How Your City Can Ensure It Can Afford Its Infrastructure

Understanding the real costs and long-term liabilities of our infrastructure is essential for the long-term prosperity of our places. Unfortunately, this detail is often overlooked in our decision-making process.

Urban3 Decoder: Let's Peek Under the Hood of A Shiny Oklahoma City

Join the Urban3 team as they wade past Oklahoma City’s glittering amenities to take an up-close view of the real economic engine under the shiny enamel hood.

Top StoryJay StangeApril 15, 2022oklahoma, resource, resource trap, Economy, economics, urban3, taxes, cnu

Our New E-book is a Blueprint for a Community Your Kids Won't Have to Leave

How can we build the kind of community where our kids won't feel they have to go elsewhere to prosper? Check out our new e-book to find out.

Top StoryStrong TownsJune 9, 2021member week, resource trap

Musselshell Watershed: Centered on the Next Generation

The generational ranch model has been wobbling since WWII, but here's how one small community in Montana is keeping grazing land as working lands, as well as bolstering opportunities for young producers.

Top StorySamuel WesternJune 3, 2021resource trap, RBC Series, series, montana, rural, agriculture, success stories, community

Big Horn County, Montana: Leaving Coal Behind

Natural resources have been a mixed bag for Big Horn County, Montana, but local Crow (Apsáalooke) leaders are working to turn the narrative around.

Top StorySamuel WesternJune 2, 2021resource trap, RBC Series, montana, community, education, tourism, series

Sandpoint, Idaho: Walking the Line

Moving past a commodity-based economy is not for the faint of heart. See how this community in Idaho has begun welcoming new (sometimes even weird) ideas on how to do so.

Top StorySamuel WesternJune 1, 2021resource trap, RBC Series, Idaho, local business, business

Break Out of the Resource Trap with a Strong Towns Approach

Communities in decline face a great deal of work if they hope to someday become stronger towns. Remember that it is a process, not a destination. Here’s how you can begin.

Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnMay 28, 2021resource trap, RBC Series, community, main street

Reinforce the Main Street Ecosystem in Your Place

Resource-focused cities of the past built wealth in a downtown core surrounded by neighborhoods. Here’s how to recreate that ecosystem in your place, today.

Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnMay 27, 2021resource trap, RBC Series, community, main street

Build Community Wealth with Incremental Investment

We must stop building more infrastructure in our cities and switch instead to a model of intensive maintenance, combined with making better use of what has already been built.

Accelerate Success in Your Place with Economic Gardening

Conventional economic development practice focuses on recruiting new businesses to relocate to the community. In reality, the most stable and prosperous businesses are those that are homegrown.

Communities Need to Make Space for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship plays an important role in building prosperous local communities. Here are some steps for creating a more active ecosystem of entrepreneurs in your place.