How To Finance Housing in a Smart and Local Way: A Housing Q&A

What cities have successfully financed housing at the local level? How does tax increment financing work? When should cities stop subsidizing large-scale housing projects? Strong Towns President Chuck Marohn answers all these questions and more in this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast. (Transcript included.)

What an Old Bus Terminal Can Teach Us About Building a Strong Town

Some of the best arguments for historic preservation are not aesthetic or sentimental, but economic. Here are some examples of how the preservation and reuse of historic buildings can increase an area’s productivity.

Sometimes You Need To Destroy a Perfectly Good Mansion

Why preserving the past shouldn’t mean foreclosing our future.

Top StoryWill GardnerFebruary 9, 2024historic preservation, neighborhoods, massachusetts, Incremental Housing 1 Comment

Zoning Regulations Are Choking Philadelphia's Art Scene

This Philadelphia museum has won regional and national praise, and titled a “Philadelphia Cultural Treasure.” Yet, that didn’t stop the Zoning Board of Adjustments from challenging the homegrown institution's right to operate.

This Florida Town Rode a Rail Trail to an Economic Revival

Residents of Winter Garden, FL, realized they needed to take action to revive their declining town. They did this by focusing on one straightforward goal: bring people back downtown.

A Perfectly Good School

Another historic building that served an important function in its community gets torn down…to make way for more car storage.

Home Business: In Rovinj, Croatia, a Peek at What's Possible

A visit to a home restaurant in Rovinj, Croatia, shows the kind of small businesses and good urbanism that we could have in the U.S. if we just relaxed our zoning codes.

Weaving Together Community, One Maypole at a Time

A recent wedding in Clutier, Iowa, shows the power of a community that's committed to supporting each other and maintaining their historic assets.

Weaponizing Historic Preservation

Has historic preservation harmed the capacity for cities across the U.S. to address the housing crisis?

Podcast, Top StoryStrong TownsJanuary 19, 2022podcast, housing, housing crisis, historic preservation, upzoned 4 Comments

The Bottom-Up Revolution is... Architects and Planners in Pursuit of a Stronger Town

Strong Towns member Michael Smith and colleague Aaron Holverson are working to make Rockford, IL a more economically resilient place.

The Bottom-Up Revolution is... Reactivating a Historic Space for the Whole Community

Alex Rodriguez and Danny Lapin are incrementally revitalizing a historic space for entrepreneurs, artists and community members in rural Lexington, NY.

Sacrifice a Historic Downtown Neighborhood for a Hospital? There's a Better Option.

When we do the math, we find that preserving historic buildings and districts is the best thing we can do for our cities’ economic futures. Utica, New York should consider this when choosing where to locate a new hospital campus.

Is Everything with Strong Towns About Money? No. Not Even Close.

Not everything in a Strong Town can be about dollars and cents. The finances constrain us—they are an important check on our avarice—but the things that make a place worth loving go far beyond the balance sheet.

Saving Our Historic Water Tower, One Bite at a Time

My city council has been offered an impossible choice: spend millions of dollars we don’t have repairing our historic water tower, or permanently destroy an iconic landmark and a piece of our history. But there is a third option.

Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnMay 2, 2019maintenance, historic preservation, minnesota 10 Comments

Making Incremental Development Easier in College Station, Texas

A Strong Towns member shared with us a success story from the city of College Station, Texas, which recently revised its zoning code to make it easier to do incremental development by rehabilitating or expanding older structures.

Top StoryStrong TownsAugust 17, 2018zoning, incremental development, historic preservation 3 Comments

Niagara’s Fall and Asheville’s Unlikely Rise

70 years ago, these two historic cities were on a similar path. Then one fell into debt while the other was swimming in money. You might be surprised by what they each look like today.

Connor NielsenJuly 31, 2018historic preservation, urban renewal, value per acre 20 Comments

Creative Reuse Saves a Memphis Building

Untapped, a six-week pop-up beer garden in the landmark Tennessee Brewery in downtown Memphis, might well have been a goodbye party for the long-neglected building. Instead, it caught a local developer’s interest and led to a second life for the historic structure.