The Strong Towns Podcast

This week, Rachel's guest is Connor Nielsen, our summer intern who is working with both Strong Towns and our friends at the geoanalytics firm, Urban3, to share data-related stories throughout the next few months. Connor talks about what led him to this internship and what he hopes to work on this summer. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Urban3 Connor's writing on Strong Towns Ask Strong Towns webcast, Thursday at 12pm CT Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond The Liturgists (podcast) The Good Place (TV show)

This is our third dispatch from the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), which took place in Savannah, Georgia in May. Chuck Marohn attended CNU and hosted a series of in-depth podcast conversations about some of the most pressing topics for cities today, with leaders, thinkers, and activists in a whole range of fields. Now we're bringing those podcasts to your ears throughout the summer. In this episode, David Rau, a New York-city based architect and Steve Mouzon, an architect and author of The Original Green, discuss the past, present and future of American architecture. They contemplate what it means for a new generation to reject or forgive the design choices of previous generations, particularly in light of recent conversations about the removal of Confederate monuments in American cities. Questions discussed in this podcast include: What are the key differences between traditional architecture and modern architecture? Is a willingness to accept or reject changes as humans wired into our DNA? Are liberals more interested in moving forward and conservatives more interested in keeping this as they are? How does the concept of absolution apply to current conversations about new urbanism? What does the process of absolution look like? How can we be fair judges of city builders in the past while still maintaining a critical eye toward their failings? As city builders today, how would we want to be judged by future generations? Is our ability to absolve people and places of the past correlated with the level of power we have or have not gained today? What makes a place "lovable?"

Rachel's guest this week is Michelle Erfurt, Strong Towns' Pathfinder. She shares an update on Strong Towns' events for the year and the amazing reach that the Strong Towns message has been having. Michelle and Rachel also dish about their latest favorite books and tv shows. If you want to book a Strong Towns event, head to this page to get in touch with Michelle. Mentioned in this podcast Chuck speaks at the International City/County Management Association's Annual Conference in Baltimore Strong Towns events in: Erie, PA Fort Worth, TX Cedar Creek, TX 8 Lessons Learned from Starting my First Garden by Michelle Erfurt Queer Eye for the Straight Guy Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

This is our second dispatch from the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), which took place in Savannah, Georgia in May. Chuck Marohn attended CNU and hosted a series of in-depth podcast conversations about some of the most pressing topics for cities today, with leaders, thinkers, and activists in a whole range of fields. Now we're bringing those podcasts to your ears throughout the summer.   One month after the Congress, today's podcast guests are Andres Duany and Kevin Klinkenberg, who discuss the host city of Savannah. Andres is one of the founders of CNU and Kevin is a long-time Savannah resident. Both are architects and planners, and both were deeply involved with producing the Congress this year. Questions discussed in this podcast include: What makes Savannah such a unique place? Why didn't the rest of Savannah develop in the same traditional, walkable manner as the city center? How has auto-oriented design impacted the historic core of the city? How do you balance historic preservation concerns and the need to allow cities to move forward? What's the impact of large developments like convention centers and arenas? Engineers and planners often have a compulsion to fix things, but how do we know when to let a place go? What is the opportunity cost of spending too much time fixing things that are really beyond repair

This is our first dispatch from the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), which took place in Savannah, Georgia in May. Chuck Marohn attended CNU and hosted a series of in-depth podcast conversations about some of the most pressing topics for cities today, with leaders, thinkers, and activists in a whole range of fields. Now we're bringing those podcasts to your ears throughout the summer. Today's podcast guest is Monte Anderson, a developer based in Texas and a leader of the Incremental Development Alliance.  Monte encourages people to pick a place they love and stay there. That's how you really learn what communities need and how to make them better. And that's what he did by choosing to incrementally improve his hometown. Questions discussed in this podcast include: What if your town seems past the point of getting better? Should you stay anyway? What needs to happen in order to encourage development in our towns?  How do you respond to people who worry that the removal of parking minimums will be harmful to local businesses? What's the best sort of business to kickstart a commercial street? How do we reconcile the desire to be flexible and encourage new business start-ups, especially in poor neighborhoods, while still ensuring that buildings are safe and basic health codes are met? What are the first steps someone should take if they want to become an incremental developer? What if you don't have much money? How do you find a balance between investing in a neighborhood and not pricing people out of it? What's the difference between a developer and an investor?

A few decades ago, Beth Berry lived in Austin, Texas with her four children. The pace of life in that big city eventually caught up with them and they decided to move south to Mexico to find something different. Beth started writing, cooking, walking and observing the family-centric life around her. "I was learning to not have an agenda and let curiosity lead me," she says. "The culture shifted my perspective on what I needed to do to be okay, to be worthy, to be successful by some measure." Since then, she has moved back to the United States and begun working as a life coach with mothers who share similar concerns about the unceasing pace of American life, and the burdens and impossible ideals it lays on women. In this engaging conversation with Chuck Marohn, Beth discusses the pressures of modern parenthood, the loss of "the village" when it comes to raising children, and the way the design of our communities furthers disconnection and isolation. Mentioned in this podcast: In the absence of ‘the village,’ mothers struggle most (on Motherly) Revolution from Home (Beth's website)

On this episode, Kea and Rachel recap the recent member drive and chat about some recent favorite books and shows. A huge thank you to the 150 new members who joined us last week. If you didn't get a chance to become a member yet, you can still do so right here, right now. Mentioned in this episode The Winners of our State vs. State New Member Contest In Defense of Housing by Peter Marcuse and David Madden Wild, Wild Country (Netflix show) Is it better to build a Strong Town from scratch? by Kea Wilson

Strong Towns needs your support! It's the final day of our member drive and can't accomplish our mission of changing the national conversation on growth and development without you. Become a member today: www.strongtowns.org/membership If you've been waiting — been putting this off all week — we're here to help you get past the finish line. Here's the number: 844-218-1681. Ask for Chuck. Ask for Kea. Ask for Rachel or Max or Bo or Michelle. We're all sitting here waiting for you to call. We'll chat a little and then get you signed up to be a member of Strong Towns. It's that easy. Or, just sign up on your own. That's easy too. Just click here to join a movement that is making important change happen. Today's the day. Before you head out for a long weekend, take a quick minute to make a huge difference.

Strong Towns needs your support! We can't accomplish our mission of changing the national conversation on growth and development without you. Become a member today: www.strongtowns.org/membership On Day 4 of the Spring member drive, Chuck recaps a typical day in the life as president of Strong Towns. Then he discusses a question he received on a recent Ask Strong Towns webcast about the negative nature of so much of what Strong Towns discusses, and whether there is any way to find hope.

Strong Towns needs your support! We can't accomplish our mission of changing the national conversation on growth and development without you. Become a member today: www.strongtowns.org/membership In this first episode of our Spring member drive, Chuck reflects on a promise he made to Strong Towns three years ago, and how that decision changed the trajectory of this movement forever.