Strong Towns believes local government is the most direct and important form in shaping policies that affect our daily lives. We support anyone who steps up to devote their time and energy to their communities, and know that there are things you can do at all levels of government to improve the lives of your fellow citizens. Whether you’re just seeking election, or are a longtime office holder, here are 10 core concepts that can help you learn more about your community’s needs and how to grow a Strong Town.

1. Managing Money Is Job One

A core tenet of Strong Towns is that local governments must run a profit. This doesn't mean they should overburden taxpayers and extract every last dime for services. But fundamentally, any local government must have enough revenue to match its expenses, and only then can its best intentions be executed. When local governments start operating at a loss, by taking on debt or tapping into cash reserves, these are often the first steps toward long-term insolvency. Government is like a business in that sense, and elected officials at all levels should be proficient in fiscal management and policy, and know how their city and department are faring financially (including what’s an actual asset and what’s a liability).

2. There Is No Silver Bullet

Healthy local economies are dynamic and diverse. Or, as Strong Towns founder Chuck Marohn describes them, complex:

A complex system is one that emerges from a collection of interacting objects, each of which experience feedback, are free to adapt their strategies based on their experience and are influenced by their environment. A complex system emerges—it is not imposed but instead appears, as if by magic. It is a collection of interactions between objects, any one of which we may understand but, when examined over time, very quickly become unpredictable.

This context is important when some entity is promising that their convention center or corporate headquarters or transportation project will transform your city. Perhaps it will, but determining its real impact always requires complex considerations.

3. It Doesn’t Take a Big Budget To Make Changes in Your Community

Not only does your city not need a billion-dollar “improvement” project, the track record of big changes imposed by big public works is checkered at best. The good news is that the most effective change for your constituents—and for your local economy—comes at the block level. Start with this four-step process to identify where people are struggling and discover the smallest steps you can take to improve their daily lives. These could be as simple as some benches, traffic cones, and paint: anything that helps people safely navigate, conduct commerce, and enjoy their neighborhoods. Cumulatively, these small steps can be the most cost-effective way to improve local lives and livelihoods.

4. Identify and Support Your Most Productive Neighborhoods

A strong city or town has productive land use. Specifically, this means that the structures and activities within its borders create enough wealth to support the infrastructure and services needed for it to continue and thrive. But far too few places actually do that math. Strong Towns has documented that when you do, the reality may run counter to conventional wisdom about where your city's wealth is coming from. Use this handy guide to calculate the value per acre of neighborhoods in your area, and check out these innovative data visualizations from Urban3 detailing the discrepancies.

Armed with this knowledge, you may make different policy choices about which areas and projects to support with public investment.

5. Try Walking, Pedaling, or Rolling in Their Shoes

Strong Towns has described the many ways car-centric design and development has marred our cities, created dangerous conditions for all other users, and left transportation agencies with crushing infrastructure liabilities. Don’t believe us? Head out in your city and experience it by all the various means of transportation your constituents are using. Ride every mode of public transportation. Experience what it’s like to walk to a set of common errands on your city’s streets, including with a baby stroller or shopping cart. Do those bike lanes, or worse, sharrows, inspire safety and security? Also take a trip with a wheelchair user and see what challenges they face. Then remember that investments to improve the safety and accessibility of biking and walking are generally the lowest-cost, highest-returning improvements that can be made to a street.

6. Too Much Parking Will Harm Your City

How is excess parking bad for your city? Let us count the ways. Parking minimums add massive burdens and expense to construction projects, including vital housing development (see below). Acres of unproductive pavement mar the landscape. And heavy-handed regulations take away the flexibility and agency that homeowners, developers, and business owners deserve. Fortunately there’s strong momentum on the side of ending parking mandates and subsidies, as exemplified by this handy map from the Parking Reform Network. Learn more about what you can do to free up vast swaths of land that can be used more productively in your town or city.

7. You Can Learn a Lot From Your Local Developers

There’s a good chance that your city has a housing crisis. There’s an equally good chance that there are smaller local developers who would like to build more housing inventory, but are stifled (or intimidated) by cumbersome zoning rules, parking requirements, and approval processes. Engage with them and learn about the specific impediments they face, and the plans they might execute if the barriers were lower. Something as simple as changing a few lines of zoning code could unleash a slew of missing middle housing development. Better still, incremental, small-scale development can be exceptionally productive for cities, with lower infrastructure needs upfront and a stronger tax base after it’s built.

8. Backing Local Businesses Is Worth It

Local businesses are the backbone of a Strong Town. Money spent at local businesses is more likely to stay in a community, and a solid core of local owners ensures that important economic decisions that affect your city aren’t made at corporate headquarters in faraway places. These businesses can also become a unique draw for visitors, bringing in added revenue from outside your community. So you should always be attuned to the challenges would-be entrepreneurs face in starting and operating a business in your area. There’s a good chance that there’s a policy change—zoning reform, walkable business districts, streamlined startup processes—that could help them and your city.

9. Know What It Takes To Buy a House or Rent an Apartment

All the complexities of the housing market come down to a simple consumer challenge: finding a place to live within your budget and parameters. To better represent your constituents, it’s vital to know what they’re facing to secure this fundamental need. So spend a weekend apartment- or house-shopping in your district. Observe the price points, and compare them to what you know about local incomes. See what it’s like to get around, shop, and play in the vicinity. Then take a fresh look at all the policies that could help or hinder those neighborhoods. Just by addressing two common zoning ills—single-use districts and single-family-home restrictions—your actions could spur small-scale development that benefits citizens and local businesses.

10. Most of Your Constituents Will Never Come to a Council Meeting

Anyone who’s attended public hearings or city council meetings knows that there’s often a repeating cast of characters (including That Guy). Such meetings are clearly an important way to hear from your constituents, but a very limited one. Reach out and engage with the groups active on issues you’re trying to champion. Almost every city has a bicyclist organization, or park volunteers, who will have knowledge and passion to share. You’ll also find active conversations on local interest sites and social media (yeah, we know), or (plug coming) a Strong Towns Local Conversation. Once in office, seek to expand access to meetings with later start times, weekend dates, etc.

10 Things Every Elected Leader Should Know About Building Strong Towns