If we’re serious about reorienting our local government towards the urgent needs of people, it’s not enough to invite them to a “table” they neither own nor control.
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What cities are spending money on besides police departments, poverty as a public health crisis, birdwatching during quarantine, and more. Here are a few stories from around the web that the Strong Towns staff were reading and talking about this week.
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In a “car place,” pedestrians are grudgingly tolerated. In a “pedestrian place,” cars are allowed to visit. We need a lot more of the latter. Here’s where to start.
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The individualism so embodied and celebrated in American culture is kept afloat by a fragile affluence. What happens when that affluence starts to crumble?
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The word “virtue” may seem old-fashioned, but don’t be put off. Here are three virtues that should guide our work to build stronger, more financially resilient places.
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Small-scale developers are an important part of building strength and prosperity. If anything, that’s more true now than it was before COVID-19.
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Even as more of our lives move online, homemade signage is making a comeback in the neighborhood.
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Some thought the pandemic would unite a polarized country. Instead it seems to be tearing us further apart. Can a divided America be put back together again?
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Do insolvent cities rely too much on fines and fees to make up their budget shortfalls? And is there a connection between an over-reliance on fines and controversial policing?
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It’s easy for “maintaining” our public investments to become “upgrading” our public investments. Especially when there is money available. And especially when that money is borrowed.
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Just as the pandemic has revealed how interconnected we all are, it has also exposed the extent to which we have dis-integrated and dis-membered our society.
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Making a street safer, more bikeable, and more accessible should be a no-brainer…right? But skeptics in Topeka—and probably in your city too—are hung up on two chicken-and-egg problems.
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Many cities that aren’t high on a trendy list of up-and-coming places to live may actually be uniquely positioned to weather the COVID-19 storm.
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America's urban renaissance is real. And it’s not limited to the Bostons and San Franciscos of the world.
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Diverging diamonds are forever, apparently. But don’t say they’re for pedestrians.
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Radical experiments inside the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, how COVID-19 is impacting housing design, the loss of trust in “the highly credentialed,” and more. Here are stories from around the web that the Strong Towns staff have been reading and talking about this week.
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Two residents of Santa Monica have ideas on how their city can adjust to new budget realities with focus and creativity. We think it’s an example for Strong Citizens everywhere.
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The best approaches to affordable housing solve other problems at the same time. This and other lessons from “the Michael Jordan of urban planners.”
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A conversation with a judge after a jury trial reveals the less obvious—yet shockingly high—costs of the suburban experiment.
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In the early days of the Strong Towns movement, two supporters helped connect our work to deeper, more ancient conversations about politics, economy, and culture. They continue to inspire.
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