The Problem With Where You Live
Strong Towns advocates at the recent National Gathering in Charlotte, NC. (Source: ZED images.)
You see a sidewalk that ends abruptly.
You watch public meetings descend into chaos and acrimony.
You notice a power pole obstructing the path of a wheelchair user.
You perceive a growing gap between the price of housing and the monthly wages you bring home.
You observe county leaders subsidizing big companies with tax breaks while making things difficult for small businesses.
Look around you. You’ll see the problem.
Every week, Strong Towns Community Builder John Pattison and I engage with our newest members and ask them a simple question: What problem do you feel compelled to address in your community?
Without any additional prompting, Strong Towns members are able to speak persuasively (and at length!) about the distressing challenges that they are facing. They feel compelled by a sense of urgency and responsibility for the interests of their communities and the generations to come.
The problem with where you live is, without exception, a consequence of the way that cities and towns are built across North America. Yes, there are significant political, social, and cultural factors at play, but the built environment around us is broken and needs fixing.
Thankfully, there is more to see than just problems.
The problem with where you live isn’t an intractable one!
Strong Towns advocates at the recent National Gathering in Charlotte, NC. (Source: ZED images.)
Strong Towns members are visibly making a difference by addressing these problems in small, incremental ways. Fixing broken places and restoring the complex adaptive systems—the ecosystems of local opportunity—that define strong communities.
Members of city governments are pushing for code reforms and the end of parking mandates. Pedestrian advocates are raising awareness of safe routes through new signage and wayfinding. Business owners are creating seating areas in front of their establishments. Small developers are building homes that are sized and priced to address the actual needs of their community. People are confronting the freeway expansion machine that will decimate neighborhoods in Austin, Houston, Shreveport, Denver, Mississauga, and hundreds of other places. Conservationists are challenging the consumption of precious ecosystems. Neighbors are holding block parties and building strong ties.
The problem with where you live is that there’s still so much to do.
But look around you.
See the threads of renewal and change being woven together through the hard work of Strong Towns members and countless others in your community.
Watch first-time speakers standing to address their city council to advocate for change.
Notice the concentration of talents and passion within struggling neighborhoods.
Perceive the growing momentum for change.
Observe the “good bones” that still exist in many of our towns and cities, which hold the promise of better days to come.
The problem with where you live is one that has genuine, tested, and proven answers to address what ails us in the places that we live.
And be encouraged. Know that a growing movement of advocates are taking up the Strong Towns approach and making a difference in the lives of their neighbors and setting a new course for future generations.
Become a member of Strong Towns today and join this movement for change. Help extend the reach of the Strong Towns movement. Participate in this work of addressing the problems you feel compelled to address in your community.
