The Strong Towns Podcast

Is a city “dynamic” just because its charts point up and to the right? Chuck uses a week in the UK to question that assumption. In Manchester, a swelling population of 20‑somethings looks like success, until you notice how many smaller places have been drained to supply that energy. In one of those towns, residents speak of decline, crime, and the loss of their pub, even as few can name a moment they truly felt unsafe. Across focus groups, government programs, and carefully planned districts, he traces the same pattern and asks: when growth is easy to measure, what deeper dynamism are we missing?

Additional Show Notes

Chuck Marohn (Substack)

 

This podcast is made possible by Strong Towns members. Thank you! Join fellow members discussing this episode in The Commons.

When planner Patrick Kennedy started asking why prime land near downtown Dallas was filled with parking lots and boarded‑up buildings, the trail led straight to an elevated freeway: I‑345. He explains how making a hard economic case for removal—showing that taking the highway out could deliver the highest return on investment with minimal traffic impacts—grew into the Atlas of Inner City Highway Impacts, a data‑driven look at 142 U.S. cities. Kennedy details how inner‑city highways consume acres of valuable land, depress nearby property values, and either clog up all day in thriving metros or cut through struggling ones at full speed, while federal funding formulas and induced demand keep pushing us toward more lanes.

Additional Show Notes

Patrick Kennedy (LinkedIn)

The Human Ecosystem (Site)

Atlas of Inner-City Highway Impacts (PDF)

"Adding Up What Urban Highways Really Cost", by Benjamin Schneider (Article)

Chuck Marohn (Substack)

 

This podcast is made possible by Strong Towns members. Thank you! Join fellow members discussing this episode in The Commons.

Speaking to planners in New Zealand, Chuck Marohn connects the country’s adopted infrastructure plan with a global pattern of cities that have grown themselves into insolvency. He traces the shift from incremental, pre‑Depression neighborhoods to postwar sprawl and explores what it looks like for planners to stop chasing the next expansion and start making better use of what’s already built.

Additional Show Notes

Te Waihanga (Site)

Te Waihanga National Infrastructure Plan (Site)

Chuck Marohn (Substack)

 

This podcast is made possible by Strong Towns members. Thank you!

Good arguments fail when they ignore how people feel. Chuck Marohn and Joshua Bandoch talk through using empathy, ethical persuasion, and values-based stories with everyone from public works directors to concerned residents. Their examples reveal why understanding fears and incentives often matters more than another chart or study.

Additional Show Notes

Joshua Bandoch (LinkedIn)

How to Get What You Want (Book)

How to be more persuasive (Tedx Talk)

Joshua Bandoch (Site)

Chuck Marohn (Substack)

 

This podcast is made possible by Strong Towns members. Thank you!

Chuck and Kevin Klinkenberg explore why progress comes from people who stop waiting for permission and start doing things locally. They look at incremental developers, neighborhood groups, and the limits of top-down systems in cities like Kansas City. Along the way, they wrestle with incentives, housing, and how much order a city actually needs.

Additional Show Notes

Kevin Klinkenberg (LinkedIn)

The Messy City Podcast (Spotify)

The Messy City (Substack)

The Messy City (Site)

Chuck Marohn (Substack)

 

This podcast is made possible by Strong Towns members. Thank you!