Podcast appearances and mentions of charles marohn

On the surface, sprawl seems like an easy answer to the housing crisis. It fits with the mechanisms we have in place today, and it aligns with the lived experiences and political will of most Americans. But the reality of our housing crisis is more nuanced, and it's bigger than sprawl: The problem is the current way we develop, whether that's inside cities or on the fringes. Chuck explains why in this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Learn how to beat the housing crisis the right way. Download The Housing-Ready City: A Toolkit for Local Code Reform today! Read more: “Escaping the Housing Trap” by Charles Marohn and Daniel Herriges “America Should Sprawl? Not If We Want Strong Towns” by Charles Marohn Chuck Marohn (Substack)

News: Healthy Streets LA, the ballot measure which requires Los Angeles to implement bike infrastructure every time city streets are repaved, is being ignored by the county's transportation agency, LA Metro. Taylor talks with the founder of Streets For All, Michael Schneider, who led the HLA campaign, and the Editor of Streetsblog LA, Joe Linton, who's now suing the city (1:33). It's been 100 years since the Los Angeles city council passed the ordinance which said that if you're walking you have to give right of way to drivers everywhere, except for particular crossings. New Mexico adopted the Stop as Yield Law for cyclists. Paris reduced speed limits on the Boulevard Périphérique from 70 to 50 km/hr, resulting in reduced traffic congestion, smoother traffic flow, fewer crashes, lower air pollution, and lower noise levels. https://www.apur.org/en/our-works/tracking-changes-boulevard-peripherique-and-green-belt-districts-october-2024-february-2025 London's Tweed Run ride is April 29. For National Autism Acceptance Month, Detroit's Neila Johnson has created the Cycling the Spectrum ride. Neila talks with Motown Trailblazers Bike Club President Reo Ramsey (24:35). Cross country solo cyclist Chris Casey tells the story of his ride across the U.S. (34:05). Bike Thought: The 85th Percent Rule, by Charles Marohn (54:36). Thanks Ted Rogers of BikinginLA.com.

Tesla's polluting plants, Musk's racist genealogy and the #Teslatakedown (1:53). Our new regime is anti-active transportation, so we check in with Strong Towns founder Charles Marohn for what we can do locally to make towns more bikeable and livable (7:17). Rochester University Campus Times writers Teddy Almond and Maya Brosnick debate NYC's congestion pricing (30:28). Robert Zaichkowski's Bike Thought (54:17).

On this epic episode, we welcome Chuck Marohn, founder and president of Strong Towns. Chuck's bestselling new book, Escaping the Housing Trap, kicks off the conversation, which winds its way through a variety of important issues facing cities today. Topics02:33 - What is the housing trap?04:05 - Pre-Depression era housing finance08:00 - Government response to Depression vs the 2008 Housing Crisis13:15 - Supply and Demand vs Finance as causes of the housing crisis16:04 - Did we get here via High Modernism or hot fixes?  23:16 - When did we cross the Housing Trap Rubicon?26:36 - What role does the finance market play in the housing shortage?33:15 - Why doesn't the housing market doesn't respond to consumer needs like other markets?35:37 - What's wrong with demand side approaches to affordability? 38:55 - The Strong Towns approach to addressing the housing trap45:21 - How do we sell the Strong Towns approach to our community? 1:01:56 - Budgetary forests and trees1:04:19 - Chuck's has beef with sales tax1:18:17 - Why sales tax creates a higher burden for understanding your city's finance1:24:38 - What role should state government's play to help city's improve their fiscal health?Links and NotesEscaping the Housing Trap: The Strong Towns Response to the Housing CrisisStrong TownsStrong Towns EventsEscaping the Housing Trap TourSeeing Like a State by James Scott (Amazon)The case study on hotel supply Chuck mentioned (Twitter)Parkinson's Law of Triviality (Wikipedia)

