Thank you, Alabama

I had a good pair of events this week in Birmingham with some people very enthused to help their communities become Strong Towns. It was really nice to be back in Alabama and I'm hoping for an opportunity to go back soon. In the meantime, here's what the schedule for sharing the Strong Towns message in person looks like for the next couple of months.

April 24-25 - Stevens Point, WI  - Half day training session, AICP Credits will be offered - Register Here
April 28 - Dallas, TX - Curbside Chat
April 30 - Dallas, TX - Member Appreciation Event (Strong Towns members should have received an email this week.)
May 13 - Fargo, ND - Curbside Chat
May 14 - Grand Forks, ND - Curbside Chat
May 19 - Hays, KS - Curbside Chat
May 21 - Lewiston, ME - Conference Keynote
June 17 - Boston, MA - Conference Keynote
June 18 - Denver, CO - Strong Towns on Tap
June 23 - Detroit, MI - Conference Panel
June 30 - Des Moines, IA - Conference Keynote

In case you missed it....

Featured
Why the Strong Towns Movement Needs You: Streets Too Scary To Cross
Ben Abramson
Why the Strong Towns Movement Needs You: Streets Too Scary To Cross
Ben Abramson

Thousands of elected officials and people who work in local government want to make their streets safer. Here’s how you can help them do that.

Ben Abramson
From the Bottom Up: How Members Built the Strong Towns Movement
Strong Towns
From the Bottom Up: How Members Built the Strong Towns Movement
Strong Towns

Chuck is joined by Norm Van Eeden Petersman, Strong Towns’ director of membership and development, in this special Member Week episode to discuss the history of the Strong Towns movement and how members have brought it to heights Chuck never could’ve imagined.

Strong Towns
Here’s Why You May See More Corner Stores in the Future
Strong Towns
Here’s Why You May See More Corner Stores in the Future
Strong Towns

Today, host Abby Newsham is joined by Norm Van Eeden Petersman, the director of membership and development for Strong Towns, to discuss a recent resurgence of interest in mixed-use neighborhoods that has led some cities to allow for small corner stores even in residential-only neighborhoods.

Strong Towns
Our Self-Imposed Scarcity of Nice Places
Daniel Herriges
Our Self-Imposed Scarcity of Nice Places
Daniel Herriges

Why is it that when a place is [pick one: walkable, bikeable, beautiful, lovable, inviting, human-scale], it so often gets coded as being “gentrified” and therefore elitist? When only the rich can afford nice places, the solution isn't to stop creating such places but to create vastly more of them.

Daniel Herriges
Bringing Humanity to Headlines: Why Strong Towns Tells Stories Differently
Asia Mieleszko
Bringing Humanity to Headlines: Why Strong Towns Tells Stories Differently
Asia Mieleszko

At Strong Towns, we're very conscious of the words we use and the way we tell stories, especially those involving car crashes. It's not because we're trying to be dramatic; it's because we're trying to change the conversation entirely. And you play an important part.

Asia Mieleszko
The Housing Market Is a Bubble Full of Fraud, and It’s Going To Pop
Charles Marohn
The Housing Market Is a Bubble Full of Fraud, and It’s Going To Pop
Charles Marohn

The U.S. is in a massive housing bubble fueled by widespread fraud. With banks incentivized to look away and Wall Street and Washington incentivized to keep housing prices artificially high, a bottom-up approach is the only hope for bringing sanity back to the housing market.

Charles Marohn
Strong Towns Doesn’t Seem To “Fit” on a Political Spectrum. Why Is That?
Blake Pagenkopf
Strong Towns Doesn’t Seem To “Fit” on a Political Spectrum. Why Is That?
Blake Pagenkopf

It's difficult to find an accurate political label for Strong Towns. That’s because the way that we as a society talk about politics is structurally dysfunctional. A new, more nuanced way of talking about politics can help us better understand the movement — and how it unites people from all walks of life.

Blake Pagenkopf
What Is Your Strong Towns Origin Story?
John Pattison
What Is Your Strong Towns Origin Story?
John Pattison

All Strong Towns members have a hero origin story — an experience that compelled them to get off the sidelines and into the game, to start making things better in their communities. Here are some of those stories. What was yours?

John Pattison
To Build Strong Towns, We Need To Change the Cultural Conversation
Strong Towns
To Build Strong Towns, We Need To Change the Cultural Conversation
Strong Towns

In this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck discusses the cultural shift that the Strong Towns movement is striving to create and why that shift is so essential to building more prosperous and resilient communities.

Strong Towns
Accidentally On Purpose
Michel Durand-Wood
Accidentally On Purpose
Michel Durand-Wood

You can’t call something an accident if you’re not doing anything to prevent it. You definitely can’t call it an accident if you intentionally put people in harm’s way through the design of your streets and the positioning of your infrastructure.

Michel Durand-Wood
Charles Marohn