Claim OwnershipThe Strong Towns Podcast
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A weekly conversation on the Strong Towns movement hosted by Charles Marohn. The podcast blends fiscal prudence with good urban design to highlight how America can financially strengthen its cities, towns and neighborhoods and, in the process, make them better places to live.
You can support the podcast and become a member of Strong Towns at www.StrongTowns.org.
You can support the podcast and become a member of Strong Towns at www.StrongTowns.org.
627 Episodes
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It’s Member Week here at Strong Towns. As a special treat, we’re publishing three new episodes of the Strong Towns Podcast. In this episode, Chuck explains how election years affect a nonpartisan nonprofit like Strong Towns. It’s kind of ugly, but it doesn't change our mission.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
Become a member today!
Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).
2It’s Member Week here at Strong Towns. As a special treat, we’re publishing three new episodes of the Strong Towns Podcast this week. In this episode, Chuck is joined by Norm Van Eeden Petersman, Strong Towns’ director of membership and development. They discuss the history of the Strong Towns movement and how members have brought it to heights Chuck never could’ve imagined — including spreading Strong Towns ideas not only across North America but across the world.
The movement’s grown so much, but we’re not done yet. We need your help to spread the Strong Towns approach even further, until every town is a strong one. Join us by becoming a member today.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).
Today, we’re kicking off Member Week at Strong Towns. As a special treat, we’ll be publishing three new episodes of the Strong Towns Podcast this week. In this first episode, Chuck discusses the cultural shift that the Strong Towns movement is striving to create and why that shift is so essential to building more prosperous and resilient communities.
This is a bottom-up movement, and it needs your help to succeed. Join the ranks of people building a stronger tomorrow by becoming a member today.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
Become a member today!
Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).
Strong Towns is a nonpartisan organization that’s focused on starting change from the local level, not the federal one. However, Chuck was recently challenged to come up with five things that the next president, whoever they end up being, should do once they’re in office. In today’s episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, he shares that list and explains why each item is important to building a stronger America.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
“5 Things For The Next President To Do” (article).
Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).
On this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck discusses street safety with Melany Alliston, a project manager and civil engineer with Toole Design. They cover the role of engineers in creating safe streets, Alliston’s work with Toole Design and her experience participating in a number of Crash Analysis Studio sessions.
To hear more about street safety, join us on Tuesday, October 15 for a virtual press conference where we will release the report “Beyond Blame: How Cities Can Learn From Crashes To Create Safer Streets Today.” Representatives from Toole Design will also be speaking at the press conference.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
Melany Alliston (Toole Design site).
Register for the virtual press conference.
Learn more about the Crash Analysis Studio method and the “Beyond Blame” report.
Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).
In this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck talks about V2X (vehicle-to-everything) technology and how it’s an example of a moonshot — a big, risky gamble that promises an equally big reward. He explains why these big gambles often fail when applied to complex problems like street safety and how the Strong Towns approach differs.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
Register for the virtual press conference where we will release the report “Beyond Blame: How Cities Can Learn From Crashes To Create Safer Streets Today.”
Sign up for email updates.
Learn more about the Crash Analysis Studio method.
Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).
On this week’s episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck is joined by Beth Osborne, the director of Transportation for America, to discuss the Highway Trust Fund. They cover its history, how it affects federal and state transportation policies, and its potential future.
Before joining Transportation for America, Osborne served as a deputy assistant secretary and acting assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Transportation. She also worked in multiple congressional offices, served as the policy director for Smart Growth America, and served as the legislative director for environmental policy at the Southern Governors’ Association.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
Beth Osborne (Twitter/X).
Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).
In this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck addresses a question he frequently gets from young people: "What educational or career path should I take if I want to build strong towns?"
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).
At the Table is a podcast that discusses how community-based ministries can contribute to the common good via mutual relationships, spiritual practice, simplicity and an awareness of God’s activity in communities. They recently invited Strong Towns President Charles Marohn to appear on an episode. It was a great conversation, so we’re sharing that audio with you here on the Strong Towns Podcast, too. Up for discussion today, the Suburban Experiment, the role of religious institutions in community development and what it means for those institutions to be good neighbors.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
To hear more about the role faith communities play in a strong town, check out this Local-Motive session on October 17: “How Faith Communities Can Use Their Location and Space to Transform Neighborhoods.”
