The Strong Towns Podcast

Chuck and Kevin Klinkenberg explore why progress comes from people who stop waiting for permission and start doing things locally. They look at incremental developers, neighborhood groups, and the limits of top-down systems in cities like Kansas City. Along the way, they wrestle with incentives, housing, and how much order a city actually needs.

Additional Show Notes

• Kevin Klinkenberg (LinkedIn)
• The Messy City Podcast (Spotify)
• The Messy City (Substack)
• The Messy City (Site)
• Chuck Marohn (Substack)

Chuck Marohn and Tony Dutzik unpack the messy history of the gas tax, cross‑subsidies between states, and the moral story drivers were told about “user fees.” They revisit highway revolts, the rise of federal transit funding, and the long slide into Highway Trust Fund bailouts. Their conversation lays out stark choices for the next chapter of national transportation policy.

Additional Show Notes

• Tony Dutzik (LinkedIn)
• Call "Time Out" on Highway Boondoggles (Article)
• Frontier Group (Site)
• What Comes After the Interstate Era? | New Report  (Youtube)
• Read the Mission Accomplished White Paper.
• Chuck Marohn (Substack)

In this moderated panel at the REACH Ideas + Action Summit, Chuck Marohn and California Forever’s Jim Wunderman tackle California’s housing crisis from two very different angles: maturing existing neighborhoods and building a brand‑new city. Together they wrestle with whether local reforms, new towns, or both can deliver real affordability in places like Santa Barbara and beyond.

Additional Show Notes

• California Forever (Site)
• REACH (LinkedIn)
• Jim Wunderman (LinkedIn)
• Jocelyn Brennan (LinkedIn)
• Chuck Marohn (Substack)

New Zealand’s infrastructure commission added up every sector’s project wish‑list—and found a bill voters could never realistically pay. In this conversation, Geoff Cooper and Chuck Marohn unpack the national plan that starts by centering maintenance and renewals, then shows how that shifts the debate over big new projects, growth on the fringe, and the pressure on public budgets.

Additional Show Notes

• Geoff Cooper (LinkedIn)
• Te Waihanga (Site)
• Te Waihanga National Infrastructure Plan (Site)
• Chuck Marohn (Substack)

The conversation follows Michel Durand-Wood's path from noticing small local cuts—closed pools, rising taxes—to understanding his city as structurally insolvent. Along the way, he and Chuck talk about grants, debt, Canadian and U.S. examples, and why efficiency alone hasn’t fixed anything.

Additional Show Notes

• Dear Winnipeg (Site)
• You'll Pay For This! (Book)
• Chuck Marohn (Substack)

Chuck walks through three ways of seeing the housing crisis: supply, demand, and the Strong Towns view that grapples with “dark finance” and capital flows. He explains why campaign-style wins and single-variable fixes rarely deliver real affordability. The episode closes with a candid update on recent leadership changes and how Strong Towns has restructured its media work over the past year.

Additional Show Notes

• Chuck Marohn (Substack)

For years, the dominant explanation for America’s infrastructure problems has been that we haven’t invested enough. Yet federal spending on transportation is at historic highs, and frustration with the results continues to grow.

This report offers a different interpretation.

The Interstate Highway System achieved its original goal. The challenges we face today are not the result of failure, but of a system that continued long after its purpose was fulfilled. Understanding what comes after it is the work in front of us.

Additional Show Notes

• ‍Watch on YouTube.
• Read the Mission Accomplished White Paper.
• Chuck Marohn (Substack)

Why 95% of planners get it wrong, how monetary policy killed Main Street, and why Chuck Marohn is optimistic about Gen Z. This wide-ranging conversation, first featured on the Yeoman podcast with Geoff Graham, explores the difference between Jane Jacobs's humble incrementalism and Robert Moses's technocratic master plans—and which approach is winning in 300+ communities.

Additional Show Notes

• Chuck Marohn (Substack)
• Geoff's Podcast https://yeomanpodcast.com/

In this year’s State of Strong Towns address, Chuck Marohn reflects on where the movement stands at the start of 2026 — what’s changed, what’s growing, and how the work ahead remains grounded in humility, restraint, and bottom-up action.

‍A major highway project is pitched as a safety upgrade — but at what cost to the community? Today, Chuck is joined by Matt Steele, a fellow Brainerd-area resident and longtime Strong Towns member. They unpack a highway interchange that's been proposed in nearby Baxter and the long-term trade-offs that shape strong (or fragile) places.