A Town Well Planned

If zoning codes are the primary tool in a planner's toolbox, that's a problem. Here's a three part system that would offer a better way for planners to design cities.

Dukes, Top Story, Zoning, Planning ProfessionAlexander DukesMarch 14, 2017Land Use, Form-Based Code, Street Design, town well planned

How to Improve Your Town’s Bike Network on a Budget

These low-cost strategies will make biking easier and safer in any community.

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.

A Better Way

A new community center could've fallen victim to the typical auto-oriented public project pitfalls. Instead, local designers created a walkable, bikeable neighborhood amenity that is spurring fresh development.

Why Cities and Walking Go Hand in Hand

My urban walks in cities around the world have shown me the richness of places that embrace walking, and why encouraging walkable environments in cities is quite simply the right thing to do.

Walkability, Urban Design, Top Story, Planning ProfessionSandy JamesAugust 23, 2016Ohio, New York

Talking about Antifragility (Pt. 1)

The history of city planning is largely a story of meddling and overreaction creating ever more fragile cities by reducing any apparent volatility while increasing debt, building out a system that is not financially productive, and ruining the neighborhoods of our most disadvantaged residents.

The Doughnut of Despair? Not Quite

Do we want to make life easy on the experts, or make Detroit a better place that can also pay its bills?

An Interview with Seth Zeren

"At Strong Towns, there's this recognition that we're all coming from different backgrounds, but we all recognize we share these principles. We're all co-participants in this process. The objective is not to train a cadre of city managers to run towns; it's so much more than that." - Seth Zeren

Top Story, Podcast, Planning Profession, CNUStrong TownsJune 21, 2016

An interview with Janette Sadik-Khan

Janette Sadik-Khan discusses her experience as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation, focusing on bottom-up action through smaller projects like plazas and bike access, instead of megaprojects that cost millions.

CNU, Roads and Streets, Planning Profession, #ChaoticButSmart, PodcastStrong TownsJune 10, 2016New York, cnu24

An Interview with Andres Duany

Andres Duany is an American architect and urban planner, a co-founder of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), and the author of several books including Suburban Nation. In this interview, Chuck Marohn and Andres Duany discuss the founding and growth of the new urbanist movement, gentrification, and the future of the suburbs.

CNU, Podcast, Planning Profession, Urban DesignStrong TownsJune 2, 2016Andres Duany, architecture

Better towns through stress

Here are 4 different types of stress that can help our cities become strong towns.

Non-Typical City Planner Thinking

Wes Craiglow is pushing for more productive land use and a better per acre return on investment in his town of Conway, AR.

Comeback City: CNU in Detroit

Everybody loves a city that will not stay down. In 2016, that’s Detroit.

Jane Jacobs, an urban ecologist

Cities are complex ecosystems. For areas in need of redevelopment, the only way to return to a healthy urban fabric is incrementally, a few small projects a year until the neighborhood has buildings of every age and condition, suitable for adaptation to the particular needs of some future time.

The Full Force of Urban Renewal

While Jane Jacobs was fighting and winning some battles against Urban Renewal in our cities, many, many more were victims to this hubristic program. My city, Mankato MN, was one of the hardest hit.

Urban Design, Top Story, Planning Profession, LeyrerMatthias LeyrerMay 5, 2016Jane Jacobs, Mankato MN, Urban Renewal

Jane Jacobs and Decentralized Planning

Nolan Gray, a writer for Market Urbanism, analyzes Jane Jacobs' work in light of Hayekian philosophy and discusses the need to move away from central planning.

Urban Design, Top Story, Podcast, Planning ProfessionStrong TownsMay 4, 2016Jane Jacobs

Who Plans?: Jane Jacobs’ Hayekian critique of urban planning

Jane Jacobs’ critique of the orthodox urban planning tradition unfolds in three steps, closely following F.A. Hayek’s argument in The Use of Knowledge in Society.