Before You Act: The Importance of Alignment

Meaningful action in your city is best when aligned with your strengths.

Owens, Top StoryTiffany Owens ReedSeptember 12, 2023advocacy

Context Is King

Great ideas are great, but context determines application.

Owens, Top Story, TrendingTiffany Owens ReedSeptember 5, 2023texas, downtown, history, urban renewal

Becoming Resilient Starts With Building Relationships Where You Are

Becoming resilient isn’t magic. It’s hard work that starts with knowing our neighbors.

Owens, Top StoryTiffany Owens ReedAugust 29, 2023community, resilience, neighborliness, neighborhoods, Social Isolation

Heat Isn't the Problem; Design Is

We need more than escapist technology to cope with high temperatures.

Owens, Top Story, TrendingTiffany Owens ReedAugust 22, 2023Heat Islands, urban design

Designing for Integrated Lives

As working from home grows in popularity, where does that leave downtowns that have prioritized their land for office space—and what does this all say about how we should think about neighborhood design?

Owens, Top StoryTiffany Owens ReedAugust 15, 2023downtown, Neighborhood Design, skyscrapers, covid

3 Takeaways From Ivan Illich’s Critique of Cars

The critique of car dependence is nothing new for Strong Towns readers—but here’s one that may make you think a little more deeply about the tradeoffs and illusions baked into North America’s transportation industry.

Owens, Top StoryTiffany Owens ReedAugust 8, 2023cars, car dependency, auto-oriented, transit

The Lost Art of Exploring

Car-oriented cities give us speed but rob us of the joy of discovery.

Owens, Top Story, TrendingTiffany Owens ReedAugust 1, 2023car culture, texas, walkability, transit, cities

How to Spot Ecosystem Collapse, Three Signs

Cities are collections of systems that work together to sustain life. Here's how to tell when they've been destabilized.

Owens, Top StoryTiffany Owens ReedJuly 25, 2023ecosystems, cities

Show Me the Magic

Sometimes, it behooves us to rethink downtowns as hubs of culture-making, not just money-making.

Owens, Top StoryTiffany Owens ReedJuly 18, 2023downtown, public space

To Improve Public Engagement, Cities Need to Educate the Public

Cities should rethink how they do public engagement if it doesn’t come with a strong educational component.

Owens, Top StoryTiffany Owens ReedJuly 11, 2023public engagement, community, local government, elected officials

Pleasure in the City

Designing urban spaces for people starts by taking seriously our need for delight and comfort.

Owens, Top StoryTiffany Owens ReedJune 27, 2023aesthetics, design, urbanism

Sweat the Big Things, Too

Cities wanting to win at the infinite game must take public safety seriously.

Owens, Top StoryTiffany Owens ReedJune 20, 2023public safety, crime, homeless

Patterns, Placemaking, and People: 3 Questions for Observing Your City

“Attention is the beginning of devotion.” How can we begin to really see our cities and towns?

Owens, Top Story, TrendingTiffany Owens ReedJune 13, 2023member week

3 Trade-Offs Parents Make Living in Suburbs Vs. Cities

We’ve created a society in which families have to choose between either spread-out, single-family living or dense urban living—and each side of this (artificial) binary can come with upsides and downsides.

Lifted Pickup Trucks: An Invitation to Rethink Normal

LPTs have become an easy villain for street safety advocates, but are they really what we should be focusing on when examining our transportation options vis-à-vis our vision of a flourishing community?