The Strong Towns Podcast

In this short, bonus episode, Chuck reads one of his recent articles about the chasm between the values of the average person and the values of the engineer. See the text of the article here.

Across the country, a movement of local doers is taking hold — one where problem solving happens from the bottom up instead of the top down. We're seeing this in everything from the way we educate ourselves to the tools we use to get places. The energy is coming not just from governments but also business leaders, teachers and scientists, and the solutions are interdisciplinary, too. This is what Bruce Katz, Centennial Scholar at the Brookings Institution, argues in new book, co-authored with Jeremy Nowak, The New Localism: How Cities Can Thrive in the Age of Populism. In this episode, Chuck interviews Bruce Katz about his book, this new localism movement and how it could shape a better future for all Americans.

In this episode, Rachel has Chuck Marohn on as her guest to discuss a special Strong Towns focus on the need to build safer, slower streets. They also talk about some upcoming webcasts, with a side of football. MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST Slow the Cars by Chuck Marohn Design Speed is a Value Statement by Chuck Marohn Gross Negligence Webcast - February 1 at 12pm CT Curbside Chat in Indianapolis - January 25 A Webcast Conversation with Jeff Speck - February 15 at 12pm CT Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths by Bruce Feiler

If you're from any part of America besides Los Angeles, you've probably dissed the California city at one point or another. It's full of smog, traffic and vain movie stars, right? But that narrative misses out on so much of what L.A. has to offer. Not only is the city an exciting and rewarding place to live for many people, it's also, surprisingly, a great place to raise a family and — believe it or not — a good place to walk and bike. Alissa Walker is living proof of this. She's the Urbanism Editor for Curbed and a long-time resident of Los Angeles. She's made the city work for her and actually says that walking or biking is often easier than driving in her neighborhood. When she realized this a few years back, she ditched her car and has been enjoying bus rides, bike rides and walks with her family ever since. She's also watched the city around her change as investments in public space, walking, biking and transit grow. Alissa's hopeful that cities like hers will continue to figure out ways to welcome and

Rachel hosts Strong Towns member and guest writer Tim Wright as her featured guest on this Week Ahead podcast. Tim discusses an incremental park improvement project he's been leading in his town of Shreveport, Louisiana, plus a favorite new book that had surprising relevance with Strong Towns issues. (We encountered a couple sound quality issues in this recording so we apologize for that.) Mentioned in this podcast: Inspired Park Project Takes Root in Shreveport by Tim Wright Visit the Local Conversations page to find Strong Towns members taking action in your region. Learn more about the inner-city highway project that residents are fighting against in Shreveport. The Cost of Living by Arundhati Roy Fauda (TV show on Netflix)

This week Strong Towns president Chuck Marohn discusses risk, his own approach to investing and what it means for local governments to make investments that minimize risk and maximize potential gains. Referenced in the podcast: Blowing Up by Malcolm Gladwell

In this episode, Rachel asks Chuck Marohn why our cities need a 12 step program to get them out of their financial struggles. Rachel and Chuck also discuss some upcoming online opportunities for readers and listeners to engage in the Strong Towns movement. If you've got an idea for a Strong Towns staff member or contributor that you think would be a good guest for this podcast, email Rachel. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE A 12-Step Program for Financially Insolvent Cities by Chuck Marohn This week's open Slackchat with Chuck will take place at 12pm CT on Wednesday. Join us for a free webcast about the American Infrastructure Crisis, January 16 at 11am CT. Open Source with Christopher Lydon (podcast) The Longest Shortest Time (podcast)

In this episode, Kea Wilson interviews Melody Hoffmann, author of Bike Lanes are White Lanes, which examines how the burgeoning popularity of urban bicycling is trailed by systemic issues of racism, classism, and displacement. Melody discusses the many factors that contribute to a person's comfort with biking beyond just the presence of protected bike lanes and why the "build it and they will come" mentality is flawed. She also shares examples of cities that are actively working within diverse communities to create safer transportation options for everyone.

In the inaugural podcast of 2018, Rachel hosts a conversation with Chuck Marohn to discuss fresh content, recent favorite books and exciting announcements to kick off the new year. 

Chuck and Rachel ask for help choosing new intro music for this podcast (vote here!). Then they recap recent events in Florida and share the best podcasts of 2017. Finally, they close with Chuck's favorite books from the year. Mentioned in this podcast: Vote for our new podcast music: https://www.strongtowns.org/survey Our Best Podcast Episodes from 2017 Favorite Books from 2017 Speaking of Faith: Why Religion Matters--and How to Talk About It by Krista Tippett

Strong Towns members Bo Wright and Haile McCollum wrote dueling essays this year, debating the merits and drawbacks of small town southern life. Bo's October essay "Why I'm Leaving My Small Southern Town," inspired Haile to write her own: "The Case for Small Southern Towns." So we brought them on the podcast to discuss further. Rachel Quednau hosts this friendly, spirited conversation about what Bo and Haile find valuable about life in the small town south, and what they'd like to see change. They talk about how small towns suit people differently at different phases of their life, and how small towns can be both ideal and challenging places in which to get involved with the life of the community. Finally, they discuss the particular need for the Strong Towns message in small southern towns.

