A Walk in Hoboken: What Makes It Different?

Hoboken, NJ, has gained fame online for its safe streets. But does this urbanist’s paradise live up to the hype, in person? We sent Strong Towns Staff Writer Asia Mieleszko to do some on-the-ground investigating to find out.

The Bottom-Up Revolution Is...Helping First-Time Homebuyers Realize Their Dreams

Deatra Kemp oversees homebuyer coaching, lending, and home rehab programs that help first-time homebuyers realize their dream of owning a home.

Podcast, Top StoryStrong TownsFebruary 29, 2024The Bottom-Up Revolution, Incremental Housing, homeowners, home buyer, wisconsin

To Change the Behavior, Change the Environment: Lessons From the Blue Zones

This Netflix documentary about regions of the world with higher-than-average life expectancies holds some key insights for anyone who wants to see North American cities become thriving, healthy places for people.

Emma Durand-Wood, Top Story, TrendingEmma Durand-WoodFebruary 29, 2024seniors, aging in place, urban design, community, design

New Apartments and the “What If” Game

Here’s one important question to ask about how your city regulates housing.

Herriges, Top StoryDaniel HerrigesFebruary 28, 2024Incremental Housing, missing middle, single-family, multi-family, housing policy

Dallas Used To Be Walkable

Dallas wasn't built for the car: it was paved over for it. This new bill can help it rebuild.

Tony Jordan and Chris Meyer: Pushing for People Over Parking

Tony Jordan of the Parking Reform Network and Chris Meyer, legislative assistant to Senator Omar Fateh, talk all things parking reform on this week’s episode of the Strong Towns Podcast.

Podcast, Top StoryStrong TownsFebruary 26, 2024podcast, end parking mandates and subsidies, parking minimums, minnesota, success stories

The Mayor Who Tried to Stop a Highway

When Mike McGinn didn’t see any other mayoral candidates challenging a proposed highway expansion project in Seattle, he stepped up to the plate and won the election. This is the story of his ensuing fight to stop his city from making a costly mistake.

Trending, Top StoryAsia MieleszkoFebruary 26, 2024end highway expansion, washington, freeway widening, infrastructure cost, highways

Is Your City Stopping Highway Expansion? This Press Template Can Help.

And whatever you do, don’t repeat Canada’s mistake.

Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnFebruary 26, 2024end highway expansion, canada, federal government, federal funding, infrastructure cost

Utah Strong Towns Group Takes City Council Candidates for a Ride

This Local Conversation group wanted to make their local government more aware of their city’s cycling infrastructure...and what better way to do so than by inviting the city council on a bike ride?

Community Stories, Top StoryBen AbramsonFebruary 23, 2024local conversations, utah, biking, safe and productive streets, advocacy, bikeability

Snow Days Tell Us a Lot About the Fragility of Our Cities

Even just a little bit of snow can reveal a lot about the vulnerability of the suburban development pattern.

Edward ErfurtEdward ErfurtFebruary 23, 2024snow, fragility, schools, buses, suburban development pattern

Undoing the Downtown Monoculture

Downtowns are the symbolic heart and soul of a city, and the economic center, writes Emma Durand-Wood. To build a resilient one, you need diversity in housing, jobs, shops, services, and more.

Could This New Approach to Public Housing Actually Work?

A suburb of Washington, DC is exploring a new approach to creating more affordable housing through public-private partnerships.

Podcast, Top StoryStrong TownsFebruary 21, 2024upzoned, podcast, public housing, affordable housing

Going After Corporate Homebuyers is Good Politics but Ineffective Policy

Investors in the Housing Market: Myths Versus Reality — and other reasons why scapegoating corporate homebuyers is a distraction from solving housing dysfunction at the root.

Herriges, Top StoryDaniel HerrigesFebruary 21, 2024advocacy

The Symbols in the City

Everything in the city communicates something about what we value.

Owens, Top StoryTiffany Owens ReedFebruary 20, 2024safe and productive streets, sidewalks

Roundabouts and Raised Crosswalks Alone Won’t Slow Traffic

If any city or county wants to be effective in creating a safer street, they’ll develop multiple responses to calming traffic, instead of relying on only one or two changes that still prioritize thru-traffic.

Top StorySeairra JonesFebruary 20, 2024safe and productive streets, Crash Analysis Studio, car crash, maryland, Crosswalk

Eric Goldwyn: Why U.S. Transit Is So Expensive (and How To Fix It)

Eric Goldwyn, a leading urban scholar and program director at the Marron Institute of Urban Management, joins us to talk about the importance of both transit and local government.

Podcast, Top StoryStrong TownsFebruary 19, 2024podcast, transit, transparent local accounting, local government

Cities Can't Be About Moving Cars

Some complain that getting rid of parking mandates is just an underhanded way of making auto use harder and harder in cities. But harder for whom, exactly?

Is Tracking Traffic Deaths a Priority in Your City?

If cities cared about traffic deaths, we would witness them taking an urgent response to crashes, and we would see city halls tracking traffic deaths in real time, because a new fatal crash would mobilize people.

Top StoryAsia MieleszkoFebruary 16, 2024car crash, safe and productive streets, vision zero, traffic engineering, maps

America *Must* End Highway Expansions

Until we have a credible plan for maintaining our existing transportation infrastructure, we must stop building more roads and bridges. Period.

There’s More Than One Way To Save a Street Tree

When trees get cut down to make way for new development, it can raise people’s hackles. But here’s why we can embrace both infill development and still care about our urban trees.

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