The Strong Towns Podcast

Chuck Marohn steps back to look at the Growth Ponzi Scheme and where it has taken us today. How do we currently deal with slow-downs in growth? How do anti-fragile, resilient, and fragile communities handle challenges differently? Chuck pulls from economists and scientists like Tomas Sedlacek and Jared Diamond to consider what the end of the Growth Ponzi Scheme might look like. It ain't pretty.

Juan Mullerat and Steve Wright run an urban design firm called PlusUrbia. In this interview hosted by Rachel Quednau, they discuss their newest project, helping to transform an urban highway --Calle Ocho in Little Havana, Miami-- back into a walkable boulevard. Learn more about the project and get involved at myCalle8.org.

Jason Schaefer makes a guest appearance along with Rachel Quednau while Chuck is out on vacation. They discuss a recent trip to Puerto Rico, the upcoming Strongest Town March Madness competition, membership and Tina Fey's book, Bossypants.

On this Leap Day, Chuck and Rachel discuss housing finance policy (last week's theme), a recent staff retreat to Disneyland, and a new membership page, plus behavioral economics.

Daniel Kay Hertz is a Senior Fellow at City Observatory and a graduate of the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. He joins the Strong Towns Podcast this week to talk about housing finance and how it impacts disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Monte Anderson of Options Real Estate is a developer from the wrong side of town. Instead of fleeing for greener pastures and easier money, however, he stayed in his community and worked to make it better. Here's how he did it.

Ian Rasmussen is an attorney, certified planner and an urbanist from New York City. He's also a board member at Strong Towns.

And once upon a time, Ian and his family tried to purchase and renovate a mixed use building in Dobbs Ferry, NY. This podcast is all about the frustrations of a really intelligent and sophisticated person attempting to do something rather straightforward -- and needed -- and being stymied at every turn. 

This week we're examining the impacts of federal housing finance policy, Chuck is joined by Christopher Jones and Sarah Serpas of Regional Plan Association, a New York-based non-profit organization that recently released a report titled The Unintended Consequences of Housing Finance. 

You can follow our ongoing conversation on housing finance at www.strongtowns.org/housing.

This week we are joined by the President and Founder of Small Change, Eve Picker. Small Change is working to help real estate developers doing incremental work in core neighborhoods find the capital they need while making it easier for individuals to make small investments in improving their neighborhoods (and share in the returns on that investment). This is an exciting podcast about the future of real estate finance.

For those wanting to know more, Small Change is hosting a real estate crowdfunding conference on March 24. You can also follow them on LinkedIn.

On their weekly podcast, Rachel and Chuck discuss the way the Strong Towns movement and incremental development can be a path toward inclusion for women, minorities, and other marginalized communities. They also talk about a recent trip to Burlington, VT and an upcoming visit to Los Angeles and Pasadena, CA. Also included in this episode, book and movie recommendations from Chuck and Rachel.