Top 5 Stories from the Week (Feb 18–22, 2019)
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1. What Local Government Should Do in the Wake of Amazon's HQ2
by Charles Marohn | February 18, 2019
Amazon has pulled out of the deal with New York City. It’s unlikely subsidies are going away, so what can other cities learn so they don’t repeat mistakes?
2. Which Countries Have the Most Pavement Per Person?
by Daniel Herriges | February 20, 2019
Green can be deceiving, once you start accounting for the parking lots and six-lane stroads that come with our verdant suburban lawns. A study shows which countries actually pave over more of the world’s surface.
by Johnny Sanphillippo | February 19, 2019
The allure of a silver-bullet economic development project is like that boat you buy for a low, low down payment. You know, the one that ended up sitting in your driveway under a tarp for years. Just ask Memphis.
4. Approaching a Divided America With Open Eyes
Strong Towns Podcast | February 18, 2019
Revisiting a 2017 conversation between Charles Marohn and Chris Arnade about the toll of economic and social disintegration in American communities.
5. How Local Businesses can Become (Economically Resilient) Gathering Places
It’s the Little Things Podcast | February 20, 2019
Strong Towns’s own Kea Wilson discusses what her time as a bookseller at Left Bank Books in St. Louis taught her about making local businesses a third place, including what building a third place actually looks like, how third places are more economically resilient, and how you can make your local business a third place.
(Cover photo: Wikimedia Commons)