The Messy City Podcast Talking Abundance and Strong Towns
Oct 28, 2025
In this engaging conversation, Seth Zeren, a developer and housing advocate known for his practical insights on placemaking, discusses his thoughts on merging the Strong Towns and Abundance movements. He explores the benefits of localized empowerment versus larger-scale reforms, emphasizing the need for state support alongside grassroots initiatives. Seth provocatively questions the legitimacy of municipalities in decision-making, while advocating for a return to historical building practices and a renewed focus on design quality. Tune in for an enlightening dialogue on housing and urban growth.
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Complementary Diagnoses Of The Housing Crisis
- The housing problem is a multi-faceted elephant that different groups touch in different ways.
- Strong Towns and Abundance offer complementary lenses that should learn from one another rather than balkanize.
Different Moral Cores Of Two Movements
- Abundance centers on clearing regulatory and procedural barriers so government can actually build needed infrastructure.
- Strong Towns centers on culture change and fiscal sustainability to keep places healthy long-term.
Grassroots Roots Of YIMBY Organizing
- Early YIMBY activists were renters in high-demand coastal cities pushed to action by blocked projects and displacement.
- Seth recounts organizing in Cambridge and Providence as part of that grassroots origin story.