Chuck and Rachel discuss a recent event in Washington state, which inspired today's article: "The Ideology of Traffic." They also chat about an upcoming meeting in Chicago and Best of 2016 content.  MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST: "The Ideology of Traffic" Best of Strong Towns Global Grid's Top 20 Urban Planning Websites of 2016 Webcast: Creating a Strong Towns Comp Plan Strong Towns article archive

Chuck and Rachel discuss a recent trip to Montreal and the language differences present there. They also share several exciting announcements including new Strong Towns t-shirts, a new Strong Towns book, and the 2017 Annual Report. Plus they share a final update on the membership drive. Mentioned in this Podcast: Event in Panama City, Florida Strong Towns 2017 Annual Report Introducing our New Book The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug Get the new Strong Towns t-shirt and Strong Towns book in our Shop!

The infamous "master builder" of New York City, Robert Moses, is the subject of a new rock musical, opening today (November 30) in New York. In this podcast episode, Kea Wilson interviews Karen Carpenter, director of the musical, Bulldozer: The Ballad of Robert Moses, as well as the musical's writer, Peter Galperin. They discuss why they selected this controversial figure as the subject for their musical and how they went about depicting his vision and story within the show. They also talk about other characters — like Jane Jacobs — who are part of the musical and the actors they selected to fill these roles. Finally, Karen and Peter touch on the positive accomplishments of Robert Moses and how his influence shaped New York for good and for bad. Bulldozer dramatizes Robert Moses’ evolution from a young idealist fervent with a desire to build the greatest city in the world to a power-insulated enemy of the people, corrupted, lost and alone. Performances run today (November 30) through January 7 at the Theatr

In this podcast episode, Chuck and Rachel review the highlights (lowlights?) from Strong Towns' annual #BlackFridayParking event and share some exciting news... They also provide an update on the 2017 member drive. We're so close to our goal of 2,000 members. Help us get to #2000Strong by joining today. Become a member of Strong Towns: www.strongtowns.org/membership  

This Friday is our annual #BlackFridayParking event — a nationwide action drawing attention to the harmful nature of minimum parking requirements.  Each year on Black Friday, one of the biggest shopping days of the year, people across North America are invited to snap photos of the (hardly full) parking lots in their communities to demonstrate how unnecessary these massive lots are. Participants then upload those photos to social media with the hashtag #blackfridayparking.  Get more info about how to participate here: www.strongtowns.org/blackfridayparking In this podcast, Chuck Marohn interviews Monte Anderson, owner of Options Real Estate and founding member of the Incremental Development Alliance, based in the Dallas area. Monte discusses the challenges that parking minimum laws create for developers, and how these requirements especially exclude small-scale developers. He also discusses how to approach parking needs in a more auto-centric region of the country and how to find the right amount of parking

Strong Towns staff members Chuck Marohn and Bo Wright check in on the final day of our 2017 Member Drive to talk about their hopes for the future of the Strong Towns movement. They discuss the intentional choices that the Strong Towns organization has made about how we disseminate our message and push for change, and they talk about our vision for reaching more communities to transform the cultural conversation in America. Chuck and Bo also share some of the organization's plans for 2018, including creating some platforms and opportunities that our members have specifically requested. Take a listen to find out what's in store for next year. If you've been procrastinating this week, now is the time when we really need you to step up. Take a minute to join this movement as a member of Strong Towns. We're doing big things together and we want you to be part of it! Visit www.strongtowns.org/membership to join today.

A year ago, Shreveport, Louisiana was on the brink of building a highway right through the poor inner-city neighborhood of Allendale. As residents came together and rallied against this project in order to protect their homes and their community, Strong Towns became an inspiration and a voice for their efforts. In addition to sharing stories about the people and the community that would be ripped apart as a result of this highway, Strong Towns also focused on the fundamentally flawed economic arguments propping up the project in the first place. We proved just how financially harmful this highway would actually be, in opposition to local leaders claiming that the project would benefit their city. You can see all our work on Shreveport here. As a result of this national focus on the issue, lawyers from across the country including the Sierra Club's legal team have now stepped in to offer assistance and the fight against the highway is gaining momentum. In our latest podcast episode, Chuck Marohn chats with J

In this podcast episode, Chuck breaks down Strong Towns' core insight about the American growth model — what's wrong with it and why it's bankrupting our country — then talks about how this movement responds to that problem in a thoughtful, non-partisan manner. There are no simple answers. Success for our country will not come from the federal government or the corporate sector and trickle down to our communities. Rather, when we focus on the struggles of real people and make small, incremental investments over a period of time to improve them, that's when we'll see broad prosperity in our nation. That's when we'll be building Strong Towns. Together, we can revolutionize our approach to growth and development. We can make our places stronger than they've ever been. Join the movement that's changing the world. Become a member: strongtowns.org/membership? Mentioned in this Podcast: Tomas Sedlacek — check out our series on his economic theories The Curbside Chat

In this podcast on the second day of the Strong Towns Winter Member Drive, Chuck shares a bit about the history of Strong Towns and the wake up call he had while working as an engineer — building the very roads and big box stores he now recognizes as harmful for our towns and cities. To build stronger towns, we have to shift the cultural conversation in American. It's a big challenge but with your help, we know we can do it. Join the Strong Towns movement today. We've still got a ways to go before we get to our goal of 2000 members. Don't procrastinate. Become a member now.