The Bottom-Up Revolution

Jeral Poskey is the founder and CEO of Swyft Cities, a California-based tech company that's spearheading a totally new transportation system. Jeral explains his unique approach to creating realistic transportation innovations. He describes the transportation system Swyft Cities licenses and how it could address the issues that many cities face — like traffic, land wasted on parking, and difficulty...

Dr. Alicia Pederson is a writer and advocate who encourages cities to adopt courtyard urbanism, a style of development where mixed-use buildings surround a shared courtyard. Today, she joins Norm to explain the benefits of this development style and how to advocate for it. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Drawing by Leon Krier 6 housing reforms that could help make courtyard blocks possible . Read more from...

Meet Burhan Azeem, a city councilor in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A graduate of MIT, he’s the youngest councilor in the city’s history and has a special focus on housing affordability and street safety. Burhan has successfully expanded zoning for affordable housing, removed parking minimums, and helped build bike lanes throughout the city. He also helped found a nonprofit that impacts housing polic...

What happens when a city’s design puts lives at risk—and someone decides to speak up? In this episode, you’ll meet Army Master Sgt. Ben Hultquist, one of the leaders of Strong Towns Fayetteville, a Local Conversation in North Carolina. After a string of preventable deaths, Ben testified in city hall. Now, that testimony is helping turn the conversation in Fayetteville toward people-first design an...

Linda Appel Lipsius is the executive director of Denver Urban Gardens, where she supports a network of over 200 gardens and food forests that produce 650,000 pounds of food annually. She also helps launch initiatives to help make Denver a greener, more food-resilient place. Linda and Tiffany discuss the importance of nature in urban resilience and the benefits of community gardening, from access t...

Wendy Nash is the founder of Get Around Caboolture, a grassroots transportation initiative in Caboolture, Australia. She and Norm discuss the group's efforts to promote more transportation options, including hosting the first Week Without Driving outside the U.S. Wendy emphasizes the importance of tailoring messages to different audiences and explains why she would like to see more comedy in advoc...

Brandi Thompson is the “accidental” co-founder and leader of Strong Towns ABQ, a Local Conversation in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She’s lived in eight states and has worked as a rattlesnake wrangler, a grant writer, and a teacher. She currently works as a flight nurse, providing care to patients who need to be air-lifted to the hospital. Today, Brandi sits down with Tiffany to discuss the strategies...

Alyssa Lee and Kay Crumb are leaders of Strong SacTown, one of the largest and most successful groups in the Strong Towns Local Conversations program. Based in Sacramento, California, the group has 140 engaged members, balances multiple ongoing initiatives, and successfully collaborates with city staff. In this Bottom-Up Short, Alyssa and Kay share their advice for building and sustaining a succes...

Craig Cassar is a first-term city councilor in Hamilton, Ontario. Prior to serving in public office, he acquired nearly 25 years of private sector leadership experience. Craig is a believer in the Strong Towns philosophy of city building, an advocate for active and public transportation, and a passionate environmentalist. Today, Craig and Tiffany discusses the challenges Hamilton faces and the pro...

Jesse Russell is a small-scale developer and Strong Towns member from Bend, Oregon. He joins Norm to discuss the ways he’s helping create more attainable homes in his hometown. He also explains how he works with the community and city officials to remove barriers to good development. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Hiatus Homes (website) Bend made it to the Final 4 in this year’s Strongest Town Contest. The...