At the Table.
Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).
In this special episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck talks about fraud in the housing market. He discusses how it manifests, how it gradually saturates the market and how it’s connected to housing bubbles. He then explores how fraud plays a role in the current housing crisis and how federal and private organizations are trying to combat it.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
"The Housing Market Is a Bubble Full of Fraud, and It’s Going To Pop.”
Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).
In this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck discusses municipal finance with Michel Durand-Wood, a longtime Strong Towns contributor and local budget aficionado. They talk about the importance of the average person understanding municipal finance, the obstacles that can make such understanding difficult and how their approaches to discussing finance have changed over the years.
If you want to hear more from Durand-Wood, he’ll be co-hosting a Local-Motive session with Chuck on September 19, titled “Parsing Through Your Local Budget to Find Some Real Answers.”
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
Michel Durand-Wood (blog).
Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).
In this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck discusses the report “How To Improve Domestic High-Speed Rail Project Delivery” with one of the report’s authors, Eric Goldwyn. They discuss the advantages of high-speed rail over other transportation options, the challenges that building such a system in the U.S. would pose and five key recommendations for overcoming those challenges.
Goldwyn is a leading urban scholar and program director at the Marron Institute of Urban Management, as well as a clinical assistant professor in the Transportation and Land-Use program at the NYU Marron Institute. To hear more from Goldwyn, check out this episode, where he discusses why U.S. transit is so expensive and how to fix it.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
“How To Improve Domestic High-Speed Rail Project Delivery,” by Eric Goldwyn et al., Transit Costs Project.
Transit Costs (website).
Eric Goldwyn (Twitter/X).
Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).
In this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck takes a look at a recent fatal car crash that took place in Ontario. Unfortunately, deadly car crashes occur all the time across North America, and this one might not have even stood out if not for a tweet released in response by local law enforcement, which held the promise of a team that intends to investigate the crash…but for all the wrong reasons.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
"Why Traffic Enforcement Isn’t Enough To Save Lives.”
Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).
In this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck discusses the feedback systems that created the housing affordability crisis. He explains why federal and state government policies can’t solve the problem and that local leaders are the real key to addressing it. He also lays out some of the concrete actions local leaders can take to address the housing crisis in their cities.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
"Federal and State Programs Can’t Fix the Housing Crisis, but Local Action Can.”
Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).
Maumee, Ohio, winner of the 2024 Strongest Town Contest, is facing a big sewer infrastructure challenge. It needs to update its sewer system to comply with EPA regulations — an extremely large, expensive project. To handle this problem, the city is requiring residents who want to sell their homes to pay for the needed updates to their sewage systems, which is generating backlash from residents.
In this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck explains the history of sewer infrastructure, how the Clean Water Act affects cities and the very limited options that cities have to handle this kind of challenge. He also points out that the Strongest Town Contest is about celebrating cities that are working hard to improve, rather than finding cities that are perfect. Just because Maumee is facing this challenge does not mean that it’s a failure — and it’s not alone in this struggle, either. All cities are either facing this challenge, too, or will be facing it in the near future. That’s the consequence of decades of unproductive growth.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).
Become a member.
In this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck responds to a recent Substack column that criticized the Strong Towns stance on the Suburban Experiment and infrastructure spending. He corrects some misconceptions from the column and discusses the ways that cities handle (or fail to handle) their finances and how that can lead to financial insolvency.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
“Contra Strong Towns” (Substack).
“What Strong Towns Really Says About Infrastructure Spending.”
Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).
Can your city escape the housing trap simply through blanket rezoning? Is completely eliminating zoning compatible with an incremental approach? How should your city handle historic designations that are blocking housing development? Strong Towns President Chuck Marohn answers all these questions and more in this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast.
This Q&A session comes on the heels of a member-exclusive event where Chuck discussed his and Daniel Herriges’ new book “Escaping the Housing Trap: The Strong Towns Response to the Housing Crisis.” If you’re interested in gaining access to this kind of event, become a member today.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
Click here to order your copy of “Escaping the Housing Trap: The Strong Towns Response to the Housing Crisis.”
Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).
