We hear it everywhere we go: people want, and cherish, the kind of complete neighborhood where you can meet most of your daily needs within a 15-minute walk. What will it take to create more such places in North American cities and towns?
Read More
Reclaiming the art of neighboring may be the closest thing we have to a solution for the social isolation, the political polarization, and the superficial relationships that plague our neighborhoods. To make our communities stronger and more connected, here are three shifts we all need to make.
Read More
Civic leaders, professional planners, activists and practitioners, or simply good neighbors — all of us can do better at acknowledging the ripple effect our decisions (large and small) have on our communities. These questions can help.
Read More
Flawed methodology. Lack of accountability. Discrepant data. Egregious assumptions. The new Urban Mobility Report will be used to make or justify transportation policies around the country, which makes it too wrong to be ignored.
Read More
Large swaths of our cities were built to reflect a post-World War Two boom that was an economic anomaly. But that party is long over…and, in many ways, wasn’t that great to begin with. So why do we keep romanticizing the past rather than thinking about the cities we need now?
Read More
The killing of Michael Brown’ in August 2014 brought global attention to police brutality and racial inequality in the U.S. While there have been some reforms in Ferguson over the last five years, other structural issues — including a city infrastructure largely not built to benefit the people who actually live there — remain the same or have gotten worse.
Read More
Our next Ask Strong Towns: Celebrity Edition webcast features special guest Melody Warnick, journalist and author of “This Is Where You Belong: Finding Home Wherever You Are.” Sign up to ask her your questions in this members-only live Q&A on October 16th!
Read More
We can destroy and rebuild all kinds of places and measure success in terms of Gross Domestic Product, but lets stop pretending that trading local wealth for national growth is a good thing.
Read More
A theme emerges from our five most popular recent articles: Many planning debates focus on HOW we get somewhere: on foot or in a car, by bike or via public transit. Those are important conversations. But just as important is that we have someplace great to get to.
Read More
Tampa has an epidemic of leaking and bursting pipes. But don’t worry, the city’s taking action! …by proposing an eightfold increase in the amount it spends on maintenance for the next 20 years, half funded by new debt. How did we get to this point?
Read More
America is addicted to cars. But what if we weren’t? How could cities utilize the many acres of suddenly empty parking lots? City planner Alexander Dukes looks ahead to life after parking.
Read More
Exciting News! Three new staff members have recently joined our team, while another is moving to a new role.
Read More
Strong Towns member Austin Taylor—Parking and Sustainability Coordinator for Provo City, Utah—shares how you can use tactical urbanism to create safer streets, including how to plan your intervention, how to get local government involved, and how to use your intervention to create lasting change.
Love to hate congestion? We’ll never fix it by obsessing over speed or traffic delays. We need to rethink our whole transportation debate, starting with this premise: it’s not about how fast you can go. It’s about what you can get to.
Read More
Our systems of planning and permitting too often give large developers an unfair advantage over local builders. And one little-discussed planning concept does a lot to explain why.
Read More
I asked my daughter a simple question on the way to school one morning. Her response gave a valuable kids-eye-view of the neighborhood…both as it is and as it could be.
Read More
Portland diners are mourning the loss of one of the city’s largest and longest-running food cart pods. The property is being redeveloped as a 35-story high-rise. What can the death and birth of food cart pods teach us about the importance of dynamic change in cities?
Read More
The unproductive use of infrastructure has put most cities, even those that are superficially prosperous, in a position where they won’t be able to afford to maintain what they’ve built. The signs of this crisis are everywhere—if you’re willing to look.
Read More
Tech giant Square has announced that they’re moving to downtown St. Louis, sponsored by some big tax incentives—and they’re putting up the funds to demolishing derelict homes in the adjacent neighborhoods to boot. Is that really the only forward for the Gateway City?
Read More
You voted Pensacola, Florida the champion in our annual contest to find North America’s #StrongestTown. This week, we delivered their award. Here are 4 reasons they earned it.
Read More