The latest ideas, insights and action from around the Strong Towns movement.

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Latest Podcasts

(Transcripts Included)

Starting Where You Stand: The Great Raleigh Cleanup Story

Starting Where You Stand: The Great Raleigh Cleanup Story

What Jasper Teaches Us About Beating Mega Projects

What Jasper Teaches Us About Beating Mega Projects

How One Front Yard Became a Neighborhood Pop Up

How One Front Yard Became a Neighborhood Pop Up

Building Culture Around Beauty, Craft, And Daily Life

Building Culture Around Beauty, Craft, And Daily Life

Latest Stories

When a School Ends Up on an Arterial Road

A land swap in Langley, British Columbia, shows how early planning assumptions can create long-term problems for growing neighborhoods.

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It Takes Just One Letter To Legalize Townhomes

How changing a single letter can open the door to more housing options in a place where the pressures are piling up.

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What's Standing in the Way of Safer Streets in Philadelphia?

At what point do our barriers become excuses and what does that say about our priorities?

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When We Treat Neighborhoods Like a Matching Tea Set

What happens when the teacup cracks?

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Rethinking What Makes Winter Roads Safe

Clearing our streets of snow is supposed to make them safer. Crash statistics tell a different story.

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What If Federal Transportation Spending Is the Reason Your City Feels Broke?

If your city is under strain in a time of unprecedented investment—that’s a signal.

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Winter Weather: An Impromptu Infrastructure Audit

Snow exposes our city's priorities, but it also shows us what's possible.

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The Paperwork Problem Behind the Housing Shortage

"What we have is not a failure of vision, but one of process."

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We’ve Been Fighting the Wrong Transportation Fight

It’s time to close the interstate construction era and redefine the federal role in transportation.

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Placemaking Is Dead, Long Live Placemaking!

A verb became a noun. A process became a product. And an approach became an adjective.

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When “Just One More Lane” Runs Out of Road

Geometry, politics, and the limits of the Highway State.

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The Housing Debate Is Finally Catching Up to Reality

Arguments that ignore finance, power, and legitimacy are breaking down.

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The Impact Fee Illusion

Why “growth paying for growth” often leaves cities weaker, not stronger.

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The United States Needs Fewer Bus Stops

For cash-strapped transit agencies looking to improve the rider experience, less may actually be more.

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Why Minnesota’s Northstar Service Was Doomed From the Start

What happens when transportation is designed for funding, not function.

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Authority vs. Influence: The Planning Commission’s Dilemma

Understanding the planning “pyramid” and how commissioners can use their position to shape better outcomes.

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It's Time to Get Serious About Providence's Housing Crisis

What can we learn from the Providence we built during the Industrial Revolution?

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Trump’s Housing Order Isn’t a Crackdown on Institutional Investors. It’s an Exit Strategy.

An executive order and White House fact sheet reveal how Washington manages housing prices without ever letting them fall.

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Cities Must Fix Inspections

Think permitting and inspections reform don't matter? Listen to this hellish account.

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When a Drive-Thru Feels Like the Only Option

A contentious project in Des Moines reveals a deeper issue: cities often react to proposals instead of clarifying what’s possible.

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Large Redevelopment Projects Aren't The Answer

And why the median YIMBY should be more excited by incrementalism.

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We Build for Game Day, Not Every Day

Why Langley’s investments miss what families actually need.

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Why Do Cities Build Sports Complexes Instead of Neighborhood Fields?

What if the places we invest in most aren’t the places that actually build community?

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Christmas Cookie Inflation Index, 2025 Update

This year’s cookie prices fell, but the story behind them is heavier than ever.

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