Strong Towns in WV, TX, CA and more

Upcoming events we are excited to announce.

Also on the upcoming calendar (details TBA):

  • Tampa, FL - February 26
  • Los Angeles, CA - March 5
  • Newport Beach, CA - March 6
  • Birmingham, AL - March 18 & 19
  • Norman, OK - March 23
  • Oklahoma - March 24-27
  • Atlanta, GA - March 29-31
  • Ontario - April 14-16
  • Stevens Point, WI - April 24 & 25
  • Hays, KS - May 18 & 19
  • Portland, ME - May 19 & 20

Keep informed on when we'll be somewhere near you.

SOME STUFF FROM THIS WEEK YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED.

Featured
The Bottom-Up Revolution Is...Building Strong Cities in Two Countries
Strong Towns
The Bottom-Up Revolution Is...Building Strong Cities in Two Countries
Strong Towns

Kip Santos is a trained civil engineer and construction manager who quit his job to build Local Conversations full-time. Now he splits his time between the U.S. and Canada, nurturing the groups he's founded and building missing middle housing. (Transcript included.)

Strong Towns
North Carolina May End Parking Mandates—Your City Should Be Next
Strong Towns
North Carolina May End Parking Mandates—Your City Should Be Next
Strong Towns

The ripple effects of outdated parking mandates are felt everywhere, making it harder to build the kind of communities people want and need. North Carolina might be about to change that.

Strong Towns
Ottawa Rethinks a Costly Development—Your City Can Too
Strong Towns
Ottawa Rethinks a Costly Development—Your City Can Too
Strong Towns

Officials in Ottowa, Canada, are showing that local governments don’t need to accept expensive and unproductive projects, even if they have a lot of momentum behind them.

Strong Towns
Federal Policy Broke the Housing Market. It Won’t Fix Things Now.
Edward Erfurt
Federal Policy Broke the Housing Market. It Won’t Fix Things Now.
Edward Erfurt

Attendees of last week’s National Housing Supply Summit hoped it would provide insights for how Washington can tackle America’s housing crisis. But expecting Washington to fix problems it helped create isn’t optimism; it’s a paradox.

Edward Erfurt
I Love My Neighborhood — That’s Why I Want More People To Live Here
Strong Towns
I Love My Neighborhood — That’s Why I Want More People To Live Here
Strong Towns

Cities thrive when residents actively participate in conversations about their future. Whether through public comment or the written word, speaking up isn’t just an act of protest—it’s an act of stewardship. Here’s how one Albuquerque resident advocated for more housing in his city.

Strong Towns
Strong Towns Is Where The Housing Crisis Response Starts
Lauren Ronnander
Strong Towns Is Where The Housing Crisis Response Starts
Lauren Ronnander

Recent publications from The New York Times and the Civitas Institute prove that years of work by the growing Strong Towns movement — by people like you — is successfully spreading a forward-thinking approach to building towns.

Lauren Ronnander
A Better Way To Tax Property? Minnesota Moves To Let Cities Decide
Strong Towns
A Better Way To Tax Property? Minnesota Moves To Let Cities Decide
Strong Towns

Most of today’s property tax systems discourage productive use of land while rewarding neglect. Minnesota is considering a policy that would change that.

Strong Towns
Bottom-Up Shorts: How To Legalize Strong Neighborhoods
Strong Towns
Bottom-Up Shorts: How To Legalize Strong Neighborhoods
Strong Towns

Sean Hayford Oleary is a city council member in Richfield, Minnesota. Today, he and Norm discuss his efforts to reintroduce duplexes, reduce parking mandates, and support walkable neighborhoods. (Transcript included.)

Strong Towns
Small Town Arkansas Just Got Hit With a Big Bill
Asia Mieleszko
Small Town Arkansas Just Got Hit With a Big Bill
Asia Mieleszko

When cities fall into the Growth Ponzi Scheme, they prioritize rapid, short-term growth that strains city resources and reduces long-term prosperity. Residents of Bentonville, Arkansas, are feeling those effects firsthand.

Asia Mieleszko
The Keys to a Healthy City Finance Department: A Conversation With Shayne Kavanagh
Strong Towns
The Keys to a Healthy City Finance Department: A Conversation With Shayne Kavanagh
Strong Towns

Chuck is joined by Shayne Kavanagh, senior manager of research for the Government Finance Officers Association. Kavanagh discusses the role of finance officers as “decision architects” and shares some tactics they can use to improve their processes. (Transcript included.)

Strong Towns
Introducing the Strong Towns Finance Decoder
Charles Marohn
Introducing the Strong Towns Finance Decoder
Charles Marohn

The Finance Decoder reveals the long-term trends hidden behind annual balanced budgets. For Kansas City, those trends are deeply problematic.

Charles Marohn
Charles Marohn