Say Hello to Our New Social Community Specialist
For more than a decade, Strong Towns has worked to build a catalog of content that members and allies rely on as the leading edge of ideas to build stronger and more financially resilient cities. Our articles and podcasts have helped us reach two million people a year in this movement.
Strong Towns advocates are already changing the conversation about how we build towns and cities. Literally every day we hear new stories about people who are putting the Strong Towns approach into action in their own place.
Beginning late last year, we began adding staff and program resources in order to better turn our words into actions. We’ve embarked on new campaigns to actively engage our movement in making change in our communities, from reforming antiquated Euclidean zoning regulation to fixing dangerous stroads.
Part of our strategy is for our audience and staff to more directly engage with each other and with decision makers at the local level. We think conversations, rather than lectures, will be the most effective model to advance the work we’re doing.
To that end, we are grateful to have found Tayana Panova, who brings a wealth of analytical skills, media fluency, and emotional intelligence to our work. She holds a PhD in psychology, with a specialization in how technology and psychology interact. Her research has led her to understand that technology is often used as an outlet for needs not satisfied by the built environment, which is why she has developed a passion for building healthy and vibrant communities. Her years living in Chicago and its suburbs, Barcelona, Copenhagen, and Bulgaria have given her a unique perspective on different kinds of urban life.
Tayana Panova, Strong Towns Social Community Specialist
Tayana is writing a book about how suburban design affects mental and social health with a focus on the need for more "third places": the coffee shops, public squares, markets, and places where people enrich each others’ lives by meeting in person.
“In this book I’m writing, the call to action is the vital need for every community to have a third place,” she says. “Disconnection is at the root of so many problems… We need public spaces where we can be among others in order to develop connections, understanding, and empathy…[then] the solutions will follow.”
Tayana’s role at Strong Towns will include consulting on social media strategy, with an eye toward real engagement, creating digital “third places” in order to foster meaningful relationships instead of just clicks.
When she’s not reading and writing about urbanism and placemaking, she is illustrating, writing fiction, and practicing martial arts. Follow her on Twitter @DrTBPanova and please join us in welcoming her to our team.
Thanks to the support of our members, we’re able to expand our team in order to bring you exciting new content. Will you join the cause and help add to our capacity, so that the Strong Towns message can reach more cities and towns across North America?