Top 5 Stories from the Week (May 6–May 10, 2019)

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1. Is Everything with Strong Towns About Money? No. Not Even Close.

by Charles Marohn | May 6, 2019

Not everything in a Strong Town can be about dollars and cents. The finances constrain us—they are an important check on our avarice—but the things that make a place worth loving go far beyond the balance sheet.

2. Why Would a Property Owner Oppose Neighborhood Improvements?

Strong Towns Podcast | Charles Marohn & Joe Minicozzi | May 6, 2019

As an engineer, I once had property owners turn out en masse to oppose a project I was working on that would fix their potholed street and broken sidewalks. Find out why—and one key policy change that might have led to a different response.

3. Time to Stop Building Disposable Places

by Daniel Herriges | May 7, 2019

More than ever of what we make is produced with little thought to its durability. But what happens when we apply this mindset to the very communities we live in?

4. How Did We Get Used to Out-of-Scale Cities?

by Felix Landry | May 8, 2019

What exactly is the “human scale”? And have you ever thought about just how little of the public space in your city is designed at that scale—even in places you think of as walkable?

5. Cracking Down on Pedestrians Won't Make Streets Safer

Upzoned Podcast | Charles Marohn & Don Kostelec | May 3, 2019

Could it make sense to put the onus on pedestrians to ensure their own safety—in Honolulu’s case, by considering making it illegal to cross the street outside of a crosswalk after dark? Maybe, but only if we had a system that actually gave people on foot equal opportunity to get around safely and conveniently. We don’t.

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