The Strong Towns Podcast

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.

Chuck and Rachel discuss last week's member drive and an event in St. Mary's, PA, plus this week's Black Friday Parking event.

MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST:

• Strong Towns member testimonials
• #BlackFridayParking

Chuck, while driving through a Minnesota blizzard, shares some reflections on small town America, the tension between urban and rural areas and the Strong Towns movement.

Become a member of Strong Towns at www.strongtowns.org/membership.

As part of our membership drive, Chuck Marohn invited Strong Towns members to submit their questions—any question—and today, on a late-night, Mountain Dew-fueled podcast, he's answering them.

Become a member of Strong Towns today.

To see a list of the questions answered in this podcast, visit this page: www.strongtowns.org/journal/2016/11/16/chuck-answers-your-questions

On Day 2 of our member drive, Chuck sits down with the two youngest Strong Towns advocates.

This episode kicks off a week of Member Drive-related podcasts. Today, Chuck and Rachel talk about the importance of the Strong Towns movement, especially in light of the recent presidential election. They also chat about what their most proud of from Strong Towns this year, and what they are most looking forward to in 2017. This episode spells out exactly why Strong Towns needs new members and what their contributions will be used for. 

BECOME A MEMBER OF STRONG TOWNS.

Mentioned in this episode:

• "It's Time for Strong Towns"
• Slackchat w/Chuck & Rachel on Tuesday
• Election 2016 (Podcast Reflections)

After some travel and contemplation, Chuck Marohn offers some thoughts on the presidential election, Strong Towns and the future of America.

Russ Roberts is a fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and the host of the podcast, EconTalk. He's also starred in two rap videos about John Maynard Keynes and F.A. Hayek, and is the author of several books, including most recently, How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life: An Unexpected Guide to Human Nature and Happiness. 

In this interview, Chuck Marohn and Russ Roberts discuss the political appeal of infrastructure spending vs. the economics perspective. They also talk about how to ensure a good return on investment and how to focus on smaller-scale projects.

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