Introducing Edward Erfurt as Our Director of Community Action

In November 2010, I was invited to participate in a gathering in New Orleans of some young members of the Congress for the New Urbanism, a group that called itself NextGen. Going in, I didn’t know any of them, but by the end of the weekend I had met a group of people that remain among my best friends and close confidants, including Strong Towns Board members Ian Rasmussen and Andrew Burleson, as well as Mike Lydon, Eliza Harris, Russel Preston, and many others. It is no overstatement to say that trip changed my life.

Among that group was Edward Erfurt. Many of you familiar with Strong Towns will know Edward’s wife, our Events Pathfinder Michelle Erfurt, but I met her through Edward. Each person invited to that weekend was asked to give a Pecha Kucha talk; the code of conduct was that you didn’t interrupt. I got two or three slides in and Edward jumped up from the couch. “Say that again,” he interrupted. His excitement matched mine. We’ve been friends ever since.

Andrew Burleson (left) and Edward Erfurt (right).

Even though I had a Master’s Degree in Urban and Regional Planning, at that point in my life I knew nothing about urban design. That night in New Orleans, I walked back to the house with Edward, along with Jen Krouse and the great architect Peter Harmatuck. The three of them gave me a crash course in urban design, using the amazing streets of New Orleans to point out the good and bad, all the while explaining why it all worked like it did. I soaked it in, every word, and I’ve never seen a city the same way since then.

When the story of Strong Towns is written, it will rightly focus on the brilliant group of people who helped me figure all of this out, and Edward Erfurt is at the front of that group. He has long been one of my closest advisors and would have been on the board long ago had that not created a conflict with having Michelle on the staff. I’ve had to settle for many chats, phone calls, and podcast appearances, and lots of time catching up at CNU. That is, until now.

Me and Edward sitting at the Erfurt kitchen table recording a podcast back in 2012.

In 2022, Strong Towns launched the Community Action Lab, an approach that focuses all of what we do on a specific community, to shift the conversation and mobilize change within that place. This new initiative takes everything we have learned about how to build stronger, more resilient places and it applies them to a specific town, city, or region. It is our most comprehensive way of putting Strong Towns thinking into action.

As we were building this program, I kept updating our Board of Directors on the type of people we needed to add to our team to make this work. For the director of the program, I found myself saying, “someone like Edward Erfurt,” in answer to a lot of their questions. They knew what I meant: We needed someone who not only gets the Strong Towns approach intuitively, but has many years of experience implementing these ideas in cities of all sizes. And, that person must not only be credible to professionals, but must also be able to communicate to elected officials and the general public. You know, someone like Edward Erfurt.

Me and Edward with his two boys, Eddie and Tommie.

And with that, I am absolutely giddy to introduce Edward Erfurt as our new Director of Community Action. Edward brings over two decades of public and private sector experience focusing on the management, design, and successful implementation of development and placemaking projects. He holds a Master of Architectural Design and Urbanism from the University of Notre Dame, and a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Miami. 

Edward’s role at Strong Towns will include mobilizing the movement for action through the Community Action Labs, as well as contributing to the Strong Towns Academy, the Crash Analysis Studio, and other endeavors we are undertaking here as we implement our new Strategic Plan. He will also be a regular columnist for Strong towns, bringing his eye for placemaking to our audience in a way that is sure to challenge and inspire.

Please join me in welcoming Edward Erfurt to the Strong Towns Team. In the coming weeks, we will also add an Action Team Coordinator to work with Edward and the rest of our team on this next phase of turning Strong Towns ideas into action in cities everywhere.