The Strong Towns Podcast

Chuck and Rachel recap recent events in New Haven, CT and New York, NY. They also discuss some recent success stories of Strong Towns members in action. Mentioned in this podcast: "An Open Letter to the City of Springfield" by Chuck Marohn "One Million Strong" by Chuck Marohn Join us for this week's slackchat at 12pm CT on Wednesday "Putting Portland's Urban Highway in its Place" by Rachel Quednau "Placemaking Projects Create a Stronger Iron Range" by Rachel Quednau Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber Who Gets What ? and Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design by Alvin Roth

In this podcast episode, Rachel Quednau interviews her colleague Kea Wilson about her journey to financial freedom and personal resilience. Kea talks about how she paid off $25,000 in college debt in less than a year and how a mindset of financial frugality and saving over spending has stayed with her since. By finding joy in low-cost, productive, simple activities and adopting a lifestyle aimed at happiness, not consumption, Kea is charting a path of personal and community resilience. We can all learn something from it. This episode is part of an ongoing series about personal resilience. Find more articles in the series here.

Chuck and Rachel begin with some exciting news, then discuss upcoming East Coast events and debt in Puerto Rico (and what it means for all of us). Apologies; we had some issues with Chuck's audio on this one.  Mentioned in this podcast: Planetizen's List of Top 100 Most Influential Urbanists New Haven, CT presentation and meet-up New York City presentation and meet-up "The Spooky Nature of Debt" by Chuck Marohn Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graebe Cognitive Architecture: Designing for How We Respond to the Built Environment by Ann Sussman Send Rachel your ideas and comments: quednau@strongtowns.org

Chuck Marohn interviews Catherine Fitts, Strong Towns member and founder of the Solari Report. Catherine served as managing director and member of the board of directors of the Wall Street investment bank Dillon, Read & Co. Inc., as Assistant Secretary of Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner at the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development in the first Bush Administration, and was the president of Hamilton Securities Group, Inc.  In this conversation, Catherine discusses her past leadership roles and how that has influenced her outlook on building investment and wealth—not just for individuals—but for communities as a whole. Chuck Marohn was also featured on the Solari Report earlier this year, which you can check out here.

Chuck and Rachel recap a bunch of recent Strong Towns events in Spearfish, SD, Akron, OH, Santa Ana, CA, Pensacola, FL, and Holland, MI. They also discuss Chuck's Monday article, "Rules for the Uncomfortable."

A few weeks ago, we had the pleasure of hosting a webcast for Strong Towns members with Ferguson, MO-based farmer, Molly Rockamann of EarthDance Organic Farm School. This was part of a series we've been doing throughout the last few months about local food. You can find the whole series here. Kea Wilson interviewed Molly about how the farm got started, the challenges and advantages of having a farm in this location, where local food intersects with building Strong Towns and much more.  We're now releasing the audio of the webcast as today's podcast. If you'd like to watch the whole video, just visit our website. Even if you're not looking to become a farmer in the near future, there's still a lot to learn from this discussion. The conversation considers how farmers and non-farmers can be good neighbors to one another, how local food can support a strong local economy, and how regular people can take small steps to participate in local food systems, whether or not you're ready to get down in the dirt and gro

With Chuck on the road, Rachel brings in her colleague Kea Wilson for a special edition of the Week Ahead podcast. Rachel and Kea discuss articles they've recently written and some upcoming projects. They also announce a slackchat they're hosting on Friday and discuss some favorite books. Mentioned in this podcast: "Is your state transportation system broke? Then hit up the Prius drivers!" "False Choices in American Transportation" Event in Pensacola, FL Event in Holland, MI "Four Tips for Better Community Engagement" This Week's Slackchat: Open Resource Sharing with Kea and Rachel Sign up for Slack The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael Twitty We Eat Our Young by Kea Wilson Becoming Jane Jacobs by Peter Laurence

Chris Brown is the city engineer for Fayetteville, AR and has been involved in spearheading a tactical urbanism program for the city. In this podcast interview, he talks about the life of a city engineer, his community's desire for safer streets, and how that led the city to start this new program. He also talks about the challenges of such an initiative and how to overcome them. Read more about tactical urbanism in Fayetteville and download a free guide to implementing a tactical urbanism project here.

Houston has taken center stage as a city deeply impacted by Hurricane Harvey, but small towns in Texas were also devastated by this hurricane and resultant flooding. It's often the smaller towns that struggle the most to properly plan and fund their rebuilding efforts because they lack the amount of staff and varied expertise to handle challenges of this magnitude. At Strong Towns, we care about the fate of these communities and we want to help them rebuild in a way that doesn't just repair damage from wind and flood but also makes them stronger towns over the long haul. That's why, together with the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), Local Government Commission, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, we are supporting Collaborative Communities' efforts to deploy Free Assistance Support Teams (FAST) to small communities affected by Hurricane Harvey in Texas.  Through the FAST program, municipal governments will receive free assistance to ensure they have the necessary tools and informati

Chuck Marohn interviews Chris Arnade, who writes for the Guardian, has a PhD in particle physics from Johns Hopkins and previously worked as a bond trader in New York City. Arnade has spent the last several years documenting addiction and poverty in towns across America.  In this interview, he discusses why walking in neighborhoods that he was told not to visit in New York led him away from trading and toward his current role as a writer. He talks about a life getting to know people on the margins of society—people living in poverty and dealing with addiction—and the struggles of small towns in America. You can find Chris Arnade writing and sharing photos often on Medium.

