A bar in Utica wanted to close the street so businesses could serve patrons. The request was denied…but not because of parking restrictions. What the request—and the reasons it was denied—reveal about our highest priorities.
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreCities won’t die in a vacuum. When you see a vacant office building, what you’re really looking at is your pension fund going belly-up, a loan that won’t get repaid, services that will have to be cut.
Read MoreEnforcement treats the symptoms of risky driving, not the cause. Here’s how to get to the root of the problem.
Read MoreWith venues closed, paid work sparse, and gathering sizes limited, artists have been hit hard by the pandemic. Yet their contribution to our towns and cities has never been so important.
Read MoreThe road to recovery and prosperity doesn’t run through Washington, D.C. or even some distant state capitol. It starts right where you are and it starts right now.
Read MoreOur 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?
Read MoreIf we’re serious about reorienting our local government towards the urgent needs of people, it’s not enough to invite them to a “table” they neither own nor control.
Read MoreWhat cities are spending money on besides police departments, poverty as a public health crisis, birdwatching during quarantine, and more. Here are a few stories from around the web that the Strong Towns staff were reading and talking about this week.
Read MoreIn a “car place,” pedestrians are grudgingly tolerated. In a “pedestrian place,” cars are allowed to visit. We need a lot more of the latter. Here’s where to start.
Read MoreThe individualism so embodied and celebrated in American culture is kept afloat by a fragile affluence. What happens when that affluence starts to crumble?
Read MoreThe word “virtue” may seem old-fashioned, but don’t be put off. Here are three virtues that should guide our work to build stronger, more financially resilient places.
Read MoreSmall-scale developers are an important part of building strength and prosperity. If anything, that’s more true now than it was before COVID-19.
Read MoreEven as more of our lives move online, homemade signage is making a comeback in the neighborhood.
Read MoreSome thought the pandemic would unite a polarized country. Instead it seems to be tearing us further apart. Can a divided America be put back together again?
Read MoreDo insolvent cities rely too much on fines and fees to make up their budget shortfalls? And is there a connection between an over-reliance on fines and controversial policing?
Read MoreIt’s easy for “maintaining” our public investments to become “upgrading” our public investments. Especially when there is money available. And especially when that money is borrowed.
Read MoreJust as the pandemic has revealed how interconnected we all are, it has also exposed the extent to which we have dis-integrated and dis-membered our society.
Read MoreMaking 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.
Read MoreMany cities that aren’t high on a trendy list of up-and-coming places to live may actually be uniquely positioned to weather the COVID-19 storm.
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