From school integration to budget reform, Rick Cole has spent his life encouraging cities to meet their residents’ needs in smart and sustainable ways. Here's his advice for city officials.

Danny Wind is a Local Conversation leader and Regional Transportation Commission member from California. Danny discusses their Open Street Map Project, which gives people a space to share the everyday challenges they face. (Transcript included.)

To build a strong city, you first have to understand the building blocks you’re working with and how they fit together.

If crashes happen in the same place over and over, is it really an accident? Phoenix residents say no—and they have the data to prove it.

The latest fatality on a Charlottesville road was the last straw for Kevin Cox, but his efforts to make the area safer might land him twelve months of jailtime. What if cities saw actions like his not as crimes—but as calls for change?

Cullum Clark, a director at the George W. Bush Institute, discusses housing reforms that have proven to be economically feasible, politically realistic, and impactful on a large scale. (Transcript included.)

What began as a quiet act of care—building benches where none existed—just got the City of Richmond’s official blessing.

Over 20 communities have used the Finance Decoder to turn dense spreadsheets into clear direction—proving that financial transparency doesn’t have to be dull.

How much does parking cost? Enough to make cities rethink whether it should be mandatory at all.

Noah Roth is the founder of Streetcraft, a platform that uses visual storytelling and urban design to explore and improve the built environment. (Transcript included.)

By embracing the Crash Analysis Studio model, New Haven residents are shifting the conversation away from blame and towards preventing the next tragedy.

Danny Lapin is a revitalization specialist with the New York State Department of State. He and Norm discuss the ways that New York state is encouraging bottom-up community development. (Transcript included.)

Today, Chuck is joined by Jeff Speck, a city planner, author, and principal of an urban design and consultancy firm. They discuss the ideas shared in Chuck’s book “Escaping the Housing Trap” and how those concepts play out in the real world, including examples from Jeff’s own work. (Transcript included.)

By clearing the path for more homes in more places, these places aren’t just tweaking policy—they’re rewriting the rules to build stronger, more resilient communities.

We’re not just looking at a future where cities can’t count on federal support. We’re facing one where Washington itself might be powerless to intervene, even if it wanted to.