Jane Jacobs identified four key ingredients for good urban settings: compact development, varied buildings, mixed uses and short blocks. Here's why these ingredients are important and how certain regions in the U.S. might face more difficulty in implementing them than others.
Read MorePublic art can do more than add personality and beauty to a space — it can change the way people behave, bring the community together and avoid the resistance other changes to city policy face. It’s time to stop overlooking this powerful and accessible tool and start making our towns stronger, one bucket of paint at a time.
Read MoreFor anyone who wants to care for their community, being able to properly name what you see is an essential first step.
Read MoreIf you love Jane Jacobs or want to learn more about her views and how Strong Towns advocates are working to make them a reality, you will want to explore this conversation between Chuck Marohn and Charles Pignal.
Read MoreHave you ever joined a Jane’s Walk? Named for renowned urban thinker Jane Jacobs, this annual festival of free, citizen-led walking conversations takes place around the world every May. Here’s one Walk from Winnipeg, MB.
Read MoreFrom its one-time status as one of America’s most prosperous cities, Hartford, CT, is now one of the poorest—no thanks to its mid-twentieth-century urban renewal projects.
Read MoreHere are some touchstone concepts that help underlie the Strong Towns view of how to achieve a world full of places capable of growing bottom-up prosperity
Read MoreHow do we minimize the chance that our best intentions will go awry and leave everybody worse off? Let’s set these 3 ground rules.
Read MoreFor example: Is it right to use Robert Moses means to undo the very harms created by Robert Moses?
Read MoreThe work of building your Strong Town doesn’t end with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, because the work is never done. That shouldn’t be discouraging. Rather, it should give our efforts meaning and energy.
Read MoreLocal festivals are reimagining “Jane’s Walk” to comply with social distancing guidelines, while still celebrating the sprit and genius of its namesake.
Read MoreHow Sesame Street embodied the urbanist principles of Jane Jacobs.
Read MoreIn this episode of our podcast It’s the Little Things, Jacob chats with Alissa Walker, urbanism editor at Curbed, about how you don’t have to be a professional urban designer to have an impact on the built environment. Documenting your own observations can capture the attention of your peers and inspire much-needed improvements to the livability of your city.
Read MoreThis week's featured member post asks the question: WWJJD (What Would Jane Jacobs Do) about zoning?
Read MoreZvi Leve is a Strong Towns member who lives in Montreal and recently led two "Jane's Walks." Today we're sharing photos and reflections from those walks.
Read MoreWe explored many facets of Jane Jacobs' legacy this week. Here's what caught your eyes the most.
Read MoreThis week, we asked you to help us mourn the effects of urban renewal by sharing photographs of urban renewal sites in your city. We received close to 100 submissions from across North America. Here are some favorites.
Read MoreCities are complex ecosystems. For areas in need of redevelopment, the only way to return to a healthy urban fabric is incrementally, a few small projects a year until the neighborhood has buildings of every age and condition, suitable for adaptation to the particular needs of some future time.
Read MoreWhile Jane Jacobs was fighting and winning some battles against Urban Renewal in our cities, many, many more were victims to this hubristic program. My city, Mankato MN, was one of the hardest hit.
Read MoreIf we want incremental development that creates walkable places, while building local wealth and improving traditional neighborhoods, we need to make sure our zoning codes enable that vision.
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