The Top 3 Strong Towns Articles and Podcasts from 2022: Lauren's Picks
We’re ending the year by featuring some of our staff members’ favorite Strong Towns articles and podcasts from 2022. Norm Van Eeden Petersman, our member advocate, shared his yesterday, and next you’ll hear from Editor-in-Chief Daniel Herriges. In the meantime, here are Communications Manager Lauren Fisher’s picks.
1. “Large Trucks Need Better Street Design,” by Norm Van Eeden Petersman
This piece hits on all the most important considerations of street design in such a clever way. The headline is provocative or inviting, depending on how you feel about those big trucks. And once you’re in, although it pokes a bit of fair fun at truck owners, it makes a very serious argument about how those drivers will benefit from design that slows traffic down, accommodates more street users, and decreases the maintenance needs of a given roadway. I chuckled, I grinned, and I shared this piece with people I knew because it was so fun.
(Source: Unsplash.)
2. “Why I Started Reading the Local Newspaper,” by John Pattison
John’s writing truly inspires me to become more connected to my community. And then, with pieces like this one, he shows me how to do it. So simple! Subscribe to my local newspaper. Grab a copy of a regional magazine. Once I’ve done so, I have a new suite of chances to engage with my place every time I read. Especially important in this article is how engaging with local media on local stories re-wires one’s brain to focus on issues in their own place, instead of national conversations where little can be done.
3. “How to Fix the Suburbs,” on CNBC
Chuck Marohn, the founder and president of Strong Towns, was featured prominently in this mid-length documentary by CNBC about the suburbs and new suburban development. The real clincher is that Marohn is the sole expert pushing back entirely against all-at-once, top-down developments, while other featured voices celebrate master-planned communities that fall prey to the same failings as the suburbs themselves. Strong Towns is truly leading conversations about how to build resilient cities.
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.