From strongtowns.org
DOJ Lawsuit Reveals Deeper Problems in the Housing Market
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In January 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice sued six of the nation’s largest landlords, accusing them of artificially inflating apartment rents. But the lawsuit reveals an even deeper problem.
on Tue, 11AM
From strongtowns.org
Pittsburgh’s Leaders Made Streets Safer—Your Officials Can Too
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For years, Pittsburgh struggled with rising traffic fatalities. Instead of accepting these tragedies as inevitable or waiting for outside funding, city leaders acted decisively with the resources they had. Here's how.
on Mon, 1PM
From strongtowns.org
3 Reasons This Is a Great Time for Walkable Streets | The Strong Towns Podcast
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In this episode, Chuck explains why our current situation, though tense, actually presents a great opportunity for advocates of street safety, walkability, and bikeability. He then lays out a number of common misconceptions and errors that advocates will have to avoid if they want to take...
on Apr 18
From strongtowns.org
The ASCE Infrastructure Report Card Is Propaganda. We Deserve Better.
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Every few years, the American Society of Civil Engineers releases its Infrastructure Report Card. Let’s be clear about what this report card actually is: industry propaganda, not unbiased analysis.
on Apr 18
From strongtowns.org
Will Trump's Plan To Privatize Mortgages Fix the Housing Market?
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In this episode, Chuck and Abby discuss President Trump’s proposal to privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, organizations that back the majority of mortgages in the U.S. and have been under a government conservatorship since the 2008 financial crisis. (Transcript included.)
on Apr 18
From strongtowns.org
Member Livestream: Local Financial Health Worksheet Workshop
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Want help getting to the bottom of your city’s finances? Join us on April 28 for a virtual workshop on using the Finance Decoder.
on Apr 18
From strongtowns.org
Will McCollum: How To Design Prosperous Places
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Will McCollum is the president and co-founder of Citymakers Collective, a nonprofit that teaches aspiring architects and planners how to design resilient, beautiful and prosperous places. (Transcript included.)
on Apr 18
From strongtowns.org
This Canadian City is Taking a Hard Look at its Finances
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Calgary is transparent about it’s finances. Now it’s time to uncover where value is being created—and where resources are being drained.
on Apr 17
From strongtowns.org
Cities Are Already Defaulting on Their Debts
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This is how cities slide into insolvency: not with a dramatic collapse, but with a slow, steady drift into financial fragility.
on Apr 14
From strongtowns.org
Parking Dominates Our Cities. But Do We Really *See* It?
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We don’t pay a ton of attention to parking lots in our day-to-day lives—nobody makes postcards of scenic or historic ones—yet parking dominates and shapes the built environment around us more than any other factor. Here’s how to start seeing parking—and the damage it does when we build too much of
on Apr 14
From strongtowns.org
Width, and the Perception of Width
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Our guest post today from the Strong Towns Network comes from Stephen Stofka. Stephen is currently pursuing a Master's in Civil Engineering with a focus on transportation engineering. Having ventured this way from the world of land use planning, among Stephen's core interests is the development of
on Apr 13
From strongtowns.org
Small Town America vs Big Box Stores
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The dollar store invasion has hit rural Maine. Banning the retailer is one way to stave it off, but how can locals guarantee long-term financial resilience?
on Apr 9
From strongtowns.org
Why Cities Like Kansas City Are Heading Toward Financial Trouble — And How To Fix It.
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For cities to attain financial resilience, they must look beyond annual budgets. By applying a framework that examines financial sustainability, flexibility and vulnerability, they can better assess whether they are on a trajectory toward stability or decline.
on Apr 8
From strongtowns.org
Cincinnati Ditches the Status Quo with its Zoning Reform
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"If we stick with the status quo, Cincinnati will be the next city that is completely unattainable to live in for working-class Americans."
on Apr 3
From strongtowns.org
The Growth Ponzi Scheme Revisited: Houston as a Case Study
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Cities across North America are financially imploding—not because of a lack of growth, but because of growth itself. Few cities illustrate this pattern as vividly as Houston, Texas.
on Mar 31
From strongtowns.org
How Atlanta's Parking Requirement Changes Made Housing Development Possible
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The Finley Street Cottages project in Atlanta, Georgia, shows how parking mandates can prevent desperately needed development — and how removing those mandates makes housing more attainable and affordable.
on Mar 28
From strongtowns.org
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In this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck addresses the craziness of the current political climate. Using recent policy changes and public responses as examples, he explores how we’ve created a political climate of either-or: Either you decide to take a chainsaw to bankrupt and failing...
on Mar 25
From strongtowns.org
Can We Take Community Wealth Back From Walmart and Kroger?
