Our most famous case study revealed the high cost of auto-oriented development. But what if a little creative rearrangement could make things a whole lot better?
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This vital corridor in El Paso is getting a makeover!
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Redeveloping just 10 percent of strip malls could fill a nine-year supply of housing in the Boston region, a new study finds. What could similar efforts elsewhere do?
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The question for a city with a history of embracing the suburban experiment is now, "Where should your energies be expended?"
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We get the density and the height, but not much action. Some of the form, none of the function.
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A lot of places that were built on the premise of efficient, manicured order are going to need to pivot to a different vision of the future: one based more on nimble, ad-hoc adaptation.
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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.
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A failed mall can feel like a monument to your community’s economic failure. A presidential hopeful has an idea to bring them back to life. But is it a good thing?
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Big boxes arguably helped to kill the classic main street. Can they also bring it back?
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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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To assume that a street-forward, mixed use development will activate a lifeless area is like assuming that gardening is a matter of “just add water.” In reality, different urban environments—like different soils, climates, and plants—require different elements of care.
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Is it magical thinking to expect the transition from car-dependent to walkable places to happen organically? When, and how, do we need a catalyst to jump-start that process?
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Where should we invest in retrofit, and where does it make more sense to let suburban development fail? The answer could have a profound impact on people across America.
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We called out a suburban retrofit project on Facebook. Here's how the developer responded.
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Cities that tethered their future to this experiment are going to struggle, while those that still have a pulse in their core neighborhoods will have a chance at renewed prosperity.
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It's time to put these common misconceptions about suburban America to rest.
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When affordability meets flexibility, the result tends to be the democratization of a local real estate market.
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Can a suburban “downtown” built from the ground up for over $150 million succeed?
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"How do we focus and where do we focus our energies?" This was the question posed by Strong Towns member and urban designer Kevin Klinkenberg in his recent workshop at the Strong Towns Summit.
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It’s very easy to get caught up in beautiful renderings but the truth is, most of suburbia is beyond repair. We must make strategic investments in the places that have the best chance for success.
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