Rachel and Chuck discuss last week's events in Salt Lake City, the schedule for Kentucky and New Hampshire this week and The Selfish Gene.
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For one weekend in September, more than 150 buildings throughout the Milwaukee metro area open their doors and welcome visitors throughout the day.
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We all have biases and we all have reflexive reactions to some statements and situations. That's human. As Strong Towns advocates, let's resist the human impulse to dogma first and think later. We need to keep our minds open to the great ideas that an incremental, chaotic-but-smart approach can reveal.
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Modern economic development practices are the result of some incredibly perverse incentives. As a society, we lament short-term thinking yet, again and again, we demand of our economic development staff: what have you done for me lately?
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Audio of the opening statements and rebuttals from Chuck Marohn of Strong Towns and Randal O'Toole of the Cato Institute from their debate in Lafayette, LA.
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Educating people on urban design is like the challenge of teaching Daniel-san, of the original Karate Kid movie, the intricacies of martial arts. While Daniel-san expects to immediately learn how to fight the Cobra Kai, Mr Miyagi insists on learning to wax the car and paint the fence properly before even throwing a punch. Likewise, showing someone a transect of a complete street can be frustrating for a normal person to understand.
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A recent study by Slow Streets near Vancouver uncovers the damage a stroad is doing to an otherwise productive, lively neighborhood street.
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Last week's debate was educational, entertaining and stimulating. Adding to the fun was the live tweeting done by several Strong Towns members and enthusiasts. In case you weren't on Twitter during the debate, here are some of the highlights from the evening
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Last week, Sarah Goodyear from CityLab interviewed me about the project. Her first question was this: When you did your chairbombing, were you worried at all about the police confronting you? The landowner? My answer: In this case, not really. AND THEN! Here was the scene this week at the market...
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When we talk about parks in cities, it helps if we can classify them into two types. Grand Parks are destinations. Neighborhood Parks are the living room of the community.
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Some off topic thoughts and a video inspired by the book The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence has Declined by Steven Pinker.
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The Governmental Accounting Standards Board now requires cities to disclose, as part of their financial reporting, the amount of money lost to tax subsidies. This is a significant development.
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It might be role of O'Toole, and those who would follow him, to simply serve as a warning for others. That's a useful role in society.
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The decision to pursue a career in urban planning: what's the value of it in a world where we acknowledge the fundamental complexity and unmanageability of cities? Planners as the conservation biologists of the urban ecosystem.
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Cities can experience growth and job creation today quite easily if they are willing to take on a disproportionate amount of long term liabilities. In other words, I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for growth and jobs today.
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Last Thursday I was part of a debate with Randal O’Toole – the self-identified Antiplanner from the Cato Institute – in Lafayette, Louisiana. I’m going to take the opportunity to reflect a little bit on things from my perspective.
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MoDOT management gives every indication that they have a serious cultural problem, a deep misunderstanding of their role and responsibilities. This needs to change before they get another dime.
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Following a Curbside Chat earlier this year, Waco, Texas, is taking some difficult and important steps towards getting their financial house in order.
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Necessary repairs to roads and streets often get put off for a later time despite the fact that we see them decline before our eyes. This is an even bigger problem for underground infrastructure where the problem is out of sight, out of mind.
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