We’ve never been able to afford the Suburban Experiment. But now that our 20th-century infrastructure needs to be repaired or replaced, the bills are coming due in an obvious way.
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It’s an article of faith among many that big and tall buildings don’t belong around small and short buildings. But does this idea actually stand up to scrutiny?
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In some ways, Caltrain was in a better financial position than other public transit agencies. But the pandemic—and a political turf war—have thrown its future into jeopardy.
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When you make community-led, incremental redevelopment all but impossible, what you get is the wholesale reinvention of neighborhoods in somebody else’s image instead.
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Fantasy can only get us so far. But we're lost without it.
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Think budget-busting infrastructure spending isn’t happening in YOUR city? Ask these two questions to find out.
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Data, expert studies, and best practices abound for planners and policymakers. But they’re no substitute for humbly putting people at the center of our cities’ investments and attention.
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Amidst this new economic crisis, one community response may be seeing a resurgence: local currency.
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Comparing the process of furnishing two apartments—one in Ecuador, the other in the U.S.—was a reminder: order and efficiency aren't always what they're cracked up to be.
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Local government must run a profit. Once we accept what that means and why it’s important, we’ll never look at infrastructure spending the same way again.
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The choice to carve up Kansas City with freeways ranks among the worst planning mistakes in the region's history. Many decades later, the city is still is suffering the consequences.
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Our immediate reactions to a place are often deeply rooted in human psychology—including the biological preference for “edges.” Here’s a city that’s done that well. Has yours?
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Making a street safer, more bikeable, and more accessible should be a no-brainer…right? But skeptics in Topeka—and probably in your city too—are hung up on two chicken-and-egg problems.
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America's urban renaissance is real. And it’s not limited to the Bostons and San Franciscos of the world.
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We’re pretty hard on parking here at Strong Towns—after all, it’s often a massively wasteful use of space. But what does that vision mean for suburban and rural residents who drive into the city? Where are they supposed to park?
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In 1926, activists were using the claim that their cities had enough “zoned capacity” elsewhere to argue against allowing apartment buildings in their own neighborhoods. Today, they still do. And they’re still wrong.
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The neighborhoods that are the epicenters of unrest in Minneapolis this week are also places of remarkable compassion, initiative, and a fierce loyalty to community.
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Before the age of the freeway, Kansas City was famously a streetcar city. The pattern of development that streetcars fostered was a highly productive one that has stood the test of time. In fact, it still generates an outsized share of the city’s wealth today.
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Every major historical event is accompanied by predictions that it will change everything forever. For the most part, it never does.
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Strong Towns is empowering thousands of champions for change to bring their places back to greater prosperity, little by little, through bottom-up action. Here’s what that looks like.
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