Episodes
Monday Aug 28, 2023
Walkable City Design Is Critical for Economic Health
Monday Aug 28, 2023
Monday Aug 28, 2023
After World War II, the U.S. embarked on an experiment in how we build cities. Instead of creating places scaled to people who walked, we built suburbs that focused on moving cars quickly and efficiently. Many cities in North America are looking to become walkable again, but it’s not easy. Time and time again, change makers are hit by bureaucracy and complicated logistics.
Why is it so difficult to change? In “Urban Intercurrence: The Struggle to Build Walkable Downtowns in Car-Dependent Suburbia,” author Tristan Cleveland goes in depth about why cities struggle to retrofit their car dependence, and what could actually be done to create change.
In this Strong Towns Podcast, host Chuck Marohn chats with Tristan Cleveland, PhD, who is a Strong Towns member and an urban planner at Happy Cities.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
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Read Tristan’s PhD thesis on how to redesign suburban communities to become healthy, walkable places.
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Learn more about the 2023 Local-Motive Tour.
Monday Jul 24, 2023
Citizen Versus Developer? No! It’s Citizen As Developer.
Monday Jul 24, 2023
Monday Jul 24, 2023
Recently, an article came out of Medicine Hat, Alberta, reflecting on some development conversations happening within the city, inspired by Strong Towns presentations. When Chuck Marohn read the article, he felt core insights were missing or misunderstood within the piece.
On this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck discusses the challenges faced by local journalists and the impact it has on the quality of reporting. He shares his personal experience with his wife, who is a reporter, and highlights the difficulties they encounter in producing articles with limited resources and tight deadlines.
Additionally, Chuck delves into the topic of citizen-led development and its potential to reshape cities in a more financially resilient manner. Throughout the podcast, he emphasizes the need for public engagement and the importance of creating neighborhoods that evolve and improve over time.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
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Learn more about the Community Action Lab in Medicine Hat.
Wednesday Jul 12, 2023
Four Communities Are Becoming Examples of Change
Wednesday Jul 12, 2023
Wednesday Jul 12, 2023
Change is not always easy, and without examples, it can be difficult to reimagine how we do things. That’s just one of the reasons Strong Towns decided to launch the Community Action Lab: a carefully customized, two-year relationship between Strong Towns and selected cities seeking to make a change. Four cities are currently leading the way through this program in applying Strong Towns concepts and ideas from the bottom up.
This week on the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck talks about the Community Action Lab, and some of the experiences, conversations, and insights he’s gained while working with these four communities.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
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Learn more about The Community Action Lab.
Monday Jun 12, 2023
Monday Jun 12, 2023
Just a couple weeks ago, we got the opportunity to meet nearly 500 Strong Towns members for the first time at the Strong Towns National Gathering. It is evident that Strong Towns members are people who care deeply about their place: We heard so many compelling stories about people working to make their town stronger.
In this podcast, as part of our Member Week, we wanted to share Strong Towns President Chuck Marohn’s introductory speech from the Gathering. Tune in to hear him talk about some of the amazing things that Strong Towns members are doing in their communities.
Our members are crucial to everything that happens at Strong Towns. Without you, we wouldn’t be here. If you haven’t already, take a moment to become a Strong Towns member today.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
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Cover image source: ZED images.
Monday Jun 05, 2023
Monday Jun 05, 2023
A recent report from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance reveals some shocking facts: In 2021, half of the new stores opened in the U.S. were chain dollar stores. Moreover, Dollar Store and Dollar Tree (which are part of the Family Dollar system) together operate more than 34,000 stores. That’s more than McDonald’s, Starbucks, Target, and Walmart combined.
How did we get to this point, how does this transformation in retail affect local economies, and what can communities do to protect themselves from this "dollar store invasion”? Stacey Mitchell, co-executive director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and one of the authors of the aforementioned report, joins Chuck Marohn today on the Strong Towns Podcast for this conversation.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
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Read The Dollar Store Invasion report from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.
Monday May 01, 2023
Ian Lockwood: Thoughts From an Engineer
Monday May 01, 2023
Monday May 01, 2023
How should engineers be thinking about building wealth in communities?
That’s just one of the questions Chuck Marohn asks of Ian Lockwood, a recognized national leader in sustainable transportation policy and urban design. Lockwood is currently a livable transportation engineer for Toole Design, an engineering firm which works to build safer and more walkable streets. On this Strong Towns Podcast, join Marohn and Lockwood as they talk about the work of Toole Design, complete streets, and more.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
Monday Apr 03, 2023
What’s Going On With the Recent Bank Failures?
Monday Apr 03, 2023
Monday Apr 03, 2023
In March 2023, major banks collapsed, interest rates have been rising, and many people are greatly—and rightly—concerned about inflation. In this week’s episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck Marohn talks about the financial system, and provides insights on what’s currently happening in the banking industry.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
Monday Mar 20, 2023
Growth Through Destruction
Monday Mar 20, 2023
Monday Mar 20, 2023
In 1906, a powerful earthquake in San Francisco, California, damaged a good portion of the city, causing havoc and distress as 28,188 buildings were destroyed, and over 3,000 people were killed. Curiously, after this tragic disaster, things began to grow again, but this time the built environment came back stronger. Seth Zeren, a founding member of Strong Towns, wrote about this phenomenon last month, and this week on the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck Marohn and Zeren chat about complexity, and if complex systems can grow stronger through destruction.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
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“Do Things Need to Burn for New Things to Grow?” by Seth Zeren, Strong Towns (Feb, 2023).
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Subscribe to Seth Zeren’s Substack, Build the Next Right Thing.
Monday Mar 13, 2023
On the Conservative Reaction to 15-Minute Cities
Monday Mar 13, 2023
Monday Mar 13, 2023
We believe everyone can build a Strong Town, but all too often, political differences divide communities, and instead of working together to build stronger neighborhoods from a bottom-up approach, we get caught up in contentious, top-down ideas and conversations.
One such political divide has developed around the concept of the 15-minute city: a term used to describe traditional neighborhoods. While to urbanists it describes a walkable place, to critics, it’s a potential infringement on personal freedoms. In this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck Marohn dives into the controversies surrounding the 15-minute city.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
Monday Feb 20, 2023
The Property Tax System is Broken—Regrid Works on Tools to Help Fix It
Monday Feb 20, 2023
Monday Feb 20, 2023
The property tax system is broken all across the nation. In Detroit, residents face an issue of inconsistent assessments, where two homes that are similar in condition and sitting on similar-sized lots have widely different assessment scores.
Recently, the team at Regrid, an industry-leading property data and location intelligence company, put together an Assessment Gauge map that may prove to be a useful tool for homeowners, assessors, or nonprofits in bringing a much-needed balance to overassessments.
Today on the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck Marohn welcomes back Alex Alsup, vice president of research and development at Regrid, to talk about assessments and property tax in Detroit, how the Strong Towns approach worked for Alsup and his team, and an overview of the assessment process.
Read more about the Assessment Gauge in the article “Check Your Temperature- You Might Have an Assessment Fever.” To learn more about Regrid or get access to their parcel data, click here.