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Strong Towns

@strongtowns.org

We're changing *everything* about the North American pattern of development. Become a member today! strongtowns.org/membership

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Strong Towns@strongtowns.org · 7mo ago

“We keep adding lane-miles to networks we can’t afford to care for, while telling ourselves that the next project will finally deliver the returns the last one didn’t.” —Charles Marohn Read more in “Transportation After the Age of Expansion” on our site. https://ow.ly/er9l50XUgvy

Concrete bridge structure against a blue sky with clouds, featuring text about successful transportation investment.Close-up of steel beams extending from a bridge under construction against a blue sky with clouds.
Strong Towns@strongtowns.org · 7mo ago

Did you notice this housing trend shift in 2025? Zillow’s 2025 Zeitgeist Report revealed an interesting change: people are searching less for stylistic upgrades and more for homes that can adapt to life’s changes.

Suburban neighborhood with houses and a curved walkway under a partly cloudy sky, highlighting Zillow's housing market search data.Zillow's 2025 report shows homebuyers favor adaptable homes over stylistic upgrades in search trends.A modern home with an outdoor dining area next to a pool, highlighting ADU, guest house, and in-law suite options for flexible living.Text explaining that ADUs, casitas, and similar housing types have existed for generations and are common in neighborhoods.
Strong Towns@strongtowns.org · 7mo ago

When you have 20 different "national goals," many of which conflict with each other, then a project that destroys a neighborhood but saves 3.2 minutes of travel time can get the green light. We need a return to the laser focus and careful execution that made the Interstate Highway System possible.

Map showing a proposed highway route in Shreveport, Louisiana, highlighting communities affected to save 3 minutes of travel time.
Strong Towns@strongtowns.org · 7mo ago

Which kind of land use is the most financially productive: roads, parking, or buildings? Looking at this comparison, it isn't even close. Info courtesy of our friends at Urban3.

Comparison of land use value in Memphis showing buildings at $45.39 per sq. ft., parking at $1.35, and roads at -$0.81, urging efficient land use.
Strong Towns@strongtowns.org · 7mo ago

Trends come and go, but what’s always “in” is humbly observing where your community struggles. What’s always “in” is thinking of the next smallest thing you can do to address that struggle. Then you do it. Do it now. And repeat.

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Strong Towns@strongtowns.org · 8mo ago

Jane Jacobs published The Death and Life of Great American Cities during a time when the country demolished lively neighborhoods for highways in the name of progress.

Old film stills with captions that read: “The heart of [this neighborhood] was where this road runs behind me, the Cross-Bronx Expressway. And all I could think of was that this didn’t have to be.” Stills and text from New York: A Documentary Film by Ric Burns, excerpted on Patell and Waterman's History of New York YouTube Channel
Jimmy Hendricks@jimismash.bsky.social · 8mo ago

On these platforms we hear a lot from people with strong opinions about housing, but a lot of that boils down to "I've lived in housing for most of my life, so I'm an expert." Instead, we should be listening to the people that are actually out there trying to build things:

Strong Towns@strongtowns.org · 8mo ago

Statewide zoning reform isn’t producing the wins everyone expected. For example, state law can declare that small backyard cottages are legal. But unless cities can review them, permit them, and builders can finance them, legalization will remain largely symbolic.

Graphic with a duotone photo of a state capitol building in the background. Text reads: “Allowed by right does not equal possible in practice.”
Strong Towns@strongtowns.org · 8mo ago

Statewide zoning reform isn’t producing the wins everyone expected. For example, state law can declare that small backyard cottages are legal. But unless cities can review them, permit them, and builders can finance them, legalization will remain largely symbolic.

Graphic with a duotone photo of a state capitol building in the background. Text reads: “Allowed by right does not equal possible in practice.”Graphic with a duotone photo of a state capitol building in the background. Text reads: “Statewide zoning reform isn’t producing the wins everyone expected. For example, state law can declare that small backyard cottages are legal. But unless cities can review them, permit them, and builders can finance them, legalization will remain largely symbolic. The permissions may have changed, but the reflexes never adapted.”
Strong Towns@strongtowns.org · 8mo ago

Fayetteville’s new housing program is a great example that illustrates recommendations in our Housing-Ready City toolkits. The program gets permits out quickly, reducing confusion and friction that prevents housing from being built.

Graphic with text: “Housing News: Fayetteville, AK launched a new housing program that gives residents a clearer, faster path to building homes”Graphic with text: “With a catalog of nearly 30 permit-ready plans, the program reduces uncertainty, speeds up permitting, and lowers costs.” Examples of pre-approved plans are also shown in the background.
Strong Towns@strongtowns.org · 8mo ago

As Charles Marohn wrote just last week: We’re living through our own Gutenberg moment now. And the real lesson is that “the technology didn’t destroy the system; it revealed its rot and accelerated the change that was already underway.”

Strong Towns@strongtowns.org · 8mo ago

The Complete Streets movement began with a compelling, people-first vision: streets designed to be safe, accessible, and welcoming to everyone, not just cars. But as this vision was absorbed into the federal transportation bureaucracy, it became a hollowed-out shell.

Text reads: “The Complete Streets movement began with a compelling people-first vision: streets designed to be safe, accessible, and welcoming to everyone. But as this vision was absorbed into the federal transportation bureaucracy, it became a hollowed-out shell of its former self.”
Strong Towns@strongtowns.org · 8mo ago

“To do the experiment, I have to live in it.” That’s what Monte Anderson told The New York Times when his work refitting his home into a multigenerational “roommate house” was spotlighted.

