pedestrian Safety, pedestrian safety, pedestrians, #PedestrianUnfriendly, walkability, children, #SlowTheCars

If We Build Cities for Kids, We Build Cities for Everyone

Can you walk down your local streets with your kids—without gripping their hands and anxiously eying traffic—and feel comfortable and relaxed? If not, something’s wrong with the design of those streets.

Roads and Streets, Stange, Walkability, Top StoryJay StangeAugust 3, 2022safety, Pedestrian Safety, pedestrian safety, children, streets, Safe and Productive Streets, Street Design, design, walkability, pedestrians, #PedestrianUnfriendly, pedestrian crossing

Don’t Pause the Gas Tax, Redirect It

Congressman Jake Auchincloss: "We don't need a gas tax holiday. We need a gas tax reset: an overhaul of how we approach transportation funding.”

"Streets Closed to Vehicular Traffic"

Downtown Leesburg, Virginia, goes car free for one weekend.

Walkability, Top StoryAddison Del MastroJuly 19, 2022walkability, Small Towns, small towns, Virginia, car-lite, public space, Addison Del Mastro

Our Year Without a Car (With Kids)

It’s not easy to live without a car when you have young children, but it’s certainly possible. Plus, having to walk can help you build unexpected connections with your community.

Public Transit, Walkability, Community, Top StoryGrace OlmsteadJuly 19, 2022walkability, Europe, Gracy Olmstead, children, bus, buses, public transit, community, Community

Walking America: Bridgeport to New Haven

From Housatonic Community College to Yale: The story of a 20-mile walk along I-95.

Walkability, Top StoryChris ArnadeJune 24, 2022walkability, Connecticut, community, Community, neighborhood, Neighborhoods, poor neighborhoods, poverty, Poverty, suburban poverty, schools

We Need More Charming, People-Centered Places

Residents of small towns shouldn’t have to travel to a large urban downtown to get a taste of a walkable, people-centered environment.

Sheppard, Walkability, Top StorySeairra SheppardMay 31, 2022walkability, Small Towns, people centered places, Third Places, Israel, pop-up, local business, markets, Markets, midwest

Membership Dues Are Free in the Gym of Life

This latest video from Not Just Bikes explores the link between the walkability of a place and how much daily exercise people get.

Walkability, Video, Stange, Top StoryJay StangeMay 27, 2022walkability, Not Just Bikes

Mike McGinn: Making America More Walkable

This week on the Strong Towns Podcast, host Chuck Marohn gets to talk with Mike McGinn, executive director of America Walks.

Podcast, Marohn, ST Podcast, Top Story, WalkabilityStrong TownsMay 23, 2022Podcast, walkability, America Walks, Mike McGinn

Remembering All the Things I’m Supposed to Worry About

Our Neighborhood Storyteller recently received a call about her aging father, who, with his driving privileges revoked, has had to resort to walking on unsafe roads…

Neighborhood Storyteller, Theilen, Community, Walkability, Top StoryKarla TheilenMay 3, 2022neighborhood storyteller, Brainerd MN, walkability, aging, #PedestrianUnfriendly, Community

To Fully Observe, We Need to Walk

If we want to be the informed advocates our places need, then we need to observe them at human scale—and to do that, we need to walk.

Marohn, Walkability, Top StoryCharles MarohnApril 25, 2022walkability, pedestrians, advocacy

Reflections on Seaside

What does and doesn’t work about the “great-granddaddy” of New Urbanism?

Walkability, Urban Design, Incrementalism, Top StorySeth ZerenApril 22, 2022Florida, urbanism, New Urbanism, urban planning, urban design, placemaking, human scale, incrementalism, incremental development, incremental, traditional development pattern, walkability

A Strong Town Designs Its Places for All, Not Just Cars

When we design our streets to make them safer for people with disabilities, it also makes them safer for people, as a whole.

#SlowtheCars, Roads and Streets, Walkability, Top StorySteve WrightApril 15, 2022disability, Disability, Pedestrian Safety, pedestrian safety, pedestrians, pedestrian crossing, #PedestrianUnfriendly, walkability, Safety, safety, Florida, #SlowTheCars

Accidentally On Purpose

Massive property damage and pedestrians being injured (or killed) is our transportation system functioning precisely as designed. This is how it was designed to work.