This is the final episode in the Strong Towns Podcast's special Member Drive series. Every day, Chuck has read one of his best articles that you might’ve missed. Today, he’s reading one of Strong Towns’ most popular articles, “Most Public Engagement Is Worthless.” This article explores the typical methods used by city planners when collecting feedback from the public and why they often fail. Instead of focusing on what people think they want — since most of the time they don’t know themselves — planners should focus on people’s actions and then adjust their policies to compliment the way real people actually live.
If you enjoy this podcast, or any of the other work Strong Towns does, become a member today. Be the change your city needs.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
Become a member today!
Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).
This is the fourth episode in the Strong Towns Podcast's special Member Drive series. Every day, Chuck is reading one of his best articles that you might’ve missed. Today, he’s reading “If We Made Shoes Like We Make Housing, People Would Go Barefoot.” This article is an excerpt from Chuck’s most recent book “Escaping the Housing Trap,” coauthored with Daniel Herriges. It discusses how restrictions on types of housing have caused massive price spikes, wiped out starter homes and made any housing incredibly difficult to acquire. Make sure to check back in tomorrow to catch the final installment of this special series.
If you enjoy this podcast, or any of the other work Strong Towns does, become a member today. Be the change your city needs.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
Become a member today!
Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).
This is the third episode in the Strong Towns Podcast's special Member Drive series. Every day, Chuck is reading one of his best articles that you might’ve missed. Today, he’s reading “How Fannie Mae Puts a Chokehold on Local Home Financing Solutions.” This article explains how mortgage financiers rose to dominance through an “orgy of debt and price appreciation” and how they continue to twist the conversation around housing to further increase prices and debt. Make sure to check back in tomorrow to catch the next installment of this special series.
If you enjoy this podcast, or any of the other work Strong Towns does, become a member today. Be the change your city needs.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
Become a member today!
Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).
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Imagine being put on a design team by Chuck and wondering if it's because it's a crappy project and he thinks you're unskilled to handle something more intricate.
This episode feels like "Big-city Regional Rail for Dummies." How does anybody outside of the Midwest take Chuck seriously?!
55 minutes into the video and, as usual, you attempt to play the "both sides" game and magically miss the mark understanding either. On the NIMBY side, you, as usual, gloss over any racial and socioeconomic components, including redlining and sundown town policies. On the YIMBY side, so-called "backyard cottages" are ABSOLUTELY a tenet of YIMBYism! I don't know where you get off thinking YIMBYism is soley couched in building 5-over-1s anywhere as opposed to a VARIED tool bag of densification.
Just happy to see Conservative Chuck FINALLY acknowledge the MASSIVE Racism and Classism components to suburban sprawl and urban freeway expansions.
The Big Dig was a "success" if you count running 4x over budget; adding 60k more vehicles through the CBD each day; and worsening air and noise pollution in the Boston neighborhoods where I-93 WASN'T buried, including Charlestown, Chinatown, the West End, South Boston and Dorchester.
No shocker at Medford. At the end of the day, engineers and planners in the US will kiss Boomer NIMBY a$$ because that's what pays the bills.
Overall decent commentary. As I've said previously, episodes are better when Chuck is interviewing other people versus going on his diatribes about walking & cycling Progressives. But don't get it twisted, Chuck: when cycling advocates say "give us the bike lane" on a 40 mph section of stroad, they're not saying "and nothing else." They're saying "give us SOMETHING after decades of giving us NOTHING & let that be a STEPPING STONE towards grade-separated infrastructure, like cycle tracks."
"Robert Moses is somebody we can all relate to." No, Chuck, he's somebody YOU can relate to! Ramming highways through black, brown and poor neighborhoods that DIDN'T have a Jane Jacobs to stand up for them. Intentionally building parkways so as to EXCLUDE buses, which black, brown and poor people were more likely to use. Lobbying to de-fund public transit projects and shift, pun intended, funding to roadway projects. "But he also built nice parks and beaches." Yeah, but for WHO?!
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I'm literally cutting this garbage podcast episode at your rant about 85th Percentile principals. Your previous rant mentioned lowering city speed limits as one effective measure and then, with the 85th Percentile rant, you shift, pun intended, into worrying more about free-flowing freeway traffic! WE'RE TALKING ABOUT REDUCING/ELIMINATING CITY TRAFFIC INJURIES & FATALITIES! The whole point of speed cameras is to be the invisible hand that REDUCES the 85th Percentile to safer speeds! Try again!
