Here’s how Lafayette, Louisiana, went from a dying downtown to #6 in the country for outdoor dining.
Read More
Gioia Calabretta is a Local Conversation leader and Strong Towns staff member. She and Norm discuss a walk audit she recently participated in.
Read More
James Anderson leads the Government Innovation program at Bloomberg Philanthropies. Today, he explains how to help cities embrace an innovative, people-based approach to local governance.
Read More
When cities attempt to prescribe the exact way a building must be used, they risk regulating away the very life of a place.
Read More
What the Finance Decoder revealed about Fayetteville, Springdale, and Siloam Springs—through the eyes of a local Strong Towns member.
Read More
Will Gardner is the founder of South Coast Places For People, a new nonprofit in Massachusetts. He discusses the three working groups his nonprofit recently started, which focus on parking reform, backyard cottages, and street safety.
Read More
The city of Artesia, California, has been struggling with a speeding problem. Instead of just blaming drivers, city staff teamed up with local advocates to address the root problem: the street design.
Read More
Abby and guest John Pattison dive into the benefits and drawbacks of "sponge cities," cities that incorporate natural features like wetlands into their stormwater management infrastructure.
Read More
Jess and Dan Sollaccio are city commissioners and a small-scale developers from Warrenton, Oregon. They explain their asset-based mindset for strengthening their community, as well as their efforts to turn a vacant building into a community hub.
Read More
In Baxter, “fighting congestion” is the sales pitch, but corporate subsidy is the goal.
Read More
A 66% decrease in crashes wasn’t enough to protect these traffic diverters, but the unified efforts of local advocacy groups and city officials might be.
Read More
Memphis was ranked the #1 most dangerous metro in 2024. That’s not stopping Kelsey Huse, an advocate and grad student. She shares the inside scoop on Memphis’ dangerous design and how she’s working to change it.
Read More
When our infrastructure makes normal childhood behavior life-threatening, allowing kids to do typical childhood activities becomes reckless endangerment.
Read More
Slow permitting, shifting utility requirements, and inconsistent rules threaten the small-scale development that cities rely on. Here’s one developer’s story.
Read More
Data centers use a massive amount of electricity, sometimes even rivaling major cities. Today, Edward and Abby discuss the far-reaching implications of this kind of land use. (Transcript included.)
Read More
Design doesn’t just reflect our values — it forms them. If we want citizens who are engaged, generous, and resilient, we need places that cultivate those virtues.
Read More
How a passionate group of locals cracked Nanaimo’s stubborn parking rules—and unlocked new possibilities for housing and community.
Read More
Eva López Chávez is a city council member in Salt Lake City, Utah. She and Norm discuss how she’s building prosperity in her city.
Read More
When a child is killed on a street like West Hudson Boulevard, it’s not a tragic fluke. It’s the outcome we designed for.
Read More
Four days. Three crashes. Two lives lost. One life changed forever. For residents of Fairhaven and New Bedford, this wasn’t just a bad weekend; it was a turning point.
Read More