Screenshot collage of Monte Anderson and Asia Mieleszko. Text reads: “It’s personal. Whenever I build something, I try to build it for someone I love.”Screenshot of the New York Times article “Would the Housing Crisis Ease if Boomers Rented Out Their Empty Rooms?”
Strong Towns@strongtowns.org · 8mo ago

At least 15 times in the past 5 years, someone walking or riding a scooter or bicycle has been struck by a moving vehicle in Leawood, Kansas. Many of those struck were children. The parents intuitively recognize that street design is a contributing factor. And it’s time to act.

Text reads: “Leawood is one of the safest, most desirable suburbs in the Kansas City Metro Area. And yet, people keep dying on its streets. At least 15 times in the past 5 years, someone has been struck by a moving vehicle in Leawood, many of them children.”Text reads: “The parents intuitively recognize what the Crash Analysis Studio makes explicit: street design is a contributing factor. And furthermore, it’s time to act, not just plan for the future.” Screenshots from the article “Leawood parents push for safer streets after 10-year-old boy’s death” with quotations highlighted are also shown.
Strong Towns@strongtowns.org · 9mo ago

Walking to school shouldn’t be a death defying stunt. That’s why Strong Towns Hallowell, a group of advocates in the historic Maine city of less than 3,000 people, is working with the city to make it safe. If it’s safe for children, it’s safe for everyone.

Google Streetview of the intersection of Central and Hillcrest Streets in Hallowell, Maine. Text says: “Walking to school shouldn’t be a death defying stunt. This intersection in Hallowell, Maine is a well-known hazard in the community.”Google Streetview of the intersection of Central and Hillcrest Streets in Hallowell, Maine. Text says: “Cars speed up this blind hill.” In small font are the words “What’s on the other side? Who knows!”Google Streetview of the intersection of Central and Hillcrest Streets in Hallowell, Maine. Text says: And a lack of sidewalks makes this especially dangerous for people on foot.”Screenshot of an article titled “Hallowell group gets grant for traffic calming at intersection” by Ethan Horton.
Strong Towns@strongtowns.org · 9mo ago

New corporate landlords target declining markets in the Rust Belt and Midwest, confident they can profit despite local economic conditions. How did we get here? And if corporate landlords strip communities of local control and regulation gets outsmarted, how can cities actually fight back?

Screenshot of the Apple Podcasts transcript of Stacked Against Us. These words are highlighted: Okay, okay, I have to catch you up to speed here.Screenshot of the Apple Podcasts transcript of Stacked Against Us. These words are highlighted: They own 24,000 homes.Screenshot of the Apple Podcasts transcript of Stacked Against Us. These words are highlighted: Why do their investors believe buying crumbling homes in struggling cities is a winning strategy? Why the confidence that the millions they’ve poured in will come back with interest?Screenshot of the Apple Podcasts transcript of Stacked Against Us. These words are highlighted: Well, we answered that in the last episode, didn’t we? It’s all those post-2008 incentives, like a zero interest rate policy and quantitative easing, right? Yes, but there’s more to it.
Strong Towns@strongtowns.org · 9mo ago

McGilchrist Street in Salem, Oregon is not a critical corridor of commerce. It is a low-intensity, low-value industrial street. So why is it getting $28.4 million in funding for an “improvement” project?

A streetview image of McGilchrist St in Salem, OR. Text reads “This is not a critical corridor of commerce or a growth hotspot. So why is Salem is investing $15.2 million of local funds into an “improvement” project?”Text reads: “In 2022, the city of Salem, Oregon, received a $13.2 million grant from the federal RAISE program — short for Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity — to fund what was officially labeled the ‘McGilchrist Street Improvement Project.’ The project’s total cost was estimated at $28.4 million, with Salem contributing the remaining $15.2 million in local funds.”
Strong Towns@strongtowns.org · 9mo ago

Last week, the Trump administration announced support for a 50-year mortgage. Except, this won't make housing more attainable, more affordable, more stable.

A graphic with a key highlighted in light blue. Text reads: “Last week, the Trump administration announced support for a 50-year mortgage. If you care about housing affordability, here's why this doesn't help.”A graphic with a key highlighted in light blue. Text reads: “Stretching a mortgage from 20 to 30 to 40…to 50 years…doesn’t make a home cheaper. It makes an expensive home look temporarily more attainable. But really, we're just stretching debt.”
Dix@dixonij.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Everything about the "Chester riverfront redevelopment plan" that had the Union's PPL (now Subaru) Park at the center of it was doomed to fail. The ramps drop you RIGHT at the parking lots and you have zero incentive to go outside the lots before games or stay in the area after the final whistle.

Strong Towns@strongtowns.org · 9mo ago

This project highlights a broken infrastructure funding system: In the 2000s, Chester, PA officials pitched a revitalization plan centered around a waterfront soccer stadium, speculative development, and two new highway ramps to improve access from I-95.

Photo of the 1-95 ramps in Chester, Pennsylvania. The $77 million “award winning” ramps are circled. An arrow points to another access point half a mile away. This is meant to show how little, if anything, was gained by this project.
Strong Towns@strongtowns.org · 9mo ago

This project highlights a broken infrastructure funding system: In the 2000s, Chester, PA officials pitched a revitalization plan centered around a waterfront soccer stadium, speculative development, and two new highway ramps to improve access from I-95.

Photo of the 1-95 ramps in Chester, Pennsylvania. The $77 million “award winning” ramps are circled. An arrow points to another access point half a mile away. This is meant to show how little, if anything, was gained by this project.