Jane Jacobs Week

Jane Jacobs repeatedly challenges us to embrace the complex -- the ballet -- and not just that which is simple and easy to code.

MarohnCharles MarohnMay 2, 2016mixed use, jane jacobs

What are you doing, Maine?

Maine's response to a serious road maintenance funding emergency is to cling to AASHTO’s archaic code book while projecting a value system of improve, Improve, IMPROVE, even going so far as to assume massive traffic increases where there is little traffic today.

Top Story, MarohnCharles MarohnApril 27, 2016Maine, highway spending, local government, engineers, traffic engineering

Deck Chairs on the Titanic

Proposed changes to federal rules on congestion mitigation reaffirm that real responses to the complex problems we face will only come from our cities, towns and neighborhoods.

MarohnCharles MarohnApril 25, 2016local government, federal government, roads, traffic engineering, congestion, stroad, safety

Follow the Rules, Bikers

We need to stop accommodating bikers and pedestrians within an auto-dominated environment and instead do the opposite.

MarohnCharles MarohnApril 21, 2016bike lanes, cycling, Complete Streets, urban design

The sprawl conversation

Chuck Marohn responds to critiques of his essay, Sprawl is not the Problem.

The Savannah Urbanism Series

Here's a video featuring Chuck Marohn, Joe Minicozzi and Kevin Klinkenberg from an event earlier this year in Savannah. The extended Q&A is a must-watch.

Top Story, Marohn, Curbside ChatCharles MarohnApril 18, 2016urban3, georgia

Sprawl Is Not the Problem

I encourage you all to stop using the word sprawl. It doesn't accurately describe the problem, it prevents us from getting to real responses and it unnecessarily divides the national dialog in ways that are unhelpful.

MarohnCharles MarohnApril 18, 2016sprawl, traditional development pattern, suburban experiment, Smart Growth, new york

The Role of the Strong Citizen

Strong Citizens may not all be qualified to size a support beam or write the specification for a concrete mixture, but they collectively are the greatest sensors of what is happening in a city.

Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnApril 15, 2016local government

Influences: Andres Duany

Andres Duany is a perpetual motion machine of thoughts and ideas, the intellectual leader of a movement that -- without exaggeration -- has changed the way the world is built.

Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnApril 6, 2016Influencers

Bringing Back the Corner Store

The corner store has a mythic place in our view of American cities. Mythic because, in most cities, they exist only in our minds.

Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnApril 5, 2016corner stores, minnesota

Please, I'm not a Smart Growth Advocate

I wish news reporters would stop calling me a Smart Growth advocate.

MarohnCharles MarohnApril 4, 2016Smart Growth, financial solvency

Influences: Jared Diamond

If you want to understand Strong Towns thinking, Jared Diamond is a good place to start.

Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnMarch 29, 2016Influencers

A wrap (for now) on Sedlacek

A system where growth is the main objective will fail, but only after it has exhausted every means to expand consumption.

MarohnCharles MarohnMarch 28, 2016economics, nassim taleb

Understanding Growth, Part 5

Can we only satisfy our needs by increasing our neediness?

Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnMarch 25, 2016economics, ecosystems, growth, antifragility

Understanding Growth, Part 4

Are we a society of villains or of neighbors?

Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnMarch 24, 2016growth

Understanding Growth, Part 3

We created debt to serve us. Now we serve debt.

Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnMarch 23, 2016growth

Understanding Growth, Part 2

Genesis describes God's labor of creating the heavens and earth and all that is as taking six days. On the seventh day, God rests. God doesn't rest because God needs to be back at the office Monday morning to create another universe. God rests because God is done.

Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnMarch 22, 2016growth