If you design a place well-suited for trick-or-treating, you've almost certainly also designed a place well-suited for building community. It’s called “The Trick-or-Treat Test.” Here are six boxes to check for maximum appeal for Halloween…and every other day of the year.
Read MoreMedina, Washington is struggling to pay its bills. How can this be? And what does it mean for towns and cities that don’t have the two richest people in the world living there?
Read MoreDeeply held beliefs, supported by flawed assumptions, blind us to realities and facts. The supposed wealth and prosperity generated by cut-through urban highways was always an illusion—but who will dare to point out the obvious truth?
Read MoreAs 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.
Read MoreMaybe the one good thing you can say about municipal debt is that it’s on the balance sheets. We’re tracking it. But there is another type of future obligation that is like debt…only worse. It comes back again and again, and too many cities aren’t paying attention.
Read MoreYou’ve been asking about it. Well, the wait is is finally over! If you absolutely have to commute in bumper-to-bumper traffic, why not listen to a book that will help you plot a bottom-up revolution to make your town stronger?
Read MoreSpoiler: it doesn’t look like more police stations, more top-down programs, or more incarceration.
Read MoreThe spooky wisdom of the spookiest night of the year.
Read MoreMany cities think they need to grow to get strong. But adding thousands of additional acres to the city and millions of dollars in infrastructure is usually the last thing a city needs. It’s like trying to lose weight by consuming more pizza and beer.
Read MoreDoes walkability promote economic mobility? A new study suggests so. But will planners, engineers, and policy-makers take notice?
Read MoreWe need each other. Whether we live in a small town, dense city, or sprawling suburb, we can’t do life alone…or at least not well. How do we resist fragmentation and find the wholeness and community we need to really thrive?
Read MorePeople might think of city life as necessarily “hard.” But the creative director at a Copenhagen-based urban design firm begs to differ. There are a few simple principles that can “soften” our city, drawing us closer together and radically improving our quality of life.
Read MoreCopying and pasting lighting codes from other cities seems like a good idea. Why reinvent the wheel? But doing so thoughtlessly can obscure what is unique and valuable about your own community.
Read MoreSee the Strong Towns movement in action as readers and members crowdsource ideas, ask questions, and share neighborhood-boosting insights.
Read More“Make no little plans — they have no magic to stir men’s blood.” So said Daniel Burnham, and city officials (mayors, planners, engineers) have been taking that advice to heart for decades…often with disastrous results. But does that mean there is no room for big dreams? What would a Strong Towns master plan look like?
Read MoreThe Strong Towns movement is comprised of real people in real places. We’re meeting more and more of them on the road. Now we’re sharing their stories in a new social media campaign.
Read MoreAt the heart of top-down approaches to both criminal justice and city planning is a misconception about true “efficiency.” Restorative justice — like Strong Towns — is the bottom-up alternative, drawing from the wisdom of the past while taking the longview on success.
Read MoreMost local housing markets in the U.S. are oligopolies: new construction is dominated overwhelmingly by only a few developers. How did we get here, and why is it this bad news for housing affordability, as well as for our cities’ financial strength and resilience?
Read MoreIn the criminal justice system, as in city planning, the perceived need for “efficiency” is often at odds with the deeper needs of the community. Yet that’s not how our societies evolved to handle conflict. How can we restore some of the wisdom of the past? A fascinating conversation about the intersection of restorative justice and building stronger towns.
Read MoreMelody Warnick has written an essential book on the topic of place attachment, the bond that can be cultivated between a person and his or her community. She joined us for a special Celebrity Ask Strong Towns, where you got to ask your questions. Here’s a video of that conversation.
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