The Strong Towns Podcast

Across the country, a movement of local doers is taking hold — one where problem solving happens from the bottom up instead of the top down. We're seeing this in everything from the way we educate ourselves to the tools we use to get places. The energy is coming not just from governments but also business leaders, teachers and scientists, and the solutions are interdisciplinary, too. This is what...

In this episode, Rachel has Chuck Marohn on as her guest to discuss a special Strong Towns focus on the need to build safer, slower streets. They also talk about some upcoming webcasts, with a side of football. MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST Slow the Cars  by Chuck Marohn Design Speed is a Value Statement  by Chuck Marohn Gross Negligence Webcast  - February 1 at 12pm CT Curbside Chat in Indianapolis  ...

If you're from any part of America besides Los Angeles, you've probably dissed the California city at one point or another. It's full of smog, traffic and vain movie stars, right? But that narrative misses out on so much of what L.A. has to offer. Not only is the city an exciting and rewarding place to live for many people, it's also, surprisingly, a great place to raise a family and — believe it...

Rachel hosts Strong Towns member and guest writer Tim Wright as her featured guest on this Week Ahead podcast. Tim discusses an incremental park improvement project he's been leading in his town of Shreveport, Louisiana, plus a favorite new book that had surprising relevance with Strong Towns issues. (We encountered a couple sound quality issues in this recording so we apologize for that.) Mention...

This week Strong Towns president Chuck Marohn discusses risk, his own approach to investing and what it means for local governments to make investments that minimize risk and maximize potential gains. Referenced in the podcast:  Blowing Up by Malcolm Gladwell

In this episode, Rachel asks Chuck Marohn why our cities need a 12 step program to get them out of their financial struggles. Rachel and Chuck also discuss some upcoming online opportunities for readers and listeners to engage in the Strong Towns movement. If you've got an idea for a Strong Towns staff member or contributor that you think would be a good guest for this podcast, email Rachel . MENT...

In this episode, Kea Wilson interviews Melody Hoffmann, author of  Bike Lanes are White Lanes , which examines how the burgeoning popularity of urban bicycling is trailed by systemic issues of racism, classism, and displacement. Melody discusses the many factors that contribute to a person's comfort with biking beyond just the presence of protected bike lanes and why the "build it and they will co...

In the inaugural podcast of 2018, Rachel hosts a conversation with Chuck Marohn to discuss fresh content, recent favorite books and exciting announcements to kick off the new year. 

Chuck and Rachel ask for help choosing new intro music for this podcast ( vote here! ). Then they recap recent events in Florida and share the best podcasts of 2017. Finally, they close with Chuck's favorite books from the year. Mentioned in this podcast: Vote for our new podcast music:  https://www.strongtowns.org/survey Our Best Podcast Episodes from 2017 Favorite Books from 2017 Speaking of Fai...

Strong Towns members Bo Wright and Haile McCollum wrote dueling essays this year, debating the merits and drawbacks of small town southern life. Bo's October essay  "Why I'm Leaving My Small Southern Town,"  inspired Haile to write her own:  "The Case for Small Southern Towns."  So we brought them on the podcast to discuss further. Rachel Quednau hosts this friendly, spirited conversation about wh...

Chuck and Rachel discuss a recent event in Washington state, which inspired today's article: " The Ideology of Traffic ." They also chat about an upcoming meeting in Chicago and Best of 2016 content.  MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST: " The Ideology of Traffic " Best of Strong Towns Global Grid's Top 20 Urban Planning Websites of 2016 Webcast: Creating a Strong Towns Comp Plan Strong Towns article archiv...

Chuck and Rachel discuss a recent trip to Montreal and the language differences present there. They also share several exciting announcements including  new Strong Towns t-shirts , a  new Strong Towns book , and the  2017 Annual Report . Plus they share a final update on the membership drive. Mentioned in this Podcast: Event in Panama City, Florida Strong Towns 2017 Annual Report Introducing our N...

