San Francisco's Mission District is an example of everything that makes a Strong Town work: incremental development, urbanism oriented to people rather than cars, a deeply rooted local economy, and a distinctive sense of place. It's also in peril because of decades of collective failure to allow more places like it to be built.
Read MoreUrban environments full of fine-grained detail, hidden nooks and crannies and narrow passages are memorable, lovable places that stimulate our sense of play and adventure. They are a way to use land more intensively and productively without building monolithic, outsized developments. A historic artists' colony nestled in a residential neighborhood in Florida provides an example.
Read MoreSt. Paul's River Balcony project is a refreshingly incremental and promising approach to creating new public space and reconnecting the city's downtown with the Mississippi River. It has the potential to demonstrate the power of pragmatic planning in small steps toward a grand vision.
Read MoreThe decision to pursue a career in urban planning: what's the value of it in a world where we acknowledge the fundamental complexity and unmanageability of cities? Planners as the conservation biologists of the urban ecosystem.
Read MoreA Strong Town is a resilient or antifragile town: one that can weather unforeseen disruptions to its economy, society, and environment. Building Strong Towns means creating the conditions for experimentation and being comfortable with the lack of a road map for what the future will look like.
Read MoreHow can Strong Towns grow into a movement which brings about transformative change, not tinkering around the edges?
Read MoreMonday Member Blog Digest: Identifying places of real versus illusory value. What is a "bad neighborhood" anyway? What is the best use of land under or next to an urban freeway? The bright future of the Midwestern "Rust Belt," and why the past isn't a good guide to the future when it comes to real estate values. Neighborhood churches as an urban litmus test. Thoughts on Pope Francis's message re: cities and urbanism. Block parties and red tape. A victory for cyclists in South Florida. When to put your time and energy into an idea when you have more of them than you can effectively advocate for.
Read MoreMonday News Digest—the latest and greatest from Strong Towns members' blogs! How to responsibly be a small-scale developer in a community on the rebound from blight and neglect—and how large-scale development money can arrest organic revitalization. Countering negative stereotypes of cities. Finding the middle-ground between "pro-" and "anti-development" political camps. Correcting perverse incentives from government structure, regulation and tax policy.
Read MoreThe best from Strong Towns members' blogs this week: Hawaii's "Lava People"—experimental housing in a minimal-regulation environment. The appeal of location vs. "unlocation." What makes people identify with the urban environment? The future of the corner store. When to use TIF. Pros and cons of regional consolidation of government. Dallas from a hotel's -eye-view. Unorthodox citizen participation tactics.
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