Ask Strong Towns #1 (April 2018)

Every month, we host Ask Strong Towns to give you a chance to ask your burning questions about our vision for change, and how the Strong Towns approach might apply in your unique place — and give us a chance to share our answers with the world, so it might help other Strong Citizens.

The live Ask Strong Towns webcast is open to all Strong Towns members, but afterward, we share the audio on our podcast.

Below you'll find that audio, with a conversation led by Strong Towns staff members, Chuck Marohn and Kea Wilson. Here are the questions we discussed today:

  1. What makes for a good urban road?
  2. What are the key metrics which we can use to judge whether a town is strong? I know it's not the municipal bond rating...
  3. I live in a city where the economy and population are growing. How can we build momentum for a Strong Towns approach in a place like this?
  4. What are your thoughts on home-sharing systems like AirBnB and short-term hotels?
  5. You present a simple and compelling argument for why our development pattern is causing our cities to go bankrupt. What factors are not being considered when we look at tax value per acre maps?
  6. What needs to happen so that more people can be engaged in local decision making and planning processes?
  7. My town has a walkable main street with some vacant land surrounding it. Should we prioritize strengthening our main street or developing the vacant land into something more productive?
  8. What's the low-hanging fruit? Where do you start building Strong Towns if you're a regular person, not an elected official or leader? Just riding a bike to work doesn't seem like it will make a big difference...

Visit the Ask Strong Towns page to learn more about this webcast, submit a question and get info about the next episode.


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