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In this episode, Abby is joined by Edward Erfurt to discuss the emergence of food deserts in the United States. They talk about the causes of this dilemma and ways that everyday people can address these food shortages in their communities. (Transcript included.)
on Mar 25
From strongtowns.org
Is the U.S. Trapped in a Perpetual Housing Bubble?
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A financial bubble is, by definition, unsustainable. So, why have we recreated the 2000s housing bubble?
on Mar 25
From strongtowns.org
Urbanists Have a Communication Problem, and It’s Costing Us Great Cities
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Advocates must adjust the way they talk about city planning. Overuse of jargon and a strict focus on logical debate alienates people, but focusing on the concrete benefits of better urban design — or, even better, showing those benefits — can make change more appealing.
on Mar 23
From strongtowns.org
Strong Towns Need Strong Churches: The Case for Incremental Faith-Based Housing
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Many of incremental development’s values — localism, quality and civic pride — align well with those of houses of worship. If faith communities embrace this model, we could see a wave of faith-based housing that complements the broader movement toward incremental development.
on Mar 13
From strongtowns.org
Why Housing ‘Efficiency’ Isn’t Making Homes Affordable
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Many people think that increased efficiency and economies of scale in the housing market are the key to affordability. However, these benefits are not actually appearing. We do need innovation, but not in the form of new interest rate manipulations or complex securitization schemes.
on Mar 10
From strongtowns.org
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The Accelerator Program gives you direct access to Strong Towns experts, people ready to help you create a plan for making your community stronger and more resilient.
on Mar 7
From strongtowns.org
Challenging the Status Quo: The Case for Celebrating Different Developments
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When a development project dares to break the Suburban Experiment mold, it faces intense scrutiny from both opponents and advocates. Ironically, these are the very projects we should be studying — and even celebrating. Culdesac Tempe, a car-free community in Arizona, is one such project.
on Mar 7
From strongtowns.org
This “Multigenerational Roommate House” Shows How To Heal the Housing Market
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Multigenerational living was common before restrictive zoning laws made it illegal to have more than one household in a single-family home. By letting homeowners convert existing houses into duplexes or triplexes, cities can give residents the flexibility to live where they want at a price they can
on Mar 4
From strongtowns.org
New Homes, Same Old Feel: Sacramento Says Yes To Incremental Development
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Back in September, Sacramento became the first city in California to allow multiunit housing in all residential neighborhoods. Here’s what that means for residents seeking housing.
on Mar 4
From strongtowns.org
How To Handle the Looming Shortage of Senior Housing | Upzoned
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The U.S. senior housing market is poised to shift from a surplus to a shortage in the next five years, as the oldest baby boomers turn 80 by 2030. In this Upzoned episode, Abby is joined by Norm Van Eeden Petersman, Strong Towns’ director of Movement Building. They unpack the implications of...
on Feb 27
From strongtowns.org
Housing in Plain Sight: City Helps Homeowners Turn Empty Spaces Into Homes
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What do you do when your city is full of illegal backyard cottages that no one can live in but you really need more affordable housing options? If you’re a city official in Berkeley, California, you recognize that one problem can address the other.
on Feb 26
From strongtowns.org
How To Handle the Looming Shortage of Senior Housing
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The U.S. senior housing market is poised to shift from a surplus to a shortage in the next five years. In this episode, Abby and Norm Van Eeden Petersman, Strong Towns’ director of Movement Building, discuss the implications of this shift and how to give more options to seniors. (Transcript include
on Feb 25
From strongtowns.org
We Need To Crash the Market for Entry-Level Homes
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To escape the housing crisis, we need a lot of housing to be built quickly. The key isn't large, ponderous projects; it's fast, widespread incremental development. We know the types of units that can be scaled and we know how to build them. The only thing we need now is for cities to devote themselv
on Feb 25
From strongtowns.org
Portland’s Housing Policies Are Delivering. Will Other Cities Catch Up?
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Here’s how Portland, Oregon, is getting more housing built that blends into existing neighborhoods and earns the approval of nearby residents, all while increasing affordability and supporting the local community.
on Feb 22
From strongtowns.org
More Homes, Less Hassle: Tulsa's New Approach
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Tulsa, Oklahoma, is joining a growing list of cities that have integrated preapproved plans into their housing toolkits. This approach makes it easier for small-scale developers to complete projects quickly and cheaply.
on Feb 19
From strongtowns.org
Nook and Cranny Urbanism: How To Maximize Every Inch of Space
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In historic cities, land was treated as a scarce resource and every inch of it was used with ingenuity. This created productive and charming places that could meet the evolving needs of residents. Here are a few ways we can bring that traditional productivity and adaptable charm to modern cities.
on Feb 19
From strongtowns.org
Can Sean Duffy’s New USDOT Transportation Order Bring Economic Growth?
