Strong Towns

How one country built a national consensus around fixing what it has.

A look back at the debate over Regent Street, and what it tells us about the future of transportation in Madison, WI.

Transportation experts rarely factor the human and economic toll into decisions that pave over safer alternatives.

A delightful experience and glimpse into the future of housing.

Many towns are overwhelmed by their obligations, but it might not be obvious.

An important transition for Strong Towns and the movement we're building together.

The work of building a strong town is never finished — and that's exactly the point.

This Strong Towns member is helping her city turn crash reviews into community learning.

The challenge isn't seeing the problem.

Strong Towns programs are built around humility, feedback, and learning our way forward.

What happens when local leaders have the right support.

Why Strong Towns is about helping people find each other and keep going.

What a failed vote taught me about culture, change, and the real work of building stronger towns.

How one Strong Towns member helped his community tackle its housing challenges.

When transit gets run off the road.

Real progress starts with empowering local residents to build.

It’s an idea with a century-long record of success.

My conversation with Illinois Governor JB Pritzker offered a useful example of the deeper divide shaping today’s housing debate.

A viral post about a proposed retail development reveals public outrage with Chicago policy that makes it easier to build drive-to box stores than fine-grained neighborhoods.

The difference between documenting failure and learning from it.

Perhaps sometimes we really should just phone it in.

What Sam Quinones taught me about addiction, community, and the slow work of building strong towns.

A look at Denver’s “Unlocking Housing Choices” plan.

Why we need to stop letting people outside the city make decisions about the city.

When every project is treated like a megadevelopment, nothing small gets built.

First St in downtown Duluth, MN, is being reviewed for a potential redesign.

What I heard in Des Moines, IA, from the people trying to solve America’s housing crisis.

Growth isn’t free — especially when it requires a bus ride.

Small multifamily buildings already fit Raleigh, NC; it’s time to build more of them.

If only so I don't have to be their concierge.

How cities chase big projects over systemic change.

What it looks like to stay with a place long enough for the work to outlast you.

We can comply with reform without ever truly embracing it.

If we’re not paying attention, it can be hard to tell whether a city is using debt to simply to smooth out cashflows, or if it’s just covering up insolvency.

If you live in a city or town with old, abandoned storefronts, this one’s for you!

There are major flaws in the accounting standards that shape municipal finance in American cities.

What Hermantown’s data center deal reveals about the limits of local control.

Instead of pretending we can enforce arbitrary definitions of family, let’s focus on what actually impacts people's lives.

How zoning dismantled a walkable neighborhood economy.

Stop treating development like a fight.

An alternative history in a living landscape.

How public safety messaging shifts responsibility away from the systems that cause harm.

This town's future is taking shape—but only if residents rethink how it gets built.

Advancing Strong Towns ideals in the Windy City takes patience, relationship-building and creativity.

Maintenance is boring but I'm here for it.

“Walkability” is a red herring.

A well-intentioned focus on making streets that are safer to move along and across often misses the mark on creating places where people want to be.

On becoming the coastal Cassandra.

How easy is it to reach a common destination (say, an ice cream shop) in your city or town by walking there?

You don't have to love your neighbor if you don't have any.