Using routine traffic stops as a pretext to root out other types of crime is as disingenuous as it is unhelpful. We need to design intuitively safe streets—and then use traffic enforcement for the minority of drivers who are actually driving recklessly.
Read MoreThis week we held the semifinal round of our #StrongestTown contest. But we also brought you some fresh new content about cities from huge to tiny getting a bit stronger. Read about NYC’s new congestion pricing plan, Syracuse’s hope of undoing a costly past mistake, and how tiny Elkin, NC is being revived by its own residents, $100 at a time.
Read MoreThe votes are tallied, and it’s official: Pensacola, FL and Portsmouth, NH will vie for the title of Strongest Town! Tune in Monday at 12 noon CDT for a free live webcast with representatives of both towns, and then cast your vote!
Read MoreHow is it possible that so many of our cities are seeing their footprints grow, but their populations shrink? The answer to this paradox might surprise you.
Read MoreYour Strong Towns Knowledge Base question of the week, answered here.
Read MoreEvery other month we host a live webcast where Strong Towns members can ask their questions of our President Chuck Marohn and Communications Director Kea Wilson. Members: Don’t miss Ask Strong Towns on April 18th!
Read MoreIn many areas of modern life, the market provides a cornucopia of choices to accommodate people’s diverse needs, wants, and tastes: just visit a supermarket to see this. When it comes to housing options, though, the reality is starkly different.
Read MoreJeff Eidson—founder of Explore Elkin—shares story behind the idea Explore Elkin and how listeners can successfully create similar groups in their own cities and towns, including how to find and pitch a shared vision to residents, how to motivate residents stuck in a psychology of decline towards their city or town, and how to use the funds generated towards small bets.
Read MoreIf a local resident or business owner with a high school diploma can’t sit down and figure out what she can and cannot do with her property in less than an hour, the zoning regime is exclusionary. Here are five guidelines for making it more accessible to laypeople.
Read MoreNew York state transportation authorities have the opportunity to correct a historic mistake in Syracuse, by removing an obsolete freeway that tore the city in half decades ago. Will they do the right thing?
Read MoreWe’re down to four contestants in the 2019 Strongest Town Contest, and we interviewed a representative from each one of them. Hear them tell their towns’ stories in their own words, and then tell us which two cities you think should advance to the championship!
Read MoreCars take up a lot of space. And one way or another, that imposes very real costs on our cities. New York just took an important step toward acknowledging and covering those costs.
Read MoreThe #StrongestTown contest marches on! Find out who made the final four, and catch up on our best content you may have missed this week, including a look at the history of the humble fourplex, the power and potential of a local music scene, and a new report on what’s broken in state DOTs and how to fix it.
Read MoreYour Strong Towns Knowledge Base question of the week, answered here.
Read MoreWhich contestants made it to the final four?
Read MoreState transportation departments are often maddeningly resistant to change, and can be the biggest obstacle facing safe-streets advocates. A new article series from Smart Growth America digs deep into what has to happen—and is happening—to reform these agencies from the inside.
Read MoreMost apartments built today are in huge complexes along busy streets, not tucked away in quiet neighborhoods in “missing middle” buildings like fourplexes, which used to be common. But how did the missing middle go missing, anyway?
Read MoreJoanna Jurgens, Head of Business Affairs at Sofar Sounds, shares how you can foster a local music scene in your community, including how to awaken that DIY spirit that’s so essential to kickstarting a local music scene, how to identify low risk strategies for creating a venue, and how to get local elected officials involved in the process.
Read MoreWe asked members of the Strong Towns movement to comment on what they see as the biggest strengths and challenges of the 8 remaining contenders in our #StrongestTown competition. Here’s what they had to say.
Read MoreIt’s not just those who work in or with local government who have something to offer to the Strong Towns movement. Our work touches on deeper questions of how we live in community, and this is why we seek to learn from psychologists, philosophers, historians, and—in one classic 2013 podcast interview—even a religious scholar.
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