We examine local real estate markets and the unique mix of property and economic development components at the local level here at the ‘Are We Here Yet?' podcast so our listeners can find inspiration for their own local efforts back home.  This episode host Scott Graves sat down with Ed Bove, Executive Director of the Rutland Redevelopment Authority in Scott's adoptive hometown of Rutland, VT.  Scott found resonance with Ed in their shared interest in incremental development and generally a ‘Strong Towns' approach to neighborhood building.    Listen to our interview with Strong Towns founder Charles Marohn from 2021. The discussion centered on how Rutland and the RRA are working to assist private developers to realize current Mayor Mike Doenges goal of 1000 units of housing in 5 years.   Given Vermont's past as an often development-resistant region, this may seem like a tall order.  There is little consensus on whether we need more housing at the broadest level, though municipal and state leadership understand there is a housing crisis affecting all of us, particularly working-class people in Vermont. Additional housing needs range from the state's number of 36,000 units, Vermont Futures Project estimate a bit higher and to those estimates by Knowledge Towns of 75,000 or more.   Listen to our interview with Kevin Chu, Vermont Futures Project  Listen to our interview with Dominic Endicott, co-author of Knowledge Towns There is even more difference of opinion when it comes to what kind of housing and for whom it might be built for.  Far from a complaint session, our discussion centered on the solutions being implemented through Ed and the RRA's efforts along with other municipal players.   Our conversation gave us an opportunity to discuss the efforts of Breaking Housing Matters, a national housing initiative working on a pilot in Rutland, VT.    Listen to our interview with BHM founder Peter de Krassel Ed's thoughts immediately went to the innovative parts of BHM in creating new streams of development capital, an essential part of creating more interest in Rutland and the state of Vermont from emerging developers both local and from afar.  And in the Jazz Room…We met with Orchestra Leader/Composer Maria Schneider at the Newport Jazz Festival. This show is a bit different as per Maria's request she asked I play 30 seconds of music and one full composition from her project "Data Lords". As you listen to this interview she talks not only about creating her music, but defending the copyrights of her work in this world of free music streaming and music distributors charging artist exorbitant fees for their use digitally. Click to learn more about Maria

Airing the grievances of bike haters can be an effective strategy as long as we're not equally crazy, says Charles Marohn, Strong Towns founder, in our webinar "Podcasting for Bike Advocates." 0:40 Biking on ski slopes, shredding on single tracks, and other highlights of Taylor's family trip to Colorado and Utah. 2:55 Andy May returned to cyclocross racing less than a year after losing a leg. He's still riding and racing, and works for a company that makes prosthetics. 8:08 It's hot. Especially in cities, because of the "heat island" effect. 22:53 Detroit's huge weekly social ride, "Slow Roll," is the closest thing to world peace, according to our correspondent and Slow Roll leader Reo. 25:58 LA's All City Co-ops Ride connected LA's major bike co-ops, Bicycle Kitchen, Bike Oven, and Bikerowave, as well as Bici Libre, Ride On, and LA Bike Academy. Interviews by Anne Marie with Bike Oven cook Joe Borfo and riders Anna, Vicente, and Ida. 26:54 A bit more about social rides. 37:32 Strong Towns' new Northampton, Massachusetts chapter talks about getting bikeable, walkable streets and more "workforce" housing. With Danielle McKahn and Benjamin Spencer. 39:05 Stacey's Bike Thought 55:58