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A new order from the U.S. Department of Transportation is proposing a different approach to transportation spending. If implemented, it could deliver long-overdue reforms, the kind Strong Towns has long supported. However, the specifics raise serious concerns.
on Feb 11
From strongtowns.org
Why Traffic Enforcement Isn’t Enough To Save Lives
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In many cities, officials primarily rely on traffic enforcement to prevent car crashes and fatalities. This is unsustainable and ineffective. If city officials want to make Vision Zero a reality, instead of a slogan, they must address the systemic issues that put everyone at risk.
on Feb 7
From strongtowns.org
Speed Cameras Are Not a Permanent Solution to Dangerous Streets
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Do speed cameras actually make roads safer, or are they just another enforcement tool that fails to address the underlying design issues that cause speeding in the first place?
on Feb 7
From strongtowns.org
Growth Ponzi Scheme Leaves Virginia Town With $34 Million Dilemma
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The Growth Ponzi Scheme encourages city governments to take on obligations they can never hope to sustain. Purcellville, Virginia, offers a stark example of where this path leads.
on Feb 6
From strongtowns.org
Bottom-Up Shorts: How To Build Credibility and Effectivity as an Advocate | The Bottom-Up Revolution
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Welcome to this episode of Bottom Up Shorts! Today, Norm is joined by Andrew and Anna Carley, the leaders of Strong Towns Grand Rapids, a Local Conversation in Michigan. They discuss the progress they’ve made in advocating for policy changes in their city and how they became one of the go-to...
on Feb 4
From strongtowns.org
A Plane Crash Gets an NTSB Investigation. A Car Crash Gets a Shrug.
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Last Wednesday, a plane crash claimed the lives of 64 people, making it the deadliest U.S. air disaster in over two decades. It prompted an immediate, coordinated response on a local, state and federal level. And yet, when over 100 people die in car crashes a day, nothing is done. It’s time for that
on Feb 4
From strongtowns.org
Co-Living Provides Community, Not Just Housing
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When suddenly faced with paying his mortgage alone, Noah Tang of Bloomington, Illinois, went old school. He turned his spare rooms into monthly rentals for students in his college town. This helped him make ends meet and also helped him build community.
on Feb 4
From strongtowns.org
3 Ways To Make This Chicago Megaproject a Success for Everyone
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A privately funded megaproject in Chicago plans to redevelop parking lots into a walkable, mixed-use entertainment district. However, a history of disinvestment and fears of gentrification mean residents are fighting the project. Here’s how the developers could increase buy-in and integrate smoothly
on Feb 4
From strongtowns.org
How Homeowner’s Insurance May Change in the Wake of California Wildfires
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In this episode, co-hosts Abby Newsham and Chuck Marohn discuss the impact of natural disasters on the insurance industry, the feasibility of government-run insurance programs, and what this might mean for California in the long term.
on Jan 30
From strongtowns.org
How $180, Local Talent and Bottom-Up Action Can Strengthen a Community
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Here’s how Strong Towns Chicago is making its neighborhoods safer, more pedestrian-friendly and more inviting.
on Jan 24
From strongtowns.org
Yards Are Not Enough: The Importance of the Public Realm
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The way we design our places forms a lesson in being in that space. Children learn important lessons from third places that bring us together — lessons they can’t learn in private spaces like yards that isolate us in the name of privacy.
on Jan 22
From strongtowns.org
The Hidden Cost of America’s Infrastructure Spending Habits
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Today, I want to look at a utility investment near my hometown of Brainerd, Minnesota. At first glance, it seems like an extreme case, but looking at it with a touch of scrutiny reveals a lot of insight into why America’s basic infrastructure systems are failing and will not be maintained.
on Jan 21
From strongtowns.org
Is Life More Difficult for Younger Generations?
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In this episode of Upzoned, host Abby Newsham is joined by Kevin Klinkenberg, an urban designer and planner, to discuss how a middle-class life has become increasingly difficult for younger generations to attain.
on Jan 15
From strongtowns.org
The Case for Investing Downtown
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"Why on earth would we go back in time 70 years to model our current cities on?" Because it worked. Our cities were financially productive. Small businesses florished and remained competitive. We had vibrant, lively urban streets filled with people and activity.
on Jan 13
From strongtowns.org
Who Pays for Growth in Collier County, Florida: Part 4
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New suburban development creates budget-devouring road liabilities. And the way developers are asked to mitigate their traffic impacts is only making the problem worse.
on Jan 11