The Top 3 Strong Towns Articles from 2023: Norm's Picks
We’re ending the year by featuring some of our staff members’ favorite Strong Towns articles from 2023. Yesterday, Content Manager/Editor Shina Shayesteh shared her favorites, and we’ll also be hearing this week from Lauren Ronnander and Ben Abramson. In the meantime, here are Director of Membership and Development Norm Van Eeden Petersman’s picks!
1. “To the 40,000 Drivers Who ‘Cause’ Car Crashes Every Year,” by Shina Shayesteh
This article challenged me to think more deeply about the way that I attribute blame. I grappled with this piece while reading it and I continue to digest its message. I have a vivid memory from my childhood of the horror that came from receiving news of a fatal Sunday-morning crash involving two vehicles of churchgoers. I can still recall the photograph on the front page of the paper of a mother stricken with grief in the aftermath of the crash. I could see how the life of the young man who ran the stop sign changed afterwards. Shina’s article brought these memories to mind and asked me to think of the ways that many of my assumptions need to be challenged.
2. “Strong Towns Is Jane Jacobs in Action,” from the Strong Towns Podcast
I listened to this podcast episode three times and plan to listen to it several more times, because each time I’ve come away with more to reflect on. You’ll learn a lot about Jane Jacobs and how her vision of the dynamic forces within a city are so often misunderstood.
3. “Don’t Give Up on Your Small Town,” by Seairra Jones
I grew up on a farm outside of a smallish town that has since grown a lot, but I lived in a region that has a lot of small towns that have shrunk in the last few decades. In one of my summer jobs, I drove through a lot of these towns and knew which places still had a coffee shop or restaurant for locals to gather in, and which places were now desolate. Jill Winger’s story of returning vitality to her community is wonderfully described in Seairra’s article.
Honorable Mentions
