Top 5 Recent Stories (July 15–July 19, 2019)

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1. My Journey from Free Market Ideologue to Strong Towns Advocate, Part 5: Commercial Development

by Charles Marohn | July 15, 2019

If local governments are going to lose money on residential development, then they have to make it up on commercial development. That’s a risky business model, one that doesn’t pencil out.

2. Should We Save the American Mall?

Upzoned Podcast | Kea Wilson & Charles Marohn | July 12, 2019

A failed mall can feel like a monument to your community’s economic failure. A presidential hopeful has an idea to bring them back to life. But is it a good thing?

3. Can This Texas Suburb Create a Downtown of Its Own?

by Robert Sulaski | July 16, 2019

Leander, Texas, a suburb of Austin, is a quiet bedroom community that recently found itself with a commuter rail station. Can it afford to waste the opportunity to create the transit-oriented downtown it never had?

4. About Those Swelling Suburbs....

by Joe Cortright | July 11, 2019

Another spate of headlines suggest that rapid suburban growth means that Millennial homebuyers must prefer the greener pastures of suburbia to life in inner-city neighborhoods. Here’s why the real story is not that simple.

5. The Zombie Freeway Project in Shreveport That Won't Die

by Daniel Herriges | July 15, 2019

There’s every reason not to build a freeway through a poor, mostly-black neighborhood in Shreveport, Louisiana. So why is the state government taking money away from needed maintenance to push this bad project forward?

(Cover photo via Tim Wright)