The infamous "master builder" of New York City, Robert Moses, is the subject of a new rock musical, opening today (November 30) in New York. In this podcast episode, Kea Wilson interviews Karen Carpenter, director of the musical,  Bulldozer: The Ballad of Robert Moses , as well as the musical's writer, Peter Galperin. They discuss why they selected this controversial figure as the subject for thei...

In this podcast episode, Chuck and Rachel review the highlights (lowlights?) from Strong Towns' annual #BlackFridayParking event and share some exciting news... They also provide an update on the 2017 member drive. We're so close to our goal of 2,000 members. Help us get to #2000Strong by joining today.  Become a member of Strong Towns : www.strongtowns.org/membership  

This Friday is our annual #BlackFridayParking event — a nationwide action drawing attention to the harmful nature of minimum parking requirements.  Each year on Black Friday, one of the biggest shopping days of the year, people across North America are invited to snap photos of the (hardly full) parking lots in their communities to demonstrate how unnecessary these massive lots are. Participants t...

Strong Towns staff members Chuck Marohn and Bo Wright check in on the final day of our 2017 Member Drive to talk about their hopes for the future of the Strong Towns movement. They discuss the intentional choices that the Strong Towns organization has made about how we disseminate our message and push for change, and they talk about our vision for reaching more communities to transform the cultura...

A year ago,  Shreveport, Louisiana was on the brink of building a highway  right through the poor inner-city neighborhood of Allendale. As residents came together and rallied against this project in order to protect their homes and their community, Strong Towns became an inspiration and a voice for their efforts. In addition to sharing stories about the  people  and the  community  that would be r...

In this podcast episode, Chuck breaks down Strong Towns' core insight about the American growth model — what's wrong with it and why it's bankrupting our country — then talks about how this movement responds to that problem in a thoughtful, non-partisan manner. There are no simple answers. Success for our country will not come from the federal government or the corporate sector and trickle down to...

In this podcast on the second day of the Strong Towns Winter Member Drive, Chuck shares a bit about the history of Strong Towns and the wake up call he had while working as an engineer — building the very roads and big box stores he now recognizes as harmful for our towns and cities. To build stronger towns, we have to shift the cultural conversation in American. It's a big challenge but with your...

On this podcast episode, Chuck Marohn shares an update on the Strong Towns movement and invites listeners and readers to join us as members during this important week. Help us spread the Strong Towns message across the globe.  Become a member today.  Help us become #2000Strong.

In this podcast, Rachel Quednau interviews long-time Strong Towns member Matthias Leyrer about how he has built a financially resilient household. They discuss topics ranging from a major home rehab project to how the birth of a child changes your perspective on what's important (with a few tangents in between).  This article is part of an ongoing series about building personal and household resil...

Chuck and Rachel recap recent events in Ashland, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and Northampton, Massachusetts. They also discuss upcoming events in  Dallas, Texas  and  Monterey, California , plus a Strong Towns staff and board retreat. Finally, they check in about their holiday baking plans. Mentioned in this Podcast: Event and member meet-up in Dallas Event in Monterey And Your Daughters Shall Prop...

In this episode, Chuck Marohn interviews Keita Demming, host of the  Disruptive Conversations podcast . Keita works in the space of applied innovation, helping companies become beautiful organizations, and holds a PhD from the University of Toronto. In this conversation, Chuck and Keita discuss the concept of disruption and why disruptive conversations are so valuable. They also talk about the dif...

Chuck and Rachel discuss upcoming events in Virginia, Washington, DC, and Massachusetts. They also discuss Chuck's newest article on the pitfalls of school drop-off zones and chat about the special content they're preparing for next week.

The Strong Towns message has a big impact wherever it is heard, but how do we turn that into action? In this episode, Founder and President of Strong Towns, Chuck Marohn, talks about some of the next steps for the movement.