In this short bonus podcast, Chuck interviews Kevin Shepherd, a Strong Towns sponsor and principal at VERDUNITY about the new group he has formed with others in the planning and development sphere called Cultivate Collaborative which will help to apply Strong Towns concepts on a practical level. Kevin also discusses the group's first event in Frisco, TX on November 4 featuring Chuck Marohn and Monte Anderson. Learn more about the event and sign up.

Caress Givens is the Community Engagement Coordinator for Milwaukee, Wisconsin's bike share program, Bublr. In this interview hosted by Rachel Quednau, Givens discusses equity issues related to bike share: How can bike share programs best meet the needs of low-income people and reach low-income neighborhoods? Is bike share an indicator of gentrification? Givens also talks about how to fund bike share programs, as well as how to get kids involved with bike share. Plus, Givens shares her list of favorite bike share programs across the nation.

Chuck and Rachel discuss recent perspectives about Hurricane Harvey and the aftermath in Houston. They also chat about recent favorite books and films. (We apologize that there were some issues with Rachel's audio in this episode.) Mentioned in this podcast: "The Real Lesson of Hurricane Harvey" by Chuck Marohn "Piling on Houston" by Chuck Marohn "Houston isn't flooded because of its land use planning." by Daniel Herriges Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman 13th (Documentary) The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein

Chuck Marohn interviews Scott Beyer, urban affairs journalist and owner of Market Urbanism Report, who is currently traveling the country on a three-year trip visiting 30 different American cities. Chuck and Scott discuss their overlapping and diverging viewpoints on government regulations, zoning and housing affordability issues. They also compare issues in large cities with smaller towns and consider whether the same policies can apply in both sorts of places.

Chuck Marohn shares the highlights from his recent family vacation to Washington DC including visits to the Library of Congress, the US Capitol, and several national monuments. He also discusses an upcoming Strong Towns event in Tulsa, OK and his recent article, "A Spirit of Generosity." Rachel talks about a new favorite podcast, Left, Right & Center. Mentioned in this podcast: Event in Tulsa, OK "A Spirit of Generosity" by Charles Marohn Left, Right & Center

In this podcast, Rachel Quednau interviews Alfonso Morales, a Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, about public markets as part of Strong Towns' ongoing focus on local food. They compare markets in the United States with markets around the world, discuss current factors impacting the growth of markets and talk about ways to use data to analyze the success of farmers markets, including a new tool Morales helped to create. Mentioned in this podcast: MIFI Markets Dane County Farmers Market Milwaukee Public Market Cities of Farmers by Alfonso Morales and Julie C. Dawson

Chuck Marohn is on vacation this week, but before he left, he sat down to record a solo podcast about his new life in downtown Brainerd in response to the frequent question he gets, "How's the new neighborhood?" We'll be back with our usual Week Ahead podcast next Monday.

This week, Chuck and Rachel apologize for their recent absence on the podcast and discuss a recent article about the California Housing Crisis. They also discuss an ongoing Local Food campaign and recent favorite books. Mentioned in this podcast: "California Housing Crisis" by Charles Marohn Local Food campaign Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance Strangers in Their Own Land by Arlie Hochschild White Trash by Nancy Isenberg

Chuck Marohn interviews Pete Saunders, a planner and journalist who writes for Forbes, Business Insider and other publications, as well as his blog, The Corner Side Yard. Pete grew up in Detroit and now lives in Chicago so this discussion kicks off with a conversation about baseball (especially the Cubs and White Sox) and the relationship of stadiums and teams to their surrounding neighborhoods. Chuck and Pete also discuss two fascinating American cities where Pete has spent time: Detroit and Las Vegas. Finally, they contemplate the shift of African American populations toward the suburbs and out of the cities, and what that could mean for this demographic. Mentioned in this podcast: Can the Chicago White Sox Help Turn Around the South Side? Las Vegas Lessons Part I and Part II On the Outside, Looking In You can read more from Pete on his blog or connect with him on Twitter.

Chuck Marohn interviews Don Kostelec, a Strong Towns member and Senior Planning Associate at Alta Planning + Design based in Boise, ID. He's also the creator of this awesome video series. Chuck and Don discuss a deadly street in Springfield, MA. (Read Chuck's open letter to the city of Springfield and the follow-up article for more back story.) They also chat about the challenges of the engineering and planning professions in general, and the nuance necessary in examining car crash data.