What Is Your Strong Towns Origin Story?
“What is your Strong Towns origin story?”
This is the question I ask in my orientation calls with new Strong Towns members or Local Conversation leaders.
My choice of language is intentional. Yes, I’m curious how people are finding Strong Towns. But more than that, I want them to know that they are the heroes of the Strong Towns movement.
Because heroes have origin stories.
We see it in mythology and great literary sagas, in movies and comic books, and in television shows and video games. The specifics may be different — a personal loss, a transformative event, a moral awakening, a sense of destiny or simple chance — but something happens that compels the hero to get off the sidelines and into the game. They act with purpose. And they tap into extraordinary powers they may not have even known they possessed.
I’m being sincere when I say that, when the Strong Towns team talks internally about our members and local leaders, we use the language of heroes. Often, after one of the orientation calls, I’ll go into the team Slack channel and say something like, “You’ll never guess who I got to meet today.”
Here is a tiny sample of the origin stories I’ve heard:
A police officer discovered a connection between crime, public safety and urban design. He said, “I want cities to be designed in such a way that they put me out of a job.”
A personal injury lawyer wanted to understand why she had so many clients (too many of them teenagers) getting hurt on the same stroad.
A pastor wanted to understand why members of his congregation were lonely and came to understand the ways in which the built environment can bring people together or keep them apart.
A real estate agent came to see that skyrocketing housing prices were good for her commissions but not for her city.
A father learned that the local school had increased its walk zone from 1 mile to 1.5 miles, meaning that hundreds more kids would be riding or walking to school.
A public health advocate wanted public transit in her city to be more reliable and dignified, rather than just a “charitable overlay for the poor.”
An architect and would-be small-scale developer found his colleagues’ projects frustrated again and again by zoning regulations that seem to prioritize parking over housing.
An engineer and urban planner saw the towns he was working with pursuing massive infrastructure projects that they couldn’t actually pay for themselves, straining city budgets for generations and fueling what he called a Growth Ponzi Scheme.
A couple of weeks ago I talked to a young man in the Bay Area who told me, “This is my first time getting involved in something. I read Jane Jacobs. I read "Walkable City." I read the "Strong Towns" book. But I couldn’t stand the thought of knowing these ideas and not getting involved. Sitting in the shadows doesn’t inspire change.”
To be sure, a lot of people are asking questions about their cities: "Why is the street in front of my house years behind schedule for basic maintenance?" "Why can’t my city afford to keep the library open past 4:30?" "Why do I hate walking and biking in my town?" "Why is our downtown neglected and crumbling while we keep building new neighborhoods on the outskirts?"
These questions are all important. Yet, the Strong Towns hero asks one more question: "How can I help make it better?"
This week, we invite you to step up as the newest Strong Towns hero. You’ll be joining an alliance — a kind of Strong Towns Justice League — of thousands of other members who are growing the Strong Towns movement and making their own places stronger and more resilient.
This could be the day that everything changed for you and your community.
Will you accept the call?
If you do become a Strong Towns member, or if you’re already a Strong Towns member, please introduce yourself to the rest of the movement in the comments section. What were you seeing in your community? What was it that compelled you to join the movement? What is your Strong Towns origin story?
Strong Towns is helping local leaders, technical professionals and involved residents across North America make their communities more prosperous and financially resilient.
This movement needs you. Become a member today.
John Pattison is the Community Builder for Strong Towns. In this role, he works with advocates in hundreds of communities as they start and lead local Strong Towns groups called Local Conversations. John is the author of two books, most recently Slow Church (IVP), which takes inspiration from Slow Food and the other Slow movements to help faith communities reimagine how they live life together in the neighborhood. He also co-hosts The Membership, a podcast inspired by the life and work of Wendell Berry, the Kentucky farmer, writer, and activist. John and his family live in Silverton, Oregon. You can connect with him on Twitter at @johnepattison.
Want to start a Local Conversation, or implement the Strong Towns approach in your community? Email John.