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

Small Town. Big Housing Crisis.

The housing crisis is hitting small, rural towns—often in even more stark and dire ways than in urban areas.

Herriges, Housing, Rural, Top StoryDaniel HerrigesOctober 27, 2021Housing, colorado, rural, Small Towns, small towns, housing crisis, Housing Crisis, housing cost

Sorry, but a $10 Million Sewer System Won't Fix Your Economy

This small town in Maine is hoping to breathe life back into its Main Street…but is looking for solutions in all the wrong places.

#InfrastructureCrisis, Infrastructure, Local Government, Quednau, Top StoryRachel QuednauOctober 26, 2021sewers, public investment, Infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure spending, Small Towns, small towns, local government

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

The Bottom-Up Revolution is... Helping Small Towns and Their People Thrive

Rebecca Undem lives in Oakes, ND, and runs the organization Growing Small Towns.

Podcast, The Bottom-Up Revolution, Success Story, Rural, Top StoryStrong TownsOctober 7, 2021The Bottom-Up Revolution, North Dakota, small towns, entrepreneurship, taking action

Grace Olmstead: The Legacy—and the Future—of the Places We’ve Left Behind

A conversation about small towns, the need to tell complicated rural stories, and what we owe to the places that formed us.

Podcast, Rural, Top StoryStrong TownsMarch 15, 2021rural, Idaho, Gracy Olmstead, Podcast, small towns, agriculture

Here's What *Not* to Do to Your Small-Town Main Street

How one small town in South Carolina destroyed everything that makes downtown downtown.

Roads and Streets, Rural, Top StoryDaniel HerrigesDecember 3, 2020STROADS, South Carolina, small towns, rural, highways, downtown, main street, Traditional Main Street

A Plan for Building Strong Rural Communities

Local governments need to be repositioned to advocate up instead of merely administering down. As an alternative to populist fervor or broad disenfranchisement, this is the kind of authentic representation that Rural America needs.

Rural, Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnNovember 30, 2020rural, Small Towns, small towns

How Can A Dying Town Recover? With a Recovery Center

The paths to recovery for a small town and for an addict have much in common. And sometimes those paths can converge.

Rural, Top StoryScott WintonOctober 14, 2020small towns, rural, decline, addiction

When the Feds Believed in Strong Towns

After World War II, the federal government subsidized a massive suburban experiment that was completely unprecedented in human history. But—as a mostly-forgotten 1942 manual by the Department of Commerce makes clear—it didn’t have to be that way.

Urban Design, Growth Ponzi SchemeMatthew RobareJuly 13, 2020History, Growth Ponzi Scheme, growth, small towns, federal government

Small Towns are Dying. Can They Be Saved?

Small towns are the most fragile communities in a fragile country. What’s going wrong—and can it be made right again?

Upzoned, Top Story, PodcastStrong TownsJune 24, 2020rural, small towns, Upzoned, Podcast

Local Leaders Are Reshaping America One Small Town at a Time

13 things the smartest small town leaders are doing to create stronger, more vibrant communities.

Rural, Studer, Top StoryQuint StuderMarch 6, 2020small towns, rural, Quint Studer, Pensacola

Why Do We Think Walkable Towns Are Only for Tourists?

Great urbanism: if it’s good enough for a vacation, then it’s good enough for everyday life.

Walkability, HerrigesDaniel HerrigesMarch 5, 2020walkability, tourism, small towns, traditional development pattern, main street, Traditional Main Street

Walkable? Check. Urban? Check. Rural? Also Check.

Compact development isn’t just for big cities. Some of the best walkable urbanism in the world is in the smallest towns. And embracing this is the key to enjoying the best of both worlds: urban and rural.

Herriges, Top StoryDaniel HerrigesFebruary 17, 2020small towns, walkability, rural, Ireland, Europe, narrow streets, urbanism

What happens when an entire region of rural communities buys into the same bad approach to development?

Rural communities across the Midwest are careening toward collapse, and all at the same time. What this means for the region as a whole. Small towns need Strong Towns too.

Rural, Strong America Tour, Strong Towns Book, Membership, Top StoryJohn PattisonNovember 11, 2019Small Towns, small towns, Iowa, midwest, growth, Strong America Book, membership, Farming

"They left us a good place."

The downtown may not seem as vibrant as it once was. But there is more there than meets the eye, and this community in Pennsylvania is using the arts to build a future every bit as bright as its past.

Rural, Strong America Tour, Top StoryOren HelbokNovember 5, 2019small towns, Pennsylvania, arts, placemaking, creative placemaking, Strong America Tour, Strong America Book

Welcome Home: Moving from a Strong City to a Strong Town

They left a city that is the envy of urbanists everywhere, for a small town seemingly in the middle of nowhere. The cofounder of the Little Free Libraries movement reflects on what makes his rural community strong.

Strong America Tour, Rural, Top StoryRick BrooksNovember 4, 2019rural, Illinois, Madison, Wisconsin, small towns, Strong America Book

"We Watch Out for Each Other."

As the demographics of a small Minnesota town change, people there are discovering the power of social capital and a rich associational life. Here’s how some residents of St. James came to feel at home for the very first time.

Strong America Tour, Rural, Top StorySouthern Minnesota Initiative FoundationOctober 31, 2019Minnesota, SMIF, immigration, nonprofit sector, philanthropy, race, Strong America Book, Strong America Tour, small towns, social capital

My Journey from Free Market Ideologue to Strong Towns Advocate, Part 2: Pequot Lakes Bypass

Early in my career, I helped plan a highway bypass for a small town that I was sure would generate a positive return on investment in the form of economic growth. The only problem? The actual numbers we calculated told a different story.