An Ode to Donald Shoup

For #BlackFridayParking week, we’re paying homage to Donald Shoup, whose work has been hugely influential to Strong Towns.

Marohn, Parking, #BlackFridayParking, Top StoryCharles MarohnNovember 24, 2021Parking, parking, #BlackFridayParking, Donald Shoup

Where Parking Reform Ideas Go to Die...or Not?

You might be used to good ideas getting killed by committee. Here’s some inspiration to keep pushing, regardless.

#BlackFridayParking, Marohn, Parking, Top StoryCharles MarohnNovember 24, 2021Brainerd MN, parking, parking minimums, #BlackFridayParking, success, success stories

The Next Generation of Strong Towns Leaders

The next generation of local leaders won’t consign themselves to serving as wards of the state. Instead, they’ll step up as the highest level of organizing for members of a community.

Local Government, Marohn, Membership, Top StoryCharles MarohnNovember 18, 2021local government, leadership, member drive, membership

What Question Brought You to Strong Towns?

Is there a question that brought you to this movement? What answer were you seeking when you first found us?

Membership, Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnNovember 15, 2021member drive, membership

My Journey from Free Market Ideologue to Strong Towns Advocate, Revisited

I’ve had to reconcile my foundational belief in markets with my experiences working with cities. This has been a painful process.

Marohn, #InfrastructureCrisis, Engineering Profession, Infrastructure, Local Government, Top StoryCharles MarohnOctober 25, 2021Market Urbanism, Local Government Aid, infrastructure cost, Minnesota, small towns, Infrastructure, infrastructure, engineers, engineering profession, local gov

Will We Have an Infrastructure Bill? Who Cares?

We get a lot of questions about a federal infrastructure bill, but at the end of the day…does it really matter?

#InfrastructureCrisis, Federal Government, Marohn, Infrastructure, Top StoryCharles MarohnOctober 4, 2021infrastructure bill, Infrastructure, infrastructure cult, federal government, American Jobs Plan

The Strong Towns Hiring Process

We often get questions about our hiring process, so we’ve laid it all out here so that others can put it to use in building their own teams.

Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnSeptember 20, 2021Jobs, Strong Towns

The Environment Question

Where does the Strong Towns approach intersect with environmentalism?

Marohn, Roads and Streets, Walkability, Top StoryCharles MarohnSeptember 16, 2021environment, strong towns approach, Electric Vehicles, walkability, streets

Learning from Biology, Not Physics

In general, engineers treat cities like a physics problem, but what we need is engineers who are able to humbly grasp the overwhelming complexity of human habitat and work.

Confessions Book, Engineering Profession, Marohn, Transportation, Top StoryCharles MarohnSeptember 10, 2021engineering profession, engineering ethics, engineers, leadership, confessions book, Confessions of a Recovering Engineer, confessions excerpt

The Bottom-Up Revolution is... Taking a Strong Towns Approach to Transportation

Chuck Marohn joins this week’s show to talk about his new book.

Podcast, The Bottom-Up Revolution, Success Story, Marohn, Engineering Profession, Top StoryStrong TownsSeptember 9, 2021The Bottom-Up Revolution, Confessions of a Recovering Engineer, books, taking action

"Improvements"

So many engineering projects are formally called "improvements." The subtle bias of this language provides a glimpse at the values embedded within the profession.

All Traffic Models Are Wrong

Traffic engineers use projections of future traffic to make recommendations and decisions on transportation investments… The problem is, those projections are all wrong.

#InfrastructureCrisis, #NoNewRoads, Confessions Book, Engineering Profession, Infrastructure, Marohn, Transportation, Top StoryCharles MarohnSeptember 7, 2021traffic projections, traffic engineering, Confessions of a Recovering Engineer, confessions book, engineering profession, Infrastructure, confessions excerpt

Just Another Pedestrian Killed

This one’s on you, engineering profession. Society is done tolerating this level of indifference, incompetence, and incoherence. What are you going to do?

#SlowtheCars, Walkability, For Newcomers, Greatest Hits, Engineering Profession, Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnSeptember 2, 2021Safety, safety, #PedestrianUnfriendly, Pedestrian Safety, engineering ethics, engineering profession, traffic engineering

Chuck Marohn Answers Your Questions

We get a lot of questions over at the Action Lab, and today we’re going to answer some of them!

Podcast, Action Lab, #SlowtheCars, Marohn, Top Story, ST PodcastStrong TownsAugust 30, 2021Podcast, Strong Towns Community, Action Lab, #SlowTheCars, incrementalism, incremental development, local economy

Iterating to Safety (Excerpt from Confessions of a Recovering Engineer)

We need to #SlowTheCars on every street that's been the site of an auto-related fatality. The best way to do so? Through an iterative approach.

#SlowtheCars, Confessions Book, Marohn, Roads and Streets, Transportation, Top StoryCharles MarohnAugust 30, 2021iteration, streets, Pedestrian Safety, Safety, Street Design, Confessions of a Recovering Engineer, confessions book, #SlowTheCars, confessions excerpt

The Spooky Wisdom of Pompeii

What lessons can we glean about anti-fragility and human psychology from a 2,000-year-old fast food restaurant?

Marohn, Strong Towns Book, Top StoryCharles MarohnAugust 23, 2021history, pompeii, spooky wisdom, Strong Towns Book, traditional development pattern, human scale, psychology

The Projections Fallacy

We spend billions every year on our transportation network, large percentages of it based on traffic projections—despite the fact that we don’t accurately project traffic.

Engineering Profession, Mistakes A Town Makes, Roads and Streets, Marohn, Transportation, Top StoryCharles MarohnAugust 16, 2021traffic projections, traffic congestion, engineers, engineering profession, transportation, traffic engineering

Automated Vehicles Will Make Our Streets Worse

Automated vehicle technology will do nothing to make our streets better places to be.

Marohn, Transportation, Roads and Streets, Top StoryCharles MarohnAugust 12, 2021autonomous vehicles, auto-oriented, cars, technology

The Key to Slowing Traffic is Street Design, Not Speed Limits

Two simple photos show the difference between a street simply designated as 20 mph, and one actually designed to be safe. We can't regulate our way to safety.

#SlowtheCars, Roads and Streets, Greatest Hits, Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnAugust 5, 2021speed, traffic engineering, engineers, transportation

Our Transportation Budget Is a Fraud We Perpetuate on Ourselves

The Senate has agreed to discuss an infrastructure bill…but what does it matter when real reform isn't going to come from multitrillion-dollar infrastructure proposals?