Strong Towns and Race

We have a lot of work ahead at Strong Towns to meaningfully engage people of color and to grow the racial diversity of our movement. We’re committed to doing that work.

Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnApril 15, 2019race, Ferguson

Where Bicycles Meet Race: A Conversation With Dr. Adonia Lugo

An interview with Dr. Adonia Lugo, author of Bicycle / Race: Transportation, Culture & Resistance, about broadening bike advocacy to look beyond physical infrastructure to the “human infrastructure” of the communities we build around bicycling.

WIlson, Taking Action, Bikeability, Top StoryKea WilsonFebruary 6, 2019cycling, advocacy, Los Angeles, race

We'll Make The World a Better Place By (Insert Your Planning Fad Here)

This week on the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck discusses the role of planning in correcting for legacies of segregation and inequality. Is more enlightened policy enough to change course? Or do we need to more fundamentally rethink who has the power to shape cities?

Podcast, Top StoryStrong TownsDecember 10, 2018redlining, race, planning profession

Absolution and the Changing American City

How can we be fair judges of city builders in the past while still maintaining a critical eye toward their failings?

Podcast, CNU, Urban DesignStrong TownsJune 21, 2018architecture, race, history

Housing Reparations for Northeast Portland

Attention freeway builders! Want to make up for dividing the community and destroying neighborhoods? How about replacing the homes you demolished?

#NoNewRoads, Top Story, Urban RenewalJoe CortrightApril 19, 2018Portland OR, race

On the Pine Ridge Reservation, Massive Barriers Hinder Growth of a Local Economy

A lack of access to land and equity prevents Native communities from gaining real wealth.

Mark St. PierreApril 3, 2018local economy, race, native american

Dangerous Streets Often Hurt Low-Income Neighborhoods the Most

In the city of Milwaukee, like so many other communities, it is the poorest residents who bear the brunt of dangerous street design.

#SlowtheCars, Top StoryVianca FusterMarch 20, 2018Milwaukee, pedestrian safety, race, poverty

Calming the Waters: How to Address Both Gentrification AND Concentrated Poverty

Overheated rhetoric and protest from all sides over neighborhood change are a reflection of the insecurity many of us feel over the future of places we love.

Housing, Herriges, Planning Profession, Top StoryDaniel HerrigesFebruary 26, 2018gentrification, race, poverty, affordable housing

Podcast: Are Bike Lanes White Lanes?

Kea Wilson interviews author Melody Hoffman about why protected bike lanes aren't always the best way to get people biking and why a more comprehensive, community-based strategy is needed.

Bikeability, PodcastStrong TownsJanuary 4, 2018gentrification, race

Who Benefits From Neighborhood Improvements?

If urbanists want a successful, lasting renaissance of inner-city neighborhoods, they should allow the people who stuck it out through the lean years a controlling stake in their neighborhoods' rebirth.

Herriges, Top Story, HousingDaniel HerrigesNovember 1, 2017gentrification, race, poverty, development

By Any Other Name: Gentrification or Economic Exclusion?

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.

Housing, Herriges, Top EvergreenDaniel HerrigesOctober 10, 2017race, gentrification, poverty, Economic Development

Podcast: Approaching a Divided America with Open Eyes

Writer Chris Arnade talks about a life getting to know people on the margins of society—people living in poverty and dealing with addiction—and the struggles of small towns in America.

PodcastStrong TownsSeptember 14, 2017poverty, 2016 election, race

Podcast: Bikeshare and Equity

In this podcast, Caressa Givens, Community Engagement Coordinator for Milwaukee, Wisconsin's bike share program, Bublr, discusses issues of equity, access, and gentrification as they relate to bike share.

Bikeability, Podcast, Top StoryStrong TownsSeptember 7, 2017bike share, gentrification, race

This new suburban place has some lessons for old suburban places.

Montgomery County, MD is trying to build a new kind of suburb. It hasn't totally worked but there are lessons to be learned nonetheless.

Top Story, Urban DesignDan ReedAugust 23, 2017suburbs, Greater Greater Washington, race

The Promise of Durham

Can this mid-sized city save the American Dream?

Top StoryMike GreenAugust 22, 2017race, Entrepreneurship, small business

What does "gentrification" really mean?

Everyone seems to have an opinion on gentrification. But what does the word actually mean?

Housing, WIlson, Top EvergreenKea WilsonAugust 2, 2017gentrification, race, poverty, page highlight, Economic Development

On the Outside, Looking In

African Americans are moving to the suburbs in increasing numbers. While that's a promising sign of upward mobility, it could also mean they get left behind in declining neighborhoods, just as they once were during the era of white flight.

Pete SaundersJuly 26, 2017race, suburbs

A History of Zoning, Part II: The Problem Zoning Solves

The real impetus for the invention of zoning regulations was a desire to protect and enshrine the single-family home as the most virtuous and sacrosanct urban form.

Top Story, Zoning, GardnerSpencer GardnerJuly 18, 2017race, poverty

The History of Urban Freeways: Who Counts?

The only problem this highway project seeks to solve is, "How do we move more vehicles through Shreveport?" The perspective of residents whose neighborhood would be destroyed by the highway seems to count for nothing.