Love the One You’re With

When you’re not allowed to build the kind of housing you want, sometimes you have to work with what’s already here.

Top StoryJohnny SanphillippoJuly 7, 2022housing, housing affordability, housing cost, housing crisis, housing market, housing policy, home, zoning, Incremental Housing, wisconsin, home buyer

City Wants To Transform 14-Mile-Long Stroad

This vital corridor in El Paso is getting a makeover!

Top StoryRobert SteutevilleJuly 7, 2022road diet, streets, Street Design, streetscape, roads, safety, success stories, transportation, transit, suburban retrofit, texas, stroad, safe and productive streets

Champion of People-Centered Streets Brings Strong Towns Approach to Congress

Strong Towns advocates are pushing for safe and productive streets…including in Congress!

Top StoryJay StangeJuly 7, 2022Congress, federal government, politics, success stories

TxDOT Proposes to Dig a $1 Billion Infrastructure Grave in Downtown Dallas

For years now, TxDOT has considered removing Interstate 345 in downtown Dallas…only to conclude their study by coming up with a much worse plan.

Podcast, Top StoryStrong TownsJuly 6, 2022podcast, infrastructure, transportation, transportation spending, highways, freeways, freeway removal, urban freeways, DOT, upzoned, texas

Modern Urban Planning Is Inside Out

Today, city planning departments obsess over what happens inside buildings but pay scant attention to the quality of the space outside them.

Herriges, Top StoryDaniel HerrigesJuly 6, 2022urban design, urban planning, parks, public space, Privatization, design, development, florida

What’s the First Sign of a Safe Street?

How many kids feel safe playing on your local street?

Top StorySeairra JonesJuly 5, 2022children, play, public safety, streets, pedestrians, safe and productive streets, safety

Here’s Why We Respond in Force to One Amtrak Crash While Ignoring Thousands of Daily Car Crashes

A top-down approach to addressing accidents fails to make streets safer. A local approach could change that.

Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnJuly 5, 2022car crash, Crash Analysis Studio, safety, cars, transportation, top-down, bottom-up, streets, Street Design, engineers, traffic engineering, roads, transit, safe and productive streets

A Different Kind of Neighborhood

This week, our Neighborhood Storyteller has set out to rejoin an old community of hers—one suspended in towers 8,000 feet above sea level.

Neighborhood Storyteller, Top StoryKarla TheilenJuly 5, 2022neighborhood storyteller, community, montana, wildfire, neighborhoods

Friday Faves - Your Weekly Strong Towns Roundup

Strong Towns on Pinterest, off-grid living, and missing middle housing. These are just some of the stories from around the internet that Strong Towns staff were reading and talking about this week.

Top StoryStrong TownsJuly 1, 2022friday faves

Sidewalk Cycling Explained

It can be intimidating for inexperienced cyclists to ride in the road with cars. If that’s you and you’d prefer to use the sidewalk, here’s how to do so safely and respectfully.

Top StoryArian HorbovetzJuly 1, 2022bike infrastructure, bikeability, bikes, biking, e-bikes, bike lanes, safety, public safety, car crash, commuting, transportation, active transportation, pedestrians

The Bottom-Up Revolution Is...Welcoming New Americans and Building Up a Rural Economy

Jennifer Stromsten and Alex Beck are leading economic development efforts in Brattleboro, VT.

Podcast, Top StoryStrong TownsJune 30, 2022The Bottom-Up Revolution, success stories, rural, immigrants, vermont, podcast

The Case for Abolishing Zoning

For the sake of our cities and the people who live in them, it’s time we fundamentally rethink how we regulate land in America. Read about it in this excerpt from Nolan Gray’s new book, Arbitrary Lines.

Top StoryNolan GrayJune 30, 2022zoning, urban design, books, excerpt, Land Use, urban planning

Seven Stroads That Have Been Converted to Streets

There are thousands of stroad sections in the US. Transforming a good number of them is important to to the goal of improving quality of life and mobility in cities and towns.

Top StoryRobert SteutevilleJune 30, 2022road diet, streets, Street Design, streetscape, roads, safety, success stories, transportation, stroad, safe and productive streets

State Preemption: A Means To Reform Zoning, or a Threat to Localism?

State preemption is a controversial issue in the planning world—but what’s the Strong Towns stance on it?

Podcast, Top StoryStrong TownsJune 29, 2022podcast, state government, local government, Municipalism, housing, zoning, affordable housing, housing affordability, housing activism, upzoned

New Strong Towns Groups Are Popping Up Everywhere

Five local Strong Towns groups launched last week. Is one of them near you?

Top StoryJohn PattisonJune 29, 2022community, community building, community engagement, local conversations, advocacy

Local Control or Centralized Planning? There’s a Third Answer.

The problems with "community input" are many and obvious. One misguided response is to favor more top-down policy making, simply overriding the objections of local "NIMBYs." But there is a third way.

Herriges, Top StoryDaniel HerrigesJune 29, 2022localism, local government, local regulation, bottom-up, top-down, strong towns approach, incremental, incrementalism, Small Change, small bets, urban planning

Why You Should Care About Property Taxes as a Renter

If you don’t own a home, and don’t have plans to own one anytime soon, you might think property taxes don’t concern you. But, what if we told you that they definitely do?

Top StorySeairra JonesJune 28, 2022Just Accounting for Health, property tax, homeowners, rent, renters, finance, taxes, transparent local accounting, home buyer, local economy

“Free Parking” Isn’t Green

No matter how many solar panels it has, your parking garage isn’t green, and especially if you don’t charge parking.

Top StoryJoe CortrightJune 28, 2022parking pricing, Donald Shoup, Parking Reform Network, garages, environment, climate, Climate Change, end parking mandates and subsidies

An Epidemic of Blight Collides With a Pandemic

In Detroit's 48205 zip code, from 2014 to 2020, the number of vacant homes hardly budged, despite $25M spent demolishing 1,628 vacant homes. When the pandemic hit, vacant homes plummeted. What happened?