You’ve just completed a Crash Analysis Studio and you have a report in hand. Or you found the "Beyond Blame" report compelling and you want to share it with your community. Now what?
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I’ve mostly left Twitter/X over the past few months. Strong Towns, the organization, has pulled back substantially, as well. I want to explain why because it’s for different reasons than the increasing partisan divide (although that doesn’t help).
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One of the most daunting questions for many would-be advocates is “Where do I start?” The answer is simple: You start by noticing the issues around you and taking a single step to fix them.
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It’s Member Drive Week here at Strong Towns. To celebrate, Chuck’s reading some of his best articles that you might’ve missed. Today, he’s reading “Most Public Engagement Is Worthless,” which explains why, instead of focusing on what people think they want, planners should focus on people’s actions and then adjust their policies to compliment the way real people actually live.
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ODOT put out a newsletter that seemed to strongly encourage public engagement in their project to expand I-475. Yet when this advocate took them up on the offer, she faced barriers at every step of the way.
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Why does TxDOT bother inviting Houston residents to come comment on the North Houston Highway Improvement Project…if they are going to make it so hard to actually do so?
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Your city just announced a big infrastructure project, one with significant state and federal funding. You and your neighbors are likely wondering: why this project?
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When thinking about how to spark change in your city, it can be easy to jump straight from “guerilla tactical urbanism” to “run for office,” when in fact, there are SO many other ways for people to get involved.
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After a summer of public outreach, the Seattle Department of Transportation is hearing recurring themes people want for the future of a local street.
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Cities should rethink how they do public engagement if it doesn’t come with a strong educational component.
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The process of getting a new development approved often yields results that make no one happy. However, there is an opportunity here to be more assertive about your community’s vision.
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Utilizing low-cost, short-term methods to calm traffic and catalyze long-term change has allowed locals in this community to expedite long-requested interventions to a dangerous corridor.
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Advocating for stronger towns eventually means engaging with your city’s systems of governance.
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As traditional highway expansions are put on pause around the country, professionals and policymakers have an opportunity to move forward with a better approach. This book shows them how.
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City hall is an institution with a diversity of responsibilities serving your community, and in it lies an opportunity to observe how your local city operates and is managed.
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Local government is where you can make the most impact and difference in your city, but how do you go about actually interacting with your local government?
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This video about a recent street redesign project in Selkirk, Manitoba, shows just how cities should be communicating with their residents.
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This would-be simple road diet project faced an unexpected amount of pushback, and ended up taking seven years and a lot of money to complete. Was it worth the hassle?
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So, you want to attend a city council meeting? Good luck getting past all the jargon! Check out these “translations” of a real-life council agenda, and why it’s important to be more transparent with citizens.
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Perceived threats to a home's value often prompt homeowners to shut down any discussion about neighborhood changes. But eliminating opportunities for such reactions isn’t helpful, either.
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