The Strong Towns Podcast

Richard Florida is a University Professor and Director of Cities at the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto, he's a writer and journalist, and he serves as senior editor for The Atlantic, where he co-founded and serves as Editor-at-Large for CityLab. He's also the author of a new book, The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities Are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation, and Failing the Middle Class-and What We Can Do About It.

In this interview with Chuck Marohn, Florida discusses the backlash to one of his most famous books, The Rise of the Creative Class, and the growth in inequality and economic segregation in American cities, which he cites as a much bigger problem than gentrification. Florida also shares his reaction to the presidential election and his thoughts about the future of the suburbs.

Chuck and Rachel discuss upcoming events in Brainerd, MN and Asheville, NC, and recap the recent CNU25 in Seattle.

Mentioned in this podcast:

• Event in Brainerd, MN
• Event in Asheville, NC
• The True Flag: Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of American Empire by Stephen Kinzer
• "Poverty, Partisanship and the Land Tax" (3 videos)
• This week's open slackchat with Chuck will be at 1pm CT on Wednesday (May 10). More info here.

Jarrett Walker is a transit planning consultant and the author of a book, Human Transit: How clearer thinking about public transit can enrich our communities and our lives. He also writes a blog called Human Transit. In this conversation with Chuck Marohn, Walker considers, "What is the problem for which transit is the solution?" and "What does it mean for transit to work well?"

Mentioned in this podcast:

• Human Transit: How clearer thinking about public transit can enrich our communities and our lives by Jarrett Walker
• The Human Transit Blog
• "The Transit Ridership Recipe" by Jarrett Walker

This week, Kea Wilson and Chuck Marohn began a conversation about the merits and pitfalls of Amazon with dueling articles (read Chuck's piece here and Kea's piece here). Today, we're sharing a podcast conversation in which these two Strong Towns staff members explain their differing perspectives on Amazon's place within a Strong Town. Is Amazon helpful or harmful to authors? Does Amazon support or discourage small businesses? Most importantly, does Amazon help towns become stronger or less strong?

Rachel Quednau interviews Matt Tyrnauer and Robert Hammond, directors of a new movie called Citizen Jane: Battle for the City, which is coming out this week (April 21) in select theaters and on demand. In this conversation, they discuss the power of Jacobs' message, her role as a non-professional female urban activist, and their goals for the film.

Joyce Mandell is a mom, community organizer, sociologist, community development specialist, and urban studies professor who has lived in Worcester, Massachusetts for over twenty years. She blogs at Jane Jacobs in the Woo where she looks at her city through the eyes of the famous urban activist. Chuck Marohn interviews Joyce to discuss the energy and community growth happening in Worcester, the fight against the impending destruction of a historic church in Worcester, and how her daily morning walk helps connect her with her neighborhood.

Check out Joyce's blog and read her entry in last year's Strongest Infrastructure Project contest.

Chuck and Rachel discuss Chuck's travel woes amidst the Delta airlines disaster last week. (Spoiler: He did eventually make it home.) Chuck turns it into a broader lesson about fragility and efficiency. 

Mentioned in this podcast:

• "Lessons from the Delta Implosion" by Chuck Marohn
• "How Fire Chiefs and Traffic Engineers Make Places Less Safe" by Steve Mouzon
• Events in Mount Pleasant, MI this Thursday
• The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus's Final Days in Jerusalem by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan
• Thank you for your Service by David Finkel
• Hardcore History w/Dan Carlin - World War I episodes
• "To stop a road widening project, be persistent" by Rachel Quednau
• Two Former Mayors - 1 Republican and 1 Democrat - Find Common Ground in Conversation - from the podcast

In this podcast interview, recorded live at the Strong Towns Summit last week, Chuck Marohn speaks with Joey Durel—a Republican former mayor of Lafayette, LA—and Michael McGinn—a Democrat former mayor of Seattle, WA. They discuss what led them to run for office, the transportation issues they handled as mayors, and what lessons they learned during their time in leadership.