Just as we at Strong Towns do not have a formula or solution for productive growth, but rather an approach to development, I believe that effective art is more about process, than project.
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In early January, I adopted a dog. As with many rescue stories, we ended up with more dog than we anticipated, which has put me and my new neighborhood through a rigorous test. My dog has given me a tough decision: get a car, or become the neighbor I want to be.
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A signalized crossing is an unnecessary expense for what a few traffic cones could easily accomplish. Humanizing Brunswick Street, on the other hand, would be in the best interests of the province and city.
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What if some of the stuff we think we can leave to history were core features, rather than unfortunate side effects of the traditional city? What if we can’t have the good without some of the bad?
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We live in cities starved for good public space. There are so few spots in North America where you can sit comfortably for free. And when we do try to create sittable public space, we often fail spectacularly.
Read MoreWhat is your hometown famous for?
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Friends of Strong Towns, we have a request for you. We are gathering footage of the many stroads outside our front doors.
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In my view, the most innovative, humble, and inspiring tactics to regenerate both urban and agricultural land are almost exactly the same. In fact, the reason I was originally so drawn to the Strong Towns approach is because I looked at it and thought… so pretty much permaculture, right? The reason I migrated to this particular model of city-building, the reason I trust it when so many grand ideas have revealed human hubris in the past is this: it’s the closest model I’ve found to how nature operates. To my knowledge, the connection between growing resilient food systems and cities has not been fully articulated on the blog yet, so I'm going to start that process and see if anyone else finds this exciting.
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If I ever buy a house, it'll be a small house and I won't settle for anything more. But where would we put our small house? I believe if we want a fairly quick, decentralized way to balance housing demand and boost supply of affordable housing, we need to legalize and normalize granny flats. For me, for you, and your grandma too.
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I’ve long been a proponent of the buy local movement for the warm fuzzies, but now I can bolster that with a more powerful motivator: guilt. Buying local has become a bit of a sport in our household as we try to create the most underdog windfall with each purchase. We feel obliged to help pick up the tab for the beautiful streetscapes and social capital that locally-owned businesses provide.
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You have to be willing to say no to the bad if you want your city to be built with the good, especially with the development incentives rigged as they are today. Sometimes this can create pro and anti-development factions in your city. A tool to diffuse that animosity is to remember that every time you say no to a proposal, you could be saying yes to something better.
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