New Tools To Visualize How Your City Could Benefit From Incremental Development

The American Enterprise Institute has released some impressive—and free—data tools for understanding housing markets and development potential. And as a bonus, attend their upcoming talks if you’re in California!

Herriges, Housing, Incrementalism, Top Story, Incremental HousingDaniel HerrigesSeptember 16, 2022housing, housing crisis, incrementalism, incremental development, incremental, Incremental Housing, Housing Crisis, walkability, California, events, event, maps

Letting Ugly Things Grow

If you value the end state of a walkable, diverse, dynamic place with a lot of local character, then you must also value the process that gets you there.

Herriges, Incrementalism, Urban Design, Top Story, Incremental HousingDaniel HerrigesSeptember 7, 2022urban design, urbanism, aesthetics, ecology, incremental growth, incrementalism, incremental

We Often Don’t Think About Design—But It Tells Us How To Think

Design affects us in a multitude of ways, and when we look to nature as inspiration for designing the built environment, the core takeaways are: adaptation and incrementalism.

Incrementalism, Sheppard, Zoning, Top StorySeairra SheppardAugust 9, 2022design, urban design, Neighborhood Design, aesthetics, incrementalism, incremental, incremental development, incremental growth, zoning, traditional development pattern

Spokane Opens the Door for Middle Housing Expansion

Last week, the city council of Spokane, WA, voted on a truly “bold, transformational package” that will allow for more forms of missing-middle housing and infill development in the city.

Incremental Development and Mass Construction

Strong Towns founding member Seth Zeren stopped by the Mass Construction podcast recently for a conversation on incremental development, New Urbanism, and the Strong Towns movement.

Incrementalism, Podcast, Top StoryJay StangeJuly 25, 2022construction, Podcast, podcast, guest podcast, incrementalism, incremental, Incremental Development Alliance, Congress for the New Urbanism

Oak Tree Road and the Second Life Cycle Blues

Small-scale, incremental development works in the suburbs too, if we let it.

Incrementalism, Suburban Experiment, Top StoryAddison Del MastroJuly 21, 2022Addison Del Mastro, immigrants, immigration, incremental development, incrementalism, incremental, strip malls, suburbs, suburban development pattern, New Jersey, second life cycle, suburban experiment

A Recent Lawsuit Uses “Environmentalism” To Argue Against Walkable, Compact Development in Minneapolis. What the Heck Is Going On?

The environmental groups suing Minneapolis to block implementation of its groundbreaking 2040 Plan have a limited understanding of environmentalism, but a keen grasp of how to slow down policy reform.

Environment, Incrementalism, Herriges, Zoning, Top StoryDaniel HerrigesJune 22, 2022Climate Change, climate, environment, Minnesota, Minneapolis, zoning, NIMBY, incremental growth, incremental development, incrementalism, infill

This “Homegrown Project” Offers a Place To Thrive for Small Business Owners

These pop-up shops in Berwyn, IL, are a great example of how communities can provide low-cost, low-risk spaces for local business owners to get their foot in the door.

Incrementalism, Sheppard, Success Story, Top StorySeairra SheppardJune 14, 2022pop-up, small business, local business, incremental, incrementalism, Illinois, business, localism, small bets, success, success stories

Legalizing Incremental Change—Everywhere—To Meet America’s Housing Needs

For too long, our housing policy has put investor returns and macroeconomic goals over the universal human need for shelter. The Strong Towns approach to incremental housing is a badly needed corrective.

Reflections on Seaside

What does and doesn’t work about the “great-granddaddy” of New Urbanism?

Walkability, Urban Design, Incrementalism, Top StorySeth ZerenApril 22, 2022Florida, urbanism, New Urbanism, urban planning, urban design, placemaking, human scale, incrementalism, incremental development, incremental, traditional development pattern, walkability

House Hacking: Urbanism at Its Smallest and Most Personal

This catalog is a primer on house hacking, with plenty of real-life examples of how it is done.

CNU, Housing, Incrementalism, Top StoryRobert SteutevilleApril 7, 2022housing, housing affordability, housing cost, housing activism, Housing, small scale developers, small scale development, incremental development, incremental, incrementalism

Bringing Gentle Density to Memphis

These brothers are pushing for incremental infill development in Memphis, Tennessee, with a community they’re building just north of downtown.

What Does “Radical Neighborhood Change” Look Like?

“No neighborhood should be exempt from change. No neighborhood should be subjected to radical change.” Let’s examine what this core Strong Towns principle actually means.

Herriges, Incrementalism, Neighborhoods, Top StoryDaniel HerrigesJanuary 27, 2022strong towns approach, development pattern, Development, development, traditional development pattern, neighborhood change, neighborhood, Neighborhoods, Neighborhood Design, Small Change, incremental, incrementalism

How Big Is an Incremental Step? Let's #DoTheMath

For our real-estate markets to allow incremental development to be economically viable, there are some challenges we need to confront.

#DotheMath, Incrementalism, Small Scale Developers, Top StorySeth ZerenJanuary 20, 2022incremental development, incrementalism, incremental growth, incremental, next increment, real estate, housing, Housing, housing cost, developers, #DoTheMath

Eden Center: Is This Strip Mall Paradise?

If we’re going to be stuck with strip malls, then this one in Virginia is about as fine-grained and urban as it gets.

Incrementalism, Success Story, Top StoryAddison Del MastroJanuary 18, 2022strip malls, incrementalism, immigrants, small business, local business, placemaking, success, success stories, Addison Del Mastro, fine-grained

To Airbnb or Not to Airbnb

You might love them or you might hate them, but as small-scale developer Bernice Radle reveals, short-term rentals can be a very nuanced discussion.

Incrementalism, Small Scale Developers, Top StoryBernice RadleJanuary 14, 2022airbnb, small scale developers, small scale development, incremental development, Incremental Development Alliance

Unleash the Swarm: A New E-book on Reviving Small-Scale Development

This new Strong Towns e-book explores what it would take to revive small-scale development as a force significant enough to shape and grow our cities.

Announcement, Herriges, Incrementalism, Small Scale Developers, Top StoryDaniel HerrigesDecember 13, 2021eBook, announcement, incremental, incremental development, small-scale developers, small scale developers, small scale development, series

4 Reality TV Lessons for Your Town

Your small town had a 1 in 5,000 chance to receive a reality TV makeover. What can the other 4,999 learn?

Incrementalism, Pattison, Rural, Top StoryJohn PattisonNovember 12, 2021asset-based community development, rural, small towns, television, Home Town Takeover, HGTV, revitalization, Oswego Renaissance Association

The Big Fiscal Impact of Small Upzonings

This study conducted in the U.K. supports concepts about incrementalism that could, and should, be adopted in North American places.

Herriges, Housing, Incrementalism, Top StoryDaniel HerrigesNovember 4, 2021Europe, upzoning, incremental development, incrementalism, incremental, housing, Housing

The Gathering "Swarm" of Small-Scale Developers

What will it take to get back the ecosystems of tradespeople, laborers, lenders, and small-scale developers who made incremental development possible in the past?