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A New Generation of Town Makers

It's not just about what its being built, but who is doing the building.

Housing
A New Generation of Town Makers
Paths of Greater Resistance

What does it take to do small-scale development successfully today?

Housing
Paths of Greater Resistance
Multigenerational Living Isn't Immigrant Culture, It's Human Culture

Housing
Multigenerational Living Isn't Immigrant Culture, It's Human Culture
The Strong Towns Hiring Process

We often get questions about our hiring process, so we’ve laid it all out here so that others can put it to use in building their own teams.

The Strong Towns Hiring Process
When the Company Leaves the Company Town

Housing
When the Company Leaves the Company Town
Engineers Should Not Design Streets

Engineers are great at building roads, but we should never ask them to build our streets.

Streets
Engineers Should Not Design Streets
Doing the Math in Calgary

Calgary — like so many North American cities — is like an intergenerational dine-and-dash. Our children will get the bill.

Accounting
Doing the Math in Calgary
How to #DoTheMath for Non-Math Majors

You don’t have to be a math wizard to figure out if your town or city has more infrastructure than it can afford. Just follow these 5 simple steps.

Accounting
How to #DoTheMath for Non-Math Majors
Trying to Help Small Businesses? Stop Worrying About Congestion

"We have to give up on on the delusion that we can have a place that is both great for business, and great at moving cars quickly."

Parking
Trying to Help Small Businesses? Stop Worrying About Congestion
Best of 2020: Walkable Towns

Rural places can be walkable. But we shouldn’t have to go on vacation to find a walkable town.

Streets
Best of 2020: Walkable Towns
The Christmas Cookie Inflation Index

What can grandma's cookie recipe tell us about inflation?

Accounting
The Christmas Cookie Inflation Index
Here's What Not* to Do to Your Small-Town Main Street

How one small town in South Carolina destroyed everything that makes their downtown...a downtown.

Streets
Here's What Not* to Do to Your Small-Town Main Street
The Vanishing Houses of Detroit: A Street View Story

How one Detroit resident used Google Maps to chronicle the accelerating disappearance of its neighborhoods.

Housing
The Vanishing Houses of Detroit: A Street View Story
The Growth Ponzi Scheme: A Crash Course

Ponzi schemes fail because they are built on illusions: there is no there there. So what happens when an entire continent of towns and cities is caught up in a kind of Growth Ponzi Scheme? We are finding out.

Accounting
Housing
Highways
The Growth Ponzi Scheme: A Crash Course
I Did the Math on My Town’s Cul-de-Sacs. Here's What I Found.

A detailed analysis of 12 cul-de-sacs show the Suburban Experiment is a dead end. What will it take to make this city solvent?

Accounting
I Did the Math on My Town’s Cul-de-Sacs. Here's What I Found.
Niagara’s Fall and Asheville’s Unlikely Rise

70 years ago, these two historic cities were on a similar path. Then one fell into debt while the other was swimming in money. You might be surprised by what they each look like today.

Accounting
Niagara’s Fall and Asheville’s Unlikely Rise
Understanding the 85th Percentile Speed

This observation of human behavior has long been a source of frustration for safety advocates, but that doesn’t make it wrong.

Streets
Understanding the 85th Percentile Speed
"Kansas City's Blitz": How Freeway-Building Blew Up Urban Wealth

The choice to carve up Kansas City with freeways ranks among the worst planning mistakes in the region's history. Many decades later, the city is still is suffering the consequences.

Highways
"Kansas City's Blitz": How Freeway-Building Blew Up Urban Wealth
America's Growth Ponzi Scheme

The American pattern of development creates the illusion of wealth. Today we are in the process of seeing that illusion destroyed…and with it the prosperity we have come to take for granted.

Accounting
America's Growth Ponzi Scheme
This is the End of the Suburban Experiment

Contrary to what has been asserted elsewhere, the suburbs are not about to have a renaissance. In fact, there are many reasons to believe we are nearing the end.

Housing
This is the End of the Suburban Experiment
We've Built Cities We Can't Afford

Kansas City, Missouri, has a serious infrastructure problem. But an emerging conversation is charting a path toward greater strength and financial resilience.

Accounting
We've Built Cities We Can't Afford
How to Get to Great Bus Service in a Car-Dominated Place

Indianapolis proves you don’t need billions—or rail—to build transit people actually use.

Streets
How to Get to Great Bus Service in a Car-Dominated Place
Two Photos Reveal Why the Key to Slowing Traffic is Street Design, Not Speed Limits

Two simple photos show the difference between a street simply designated 20 miles per hour, and one actually designed to be safe.

Streets
Two Photos Reveal Why the Key to Slowing Traffic is Street Design, Not Speed Limits
The Trick-or-Treat Test

Connected streets + varied houses = better trick-or-treating and financially stronger neighborhoods.

Streets
Housing
The Trick-or-Treat Test

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