The Strong Towns Podcast

If you're from any part of America besides Los Angeles, you've probably dissed the California city at one point or another. It's full of smog, traffic and vain movie stars, right? But that narrative misses out on so much of what L.A. has to offer. Not only is the city an exciting and rewarding place to live for many people, it's also, surprisingly, a great place to raise a family and — believe it or not — a good place to walk and bike.

Alissa Walker is living proof of this. She's the Urbanism Editor for Curbed and a long-time resident of Los Angeles. She's made the city work for her and actually says that walking or biking is often easier than driving in her neighborhood. When she realized this a few years back, she ditched her car and has been enjoying bus rides, bike rides and walks with her family ever since. She's also watched the city around her change as investments in public space, walking, biking and transit grow. Alissa's hopeful that cities like hers will continue to figure out ways to welcome and accommodate families. 

This thoughtful and fun conversation with Alissa Walker will challenge your Los Angeles stereotypes and help you think about what it means to build a family- and woman-friendly city.

Rachel hosts Strong Towns member and guest writer Tim Wright as her featured guest on this Week Ahead podcast. Tim discusses an incremental park improvement project he's been leading in his town of Shreveport, Louisiana, plus a favorite new book that had surprising relevance with Strong Towns issues. (We encountered a couple sound quality issues in this recording so we apologize for that.)

Mentioned in this podcast:

• Inspired Park Project Takes Root in Shreveport by Tim Wright
• Visit the Local Conversations page to find Strong Towns members taking action in your region.
• Learn more about the inner-city highway project that residents are fighting against in Shreveport.
• The Cost of Living by Arundhati Roy
• Fauda (TV show on Netflix)

This week Strong Towns president Chuck Marohn discusses risk, his own approach to investing and what it means for local governments to make investments that minimize risk and maximize potential gains.

Referenced in the podcast: Blowing Up by Malcolm Gladwell

In this episode, Rachel asks Chuck Marohn why our cities need a 12 step program to get them out of their financial struggles. Rachel and Chuck also discuss some upcoming online opportunities for readers and listeners to engage in the Strong Towns movement.

If you've got an idea for a Strong Towns staff member or contributor that you think would be a good guest for this podcast, email Rachel.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

• A 12-Step Program for Financially Insolvent Cities by Chuck Marohn
• This week's open Slackchat with Chuck will take place at 12pm CT on Wednesday.
• Join us for a free webcast about the American Infrastructure Crisis, January 16 at 11am CT.
• Open Source with Christopher Lydon (podcast)
• The Longest Shortest Time (podcast)

In this episode, Kea Wilson interviews Melody Hoffmann, author of Bike Lanes are White Lanes, which examines how the burgeoning popularity of urban bicycling is trailed by systemic issues of racism, classism, and displacement. Melody discusses the many factors that contribute to a person's comfort with biking beyond just the presence of protected bike lanes and why the "build it and they will come" mentality is flawed. She also shares examples of cities that are actively working within diverse communities to create safer transportation options for everyone.

In the inaugural podcast of 2018, Rachel hosts a conversation with Chuck Marohn to discuss fresh content, recent favorite books and exciting announcements to kick off the new year. 

Chuck and Rachel ask for help choosing new intro music for this podcast (vote here!). Then they recap recent events in Florida and share the best podcasts of 2017. Finally, they close with Chuck's favorite books from the year.

Mentioned in this podcast:

• Vote for our new podcast music: https://www.strongtowns.org/survey
• Our Best Podcast Episodes from 2017
• Favorite Books from 2017
• Speaking of Faith: Why Religion Matters--and How to Talk About It by Krista Tippett

Strong Towns members Bo Wright and Haile McCollum wrote dueling essays this year, debating the merits and drawbacks of small town southern life. Bo's October essay "Why I'm Leaving My Small Southern Town," inspired Haile to write her own: "The Case for Small Southern Towns." So we brought them on the podcast to discuss further.

Rachel Quednau hosts this friendly, spirited conversation about what Bo and Haile find valuable about life in the small town south, and what they'd like to see change. They talk about how small towns suit people differently at different phases of their life, and how small towns can be both ideal and challenging places in which to get involved with the life of the community. Finally, they discuss the particular need for the Strong Towns message in small southern towns.

Chuck and Rachel discuss a recent event in Washington state, which inspired today's article: "The Ideology of Traffic." They also chat about an upcoming meeting in Chicago and Best of 2016 content. 

MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST:

• "The Ideology of Traffic"
• Best of Strong Towns
• Global Grid's Top 20 Urban Planning Websites of 2016
• Webcast: Creating a Strong Towns Comp Plan
• Strong Towns article archive

Chuck and Rachel discuss a recent trip to Montreal and the language differences present there. They also share several exciting announcements including new Strong Towns t-shirts, a new Strong Towns book, and the 2017 Annual Report. Plus they share a final update on the membership drive.

Mentioned in this Podcast:

• Event in Panama City, Florida
• Strong Towns 2017 Annual Report
• Introducing our New Book
• The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
• Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
• Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug
• Get the new Strong Towns t-shirt and Strong Towns book in our Shop!