The challenges facing small businesses require solutions that respond to the real needs (and assets) of the community. Here’s one such solution.
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A video interview with Strong Towns founder Chuck Marohn describes the origins of the Strong Towns movement and how it helps cities—especially smaller ones—reclaim local control of their future stability and prosperity.
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This place is a work horse. It grows small businesses from scratch without recourse to bank loans or government subsidies. It provides products and experiences that are genuinely needed in the community. And it costs almost nothing to create.
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If local governments are going to lose money on residential development, then they have to make it up on commercial development. That’s a risky business model, one that doesn’t pencil out.
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We’re sharing the video and audio from our January 2019 live webcast Q&A with mega-retail expert Stacy Mitchell.
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If your city is struggling to pay the bills, could joining forces with the rich county next door be the answer?
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A nonprofit placemaking organization is bringing events, parks, public art and more to downtown Fort Smith, Arkansas, one playful experiment at a time.
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We’re honored to celebrate Muskegon’s selection as the 2018 Strongest Town.
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Texas has a history of aggressively using tax incentives to lure big business: a misguided economic development approach that produces little if any public benefit. Dallas’s bid for Amazon’s second headquarters falls right in line with this unfortunate pattern.
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The less you look like everyone else and the more you look like yourself, the better off you’ll be. This truth should be driving your town’s development. In fact, creating a distinctive sense of place is your competitive advantage.
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Small businesses are crucial to local economic health. Thriving small businesses create thriving communities, in a virtuous cycle.
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Should cities invest in big projects in the hopes of increasing tourism, or invest in the people that have already taken a risk by moving back into their long-dormant downtowns?
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There's a big difference between these two types of development and one will create a far better outcome for our cities.
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The things that get labeled as “gentrification” refer to a set of real, meaningful, widely held concerns, and that choice of label should never be an excuse to dismiss those concerns.
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(Hint: It doesn't involve luring a mega-corporation to our community.)
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Everyone seems to have an opinion on gentrification. But what does the word actually mean?
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Should cities invest in big projects in the hopes of increasing tourism, or should they invest in the people that have already taken a risk by moving back into their long-dormant downtowns?
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Improving a city doesn't take a lot of money. It just takes courage.
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Last year I bought a $15,000 uninhabitable shack in Cincinnati, Ohio, hoping to renovate it into a nice two-story duplex for renters. Here's what went wrong.
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How to build a successful innovation district where start-ups, schools, and residents flourish.
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