The Strong Towns Podcast

Chuck and Rachel discuss Chuck's letter to President Trump and ways to encourage investment in small-scale infrastructure projects instead of big ones. They also talk about recent books they've enjoyed and the growth of the Strong Towns movement.

Mentioned in this episode:

• "A Letter to POTUS on Infrastructure" and an upcoming Slackchat to discuss that letter
• #InfrastructureCrisis stories on our site
• "New Milwaukee Housing Program Takes the Easy Route"
• "Strong Talk: How do we create more housing options?" recorded live January 20
• The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
• The Righteous Mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion by Jonathan Haidt
• Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Chuck and Rachel chat about recent articles which have garnered a ton of attention on the internet over the past week. They also discuss the non-partisan nature of Strong Towns, particularly in light of new readers coming to the site in the last week (as evidenced by the quote above). Finally, they announce that public tickets are now available for the Strong Towns Summit. Get yours before they're gone.

Mentioned in this podcast:

• "The Real Reason Your City has no Money"
• "Poor Neighborhoods Make the Best Investments"
• "Is Strong Towns my Tribe?"
• "Reinventing Poor Cities at Scale"
• Sign up to participate in Strong Talk or submit your topic ideas.
• Strong Towns Summit info and tickets
• In case you're eager for more podcasts, here's Chuck Marohn interviewed on 3 different podcasts.

Chuck and Rachel discuss Chuck's recent writing on federal infrastructure spending and today's article, "A Utah Republican Might Have the Best Urban Transportation Plan." They also discuss books they're reading (Rachel finally got around to starting Hillbilly Elegy) and political language in the context of Strong Towns.

Mentioned in this podcast:

• Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance
• The Road to Ruin: The Global Elites' Secret Plan for the Next Financial Crisis by James Rickerts
• The Content Trap: A Strategist's Guide to Digital Change by Bharat Andand

Author James Howard Kunstler chats with Chuck Marohn about the newest book in his World Made by Hand series, The Harrows of Spring.

You can also listen to James Kunstler in previous Strong Towns podcasts including from February, 2014, September 2014 and November 2015.

Chuck and Rachel discuss their holidays, favorite books they read over the break, and infrastructure spending in America. They also share an exciting announcement at the end of the podcast.

Mentioned in this podcast:

• The Road to Ruin: The Global Elites' Secret Plan for the Next Financial Crisis by James Rickerts
• The Content Trap: A Strategist's Guide to Digital Change by Bharat Andand
• The Road Taken: The History and Future of America's Infrastructure by Henry Petroski
• When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
• "Five Ways Federal Infrastructure Spending Makes Cities Poorer" by Chuck Marohn

Seth Zeren is a founding member of Strong Towns, a new father and a real estate developer based in Providence, RI. In this podcast conversation, Seth and Chuck talk about the results of the election and its impact on the national dialogue. 

This is our last podcast of 2016. Thank you to all our listeners. Have a wonderful holiday and we'll see you in the new year!

In the final Week Ahead podcast of 2016, Chuck and Rachel discuss their recent trip to Chicago and a spirited panel discussion Chuck participated in. They also talk about Chuck's Monday article and the Best of 2016 articles being published throughout the week. Finally, they chat about the upcoming Strong Towns Summit and Chuck's cookie baking adventures.

Mentioned in this podcast:

• "Our Shared Journey" by Chuck Marohn
• Best of 2016 articles
• Strong Towns National Summit

Heyden Black Walker is a Strong Towns "super member" in Austin, TX. She's an urban planner and advocate and serves on the board of the CNU-Central Texas Chapter and on the City of Austin Pedestrian Advisory Council. Today, Chuck Marohn and Heyden Walker discuss the highway I-35 project in Austin, which Heyden wrote about on Strong Towns earlier this year. They talk about the implications of a surge in federal infrastructure spending and the local impacts of federal spending in places like Austin.

This interview is part of our ongoing conversation on federal infrastructure spending.

Want to hear more from Heyden Walker? Listen to her previous Strong Towns podcast interview from CNU23.

Thomas Fisher is a Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Minnesota, and serves as Director of the Metropolitan Design Center. He's a graduate of Cornell University in architecture and the author of several books including Designing to Avoid Disaster and Designing our Way to a Better World. In this conversation with Chuck Marohn, Professor Fisher discusses a design-thinking approach of bottom-up vs. top-down decisionmaking, and the danger of building the wrong types of infrastructure for the future of America.

This interview is part of our ongoing conversation on federal infrastructure spending.

Kyle Smith is an independent urban planning consultant in transportation, land use, and housing. He recently served as Executive Director of the Andersonville Chamber of Commerce in Chicago and also worked for the Center of Neighborhood Technology where he wrote a report called “Stalled Out: How Empty Parking Spaces Diminish Neighborhood Affordability.” 

Rachel Quednau interviews Kyle for the Strong Towns podcast to discuss the results of this report as well as better parking strategies that will serve towns, developers and residents, instead of holding them back.