Detached cottages and additional residential units are becoming legal in many places, but zoning laws and design decisions can stop people from building. Resimate seeks to solve that, performing instant analyses of lots and helping customers purchase a variety of eligible designs from small-scale developers.
Read MoreSeth Zeren, a neighborhood developer and founding member of Strong Towns, joins this week’s episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution to talk about his experiences as an incremental developer with a midsize real estate firm.
Read MoreBlock parties are more than just fun gatherings — they can be powerful tools for building stronger communities. Here’s why a block party could be just what your neighborhood needs.
Read MoreThe governor of New York recently announced the dissolution of the city’s congestion pricing program after years of planning and hundreds of millions of dollars of investment. Here’s the Strong Towns take on it.
Read MoreAn artist is on a mission to paint 50 murals in 50 small towns, and it’s changing way more than just blank walls. Cheyenne Renee's project is sparking conversations, connecting communities and helping revitalize struggling downtowns.
Read MoreDesigning streets to encourage safe behavior is a powerful tool for creating lasting prosperity. But when cars are designed to encourage unsafe behavior, it threatens to undo that progress.
Read MoreIn this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck responds to a recent Substack column that criticized the Strong Towns stance on the Suburban Experiment and infrastructure spending.
Read MoreAre urban areas really more financially sustainable than suburbs? Do urban areas inherently have higher infrastructure costs? Here's what Strong Towns actually says about the Suburban Experiment and infrastructure spending.
Read MorePhiladelphia's Porchfest festival showcases the vibrant community spirit of West Philly, and residents proved the endurance of that spirit last month. After the city refused to close streets to car traffic, residents did so themselves to keep festival attendees safe. Admirable, but it should never have been necessary.
Read MoreErin Joyce, the mayor of Braintree, Massachusetts, joins host Tiffany Owens Reed today to discuss what it’s like to build strong towns as an elected official.
Read MoreBiking infrastructure is important to building a thriving biking culture, but it isn’t everything. Community members can make cycling more accessible and appealing in other ways, too. Here are some of the ways Winnipeg, Manitoba, is doing it.
Read MoreYou’ve heard of YIMBYs and NIMBYs, but have you heard of YIGBYs? The “Yes In God’s Backyard” movement focuses on leveraging land owned by religious institutions to alleviate the housing crisis.
Read MoreParking reform isn't just about eliminating spaces; it's about unlocking a city's potential. From spurring development to enabling affordable housing, parking reform can benefit many people in diverse ways. Anchorage, Alaska, is experiencing this firsthand.
Read MoreConversations with local decision-makers are an essential part of advocating for stronger cities. To make the best use of this sometimes-rare opportunity, you need to know the right questions to ask.
Read MoreWe can’t wait for big government housing programs to fix the housing affordability crisis — in fact, they can actually make things worse. But don't lose hope. Local governments have the power to tackle the housing crisis in ways that actually work.
Read MoreMany people believe that, with some zoning changes, large-scale development will be the true key to the housing crisis. This isn’t the case. Large-scale development worsens the issues that caused the crisis in the first place. Here’s a few of the ways incremental development is better for cities than large-scale.
Read MoreWisconsin offered a $3 billion dollar subsidy to Foxconn and were promised a $10 billion factory and 13,000 jobs in exchange. Instead, the locals got three empty buildings, a few hundred jobs, and a mountain of debt. Sorry, Wisconsin. As Ronny Chieng from the Daily Show put it, “You got catfished.”
Read MoreIlana Preuss is the founder and CEO of Recast City, a program that helps cities build strong downtowns by empowering small-scale manufacturers. Today, she joins host Tiffany Owens Reed to discuss the importance of small-scale manufacturing and her experiences as a city builder.
Read MoreSafety practices and education are vital for children, but when that education is focused solely on personal responsibility and is enforced through shame, it can do more harm than good. Personal responsibility can only go so far: For streets to truly be safe, changes to the transportation system itself are needed.
Read MoreFamily Dollar is shutting down many of its urban stores, while Dollar General is expanding in rural areas. This week’s episode explores the reasons behind their differing success and the effect dollar stores have on neighborhoods.
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