The Elements of a City: Structures, Conduits, and Interfaces

To build a strong city, you first have to understand the building blocks you’re working with and how they fit together.

The Design That’s Failing Phoenix—One Crash at a Time

If crashes happen in the same place over and over, is it really an accident? Phoenix residents say no—and they have the data to prove it.

After Another Fatal Crash, He Drew a Crosswalk. Now He Might Face Jailtime.

The latest fatality on a Charlottesville road was the last straw for Kevin Cox, but his efforts to make the area safer might land him twelve months of jailtime. What if cities saw actions like his not as crimes—but as calls for change?

Top StoryAsia MieleszkoJune 2, 2025crime, safe and productive streets, Crash Analysis Studio, car crash, virginia

4 Ways To Build Homes and Expand Opportunity, With Cullum Clark

Cullum Clark, a director at the George W. Bush Institute, discusses housing reforms that have proven to be economically feasible, politically realistic, and impactful on a large scale. (Transcript included.)

Podcast, Top StoryStrong TownsJune 2, 2025podcast, Incremental Housing, housing policy, housing market, economics

Governing Like Caesar with Jesus in Mind: Why Cities Fail When They Plan Top-Down and Hope Bottom-Up

"Jane Jacobs ends through Robert Moses means" is the modus operandi of many planners and advocates. It's also a total misunderstanding of both the brilliance of Jacobs and the shortcomings of Moses.

Breaking News: Grassroots Bench Builders Score a Win in Bay Area

What began as a quiet act of care—building benches where none existed—just got the City of Richmond’s official blessing.

Top StoryAsia MieleszkoMay 30, 2025safe and productive streets, bus, tactical urbanism, transit

This Tool Makes Municipal Finance… Fun?

Over 20 communities have used the Finance Decoder to turn dense spreadsheets into clear direction—proving that financial transparency doesn’t have to be dull.

Top StoryStrong TownsMay 30, 2025Finance Decoder, financial solvency, ohio, utah, transparent local accounting

What do these cities in Wisconsin and Texas have in common? They ditched parking mandates.

How much does parking cost? Enough to make cities rethink whether it should be mandatory at all.

Top StoryStrong TownsMay 29, 2025end parking mandates and subsidies, texas, wisconsin, parking pricing, Land Use

Noah Roth: How Animation Can Build Strong Cities

Noah Roth is the founder of Streetcraft, a platform that uses visual storytelling and urban design to explore and improve the built environment. (Transcript included.)

Podcast, Top StoryStrong TownsMay 29, 2025podcast, The Bottom-Up Revolution, Street Design, advocacy, arts

One Intersection. 28 Crashes. Locals Say No More.

By embracing the Crash Analysis Studio model, New Haven residents are shifting the conversation away from blame and towards preventing the next tragedy.

Bottom-Up Shorts: How State Governments Can Foster Strong Towns

Danny Lapin is a revitalization specialist with the New York State Department of State. He and Norm discuss the ways that New York state is encouraging bottom-up community development. (Transcript included.)

How to Escape the Housing Crisis, With Jeff Speck

Today, Chuck is joined by Jeff Speck, a city planner, author, and principal of an urban design and consultancy firm. They discuss the ideas shared in Chuck’s book “Escaping the Housing Trap” and how those concepts play out in the real world, including examples from Jeff’s own work. (Transcript included.)

Cities of Yes: 6 Places Opening the Door to More Housing

By clearing the path for more homes in more places, these places aren’t just tweaking policy—they’re rewriting the rules to build stronger, more resilient communities.

Top StoryStrong TownsMay 27, 2025Incremental Housing, housing market, housing policy, bottom-up, neighborhoods

What Happens to Your City When the Federal Check Doesn’t Clear?

We’re not just looking at a future where cities can’t count on federal support. We’re facing one where Washington itself might be powerless to intervene, even if it wanted to.

Can Loosening Parking Rules Unlock Madison’s Missing Middle?

What do expensive rent, stalled construction projects, and endless parking lots have in common? Mandatory parking minimums. But in cities like Madison, Wisconsin, that might change soon.

Rachel Leonardo: How Social Media Builds Collaboration and Great Places

Rachel Leonardo is the video producer at Strong Towns. She and Tiffany discuss the importance of collaboration in building great places and how social media can encourage that collaboration. (Transcript included.)

What’s With the Vacant Storefronts? 8 Reasons for Empty Commercial Spaces

Here are eight reasons a storefront might sit vacant, applying to both professionally new built and legacy storefronts.

Washington Just Rewrote the Rules on Parking — Here’s Why It Worked

Washington just passed one of the strongest statewide parking reforms in the country—by rethinking not just the rules, but the way we talk about them.

Why Do Commercial Spaces Sit Vacant?

Instead of letting their commercial buildings sit empty, surely it would be better for landlords to lower the rent and got some use out of the building, right? Wrong. Here’s why.

Columbus Locals Turn Data into Dialogue

What happens when everyday people dig into a city’s balance sheet? In Columbus, it sparked a three-hour conversation—and maybe a shift in mindset.

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