Teaching our Kids Transit

5 things I learned while teaching my kids to use public transit.

Top Story, Transportation, SchoolsAdrian CrookSeptember 13, 2016public transportation, children, family, schools, page highlight

How About Schools on Safe Routes?

Safe Routes to School is a very popular federal program designed to make is easier for students to walk and bike to school. What if we instead chose to build Schools on Safe Routes?

What Happens When You Move Your Urban High School Into the Suburbs?

Provo, UT is undertaking a grand experiment in suburbanizing a public high school. Here are 3 major problems with that plan.

Walkability, Urban Design, Top Story, Member Post, SchoolsJamie LittlefieldSeptember 13, 2016schools, suburbanization, auto-oriented, page highlight

Do we really care about children?

As a society, we are zealous when it comes to the safety of children. And rightfully so. Still, for some reason we find it perfectly acceptable to routinely include them in the most dangerous activity of American life: riding in a car.

#SlowtheCars, Top Story, Transportation, Urban Design, Walkability, Marohn, SchoolsCharles MarohnSeptember 12, 2016children, cars, car crash, schools, page highlight

This Week's Slackchat with Chuck Marohn

This week, we're inviting readers to join us for an open conversation with President of Strong Towns, Chuck Marohn on the topic of schools.

Top StoryStrong TownsSeptember 12, 2016slackchat, schools

Hacking School

When you're faced with the choice of living in an urban neighborhood with "poor" schools, or a suburban neighborhood with "good" schools, you find a work around. That's what these entrepreneurial spirits did in San Francisco.

#StrongCitizens, Top Story, Sanphillippo, SchoolsJohnny SanphillippoSeptember 12, 2016schools, San Francisco, children, family, page highlight

How do your children get to school?

Share photos of your children's trip to school with the hashtag #SchoolCommute

Top Story, ArtibiseYuri ArtibiseSeptember 12, 2016Safe Routes to Schools, schools, photos

Strong Towns Focus on Education

We will not have strong cities, towns and neighborhoods without our school systems being part of the effort.

MarohnCharles MarohnSeptember 12, 2016schools

Strong TownsSeptember 10, 2016post roundup

The Fix Our Infrastructure Fallacy

Our decision during the 2016 election is not about whether or not to build infrastructure as a way to experience growth. No, our decision is about what to maintain and to what extent we will walk away from stuff we built in the past. The easy growth is done and has been for some time.

#InfrastructureCrisis, Top Story, Roads and Streets, Marohn, FinanceCharles MarohnSeptember 9, 2016Infrastructure, 2016 election

When will we learn?

A Raleigh home on a high-speed stroad has been hit by 6 different cars in the past nine years. This is a direct example of the way that street design can quite literally decrease the value of our places.

Paul Stewart on Neighborhood Revitalization

Paul Stewart, Executive Director of the Oswego Renaissance Association, talks about his work to revitalize neighborhoods in his town through historic preservation projects on local homes. Small investments = big returns.

Top Story, PodcastStrong TownsSeptember 8, 2016historic preservation, best podcast

You're an urbanist? Excellent. Why aren't you a developer yet?

I am serious about recruiting architects, planners, engineers, activists who consider themselves to be urbanists (new or otherwise) into the ranks of the small developer cohort because I think it is the best way for an urbanist to have an impact in a place they care about.

Show us your Strongest Infrastructure Project

We believe that a nation full of towns that take on small, incremental projects to improve their neighborhoods is a better model than a nation where the federal government goes trillions of dollars in debt in the hopes of growing the economy. To that end, you’re invited to nominate a project from your town that exemplifies Strong Towns principles in incremental, small bets.

#InfrastructureCrisisStrong TownsSeptember 8, 2016infrastructure contest

Corridor Connectivity Failures

Simple adjustments to neighborhood design could make these places far more walkable. But continuing to design with only cars in mind will remove what little walkability there is.

Walkability, Urban Design, Top Story, Strategies, Member Post, HousingBen KaplanSeptember 7, 2016streets

Counting Women Entrepreneurs

The number of women starting and owning businesses is on the rise.

Top Story, Member PostJoe CortrightSeptember 7, 2016Entrepreneurship, City Observatory

Stuck with Strip Malls

Strip malls are not the result of the free market choosing a preferred development pattern; They're the result of government regulations.

Big Box Stores, Zoning, Top Story, ParkingRachel QuednauSeptember 7, 2016shopping malls

Strong Towns in the Classroom

A Strong Towns member and college professor incorporates the Strong Towns Strength Test into his freshman seminar.

Success Story, Top StoryStrong TownsSeptember 6, 2016college

A Thousand Hidden Subsidies

Does anyone think the folks in the $700,000 suburban homes would be living there in anything like their current circumstances if they had to pave their own roads and pump water up to their own homes? Does anyone believe these homes would be worth $700,000 without the heavily subsidized public infrastructure?