You're hurting my brain, Chuck! "People are slowing down for the camera(s)." -That's LITERALLY what the speed cameras are designed to do! "Advocates think that speed cameras are a good 'Band-Aid' until decades-long street redesigns can funded and implemented... advocates 'don't understand' that street redesign is more effective than more speed cameras." -People pay you for this "profound logic"??!!
"I don't have a counter-argument to that." Probably the truest thing you've said in your life! The idea is to slow city traffic EVEN MORE, not compare it to super-speeders going 100 vs 110 mph.
Chuck, with all due respect, NOBODY is being 400 sf SFHs in Boston or NYC or San Francisco! The "cities" you rattled off are TOWNS the size of a postage stamp! Your "method" works THERE--we need medium density, and we need it yesterday in the BIG cities and their satellite suburbs.
Haha, Conservative Chuck is butt hurt that some reporter mislabeled him as a "Progressive"! He's like, "No, no, really I fluff Moderate NIMBYs!!"
This 1000%! More guest engineers, planners and green infrastructure advocates--less Conservative Chuck rambling.
HUGE shocker! Chuck The Conservative whitewashing SVB's misdeeds! SVB wasn't some poor mom & pop local bank--they were a MAJOR player, largely in the tech sector, that LOBBIED to have mid-sized banks not have to have a X amount of cash-on-hand, proportional to the big dogs (Chase, BofA, WF, etc.). And, what do you know? They didn't have X amount of cash on hand; investors freaked a bit; depositors freaked more and created a run on the bank; and it's Good Night SVB! Karma's a Whaaaaaat?! Here's a thought: if you're going to change regulations to suit your risky habits... make sure you MINIMIZE that risk! There, just did your whole podcast segment! Though I will say, more interesting than "why I think '15-min cities' is a dumb concept but you should believe in it anyway."
Yes, Chuck, we get it: you hate Progressives, Liberals and POC, usually in that order. unfortunately as a Center-Right pundit that puts you in a bit of a conundrum as, much like the other commenter here, you find yourself left behind by a Party that has shifted further and further to the Right, eschewing once proud, but still half-baked, principles of "Fiscal Conservatism" for parading Confederate flags and chanting to hang the sitting Vice President because he won't do "their" bidding. Meanwhile, you are chagrined at the Liberals and Progressives who follow you, whose principles of reducing car dependency and increasing bike-ability and walkability you espouse.
Wow, wow, wow! I very much appreciated the balanced insights in this episode. I am a person who feels party-less these days, with some strongly held beliefs that lean liberal and others that are labeled conservative. 15 minute cities make a lot of sense to me for all sorts of reasons. But I want that as an option, not a requirement. And I want to still be free to visit my kids who live elsewhere if I wish. So much discussion these days lacks nuance, and is incredibly divisive. I so much appreciate the time you took to really investigate and explain the reasons that people believe what they do. I sincerely wish that we all as citizens of the world could manage this type of civil, logical discourse on more of the hotly debated topics in our world.
Okay, so second half-ish follow up: two themes running through the entire commentary: 1. No, Chuck, you weren't wrong in that it was ONLY a racial issue. Perhaps the bigger issue is how you ONLY paid attention to the loudest voices, er Tweets, in the room who were perpetuating that. That doesn't negate that-it's a combination of BOTH racial and class inequality AND suburban sprawl Ponzi schemes. 2. This pie-in-the-sky alternate universe where cities can just cut off their satellite suburbs when we all know, at least in North America, how much of an outsized influence suburban Moderates have over city planning, even in "Liberal" enclaves like Boston and New York City.
Only 20 minutes into this, this conversation is DOA, and CLEARLY shows you learned nothing from the feedback you received on the first part in which, in typical form, you whitewash ANY racial or class undertones in planning in the USA, despite a MOUNTAIN of evidence from block busting to redlining to sundown towns. "We have LOTS of diversity in Minnesota ... Norwegians and Swedes and Germans!" 🤦🏾🤦🏾🤦🏾 Then you bring in a White female "expert" to INTERPRET for your poor Midwestern Flyover Moderate brain the sentiments of Black residents... RATHER THAN INTERVIEW SOME RESIDENTS THEMSELVES! I'll keep listening as I always do and let you know if it improves...