Chuck Marohn, the President and Founder of Strong Towns, joins me to talk about his newest book, “Escaping The Housing Trap: The Strong Towns Response to the Housing Crisis.” Along the way, we also discuss the upcoming Strong Towns National Gathering in Cincinnati, a different way cities can think about building and financing new sports facilities, and our different takes on the place-making of Disney World.If you have an interest in attending the National Gathering in May, I highly recommend it. Register at this link, and use this code for Discounts: KEVINK2024For some background on Walt Disney's history in Kansas City, check out Thank You Walt Disney.Find more content on The Messy City on Kevin's Substack page.Music notes: all songs by low standards, ca. 2010. Videos here. If you'd like a CD for low standards, message me and you can have one for only $5.Intro: “Why Be Friends”Outro: “Fairweather Friend”Episode Transcript:Kevin K (00:00.964)Welcome back to the Messy City podcast. This is Kevin Klinkenberg. I'm delighted today to have my friend Chuck Morrone on the show. Mr. Strong Towns, Chuck, it is so good to see you and I'm really excited to talk with you today.Charles Marohn (00:16.848)Hey, I'm really happy to be here. And here's the amazing thing. I listen to your podcast. You have a great voice for this. I mean, I have this horrible voice that people have grown used to. But when you turn on, you're like, hey, this is the messy city podcast. I'm like, yeah, man, you should be doing way more of this.Kevin K (00:37.38)Well, at least you didn't say that I have a great face for radio. So.Charles Marohn (00:40.72)Well, you and I both.Kevin K (00:44.484)Oh man, well, it's fun. You know, I'm still very much an amateur at the podcasting gig. And it's been fun to learn and experiment with it. You've been doing it for quite a while. And so I really appreciate the opportunity to talk with you on this show. And we've got a couple of, a couple of fun topics, but in a couple of things that I think will get more serious and interesting as we go. And we'll just get through whatever we can get through. But.Charles Marohn (01:11.568)That sounds great. Well, you've been having all my friends on, you know, so like, yeah, here's Howard. I'm like, wait a sec. That was a blast. And then you had, you had Seth Zeran on recently. I'm like, that's really cool. So yeah, it's been fun. You know, I, I know you and I know, uh, you know, some, some of the ways that you think about things. And I really am. I love chatting with you, um, hearing you have these.Kevin K (01:15.172)I try to do that.Kevin K (01:19.076)Yeah.Yeah.Charles Marohn (01:38.704)fun conversations that we sometimes get to have in person. Hearing you have them with other people is just, it's a delight for me. So yeah.Kevin K (01:46.02)Well, that's very great, very flattering to hear. You know, it's one of the fun things you've probably experienced this too. One of the fun things about having a podcast is you get to choose who you want to talk to. And there's a lot of people that we know and we've all known for a long time that I get to learn so much more about. And for me, that's been one of the most enjoyable aspects of this is just getting to really know people's backstories a lot more. And so that's been a great pleasure.Charles Marohn (02:04.496)Sure.Kevin K (02:16.036)So.Charles Marohn (02:16.4)Yeah, yeah. Well, you you know everything about me, so we don't need to talk about.Kevin K (02:20.1)We know a lot about we know a lot about Chuck. Chuck, fortunately, shares his backstory a lot, although I'm sure there's tons we could get into. I'd rather save the time for some other topics, but you. You do have an awful lot going on right now in this moment, and I want to talk about a couple of those things. One is you have a book, a new book, the strong escaping the housing trap, the strong towns response. This is your.Charles Marohn (02:32.24)Yeah, it's the least interesting part.Kevin K (02:49.636)third book, right? Yeah, okay. Tell me a little bit about why an engineer wanted to write a book about housing.Charles Marohn (02:51.12)Yeah, yeah. Number three. Yep.Charles Marohn (03:01.52)Well, the reality of the story is that I, in the early days of writing the Strong Town's blog, was thinking about a book the entire time. I mean, I started writing this three days a week blog back in 2008, and to me, it was building up to a book. I had a couple publishing companies and agents contact me.And when I gave them my book proposal, it was just blah, blah, blah. It was, it was like 2000 word book. Like it didn't make sense. It was only when I got hooked up with Wiley publishing where we stepped back and we said, okay, this is actually multiple books, put this together in like the compilation of what you think it should be. And I said, well, I, I think I should write the book on finance first. I think I should write the book on transportation. Second, third would be housing. And then there's a couple others that are coming.And so we kind of agreed to a five book series that would kind of encapsulate the strong towns conversation. Housing happened to be the third. And the crazy thing about it is I didn't plan to release it in the middle of a housing crisis where everybody's talking about housing and housing's like on the lips of, you know, every political debate and every public policy conversation. It just so fortuitously happened that we're dropping our ideas in the middle of this kind of housing.you know, policy feeding frenzy right now. But.Kevin K (04:27.556)Yeah, I mean, that's an interesting aspect of that. I know obviously there's a long timeline to write a book anyway, to write it, get it published, edited, and all that sort of stuff. So I'm curious, like, what has changed in your mind from the point when you first started thinking about writing this book to actually getting it out today?Charles Marohn (04:48.624)It's, so Daniel Hergis and I co -wrote this, and I know you had him on a couple weeks ago. It was a really good conversation. The two of us, I think, encapsulate in our thinking the trap that we were trying to illuminate. Because I, we both went through the same graduate school program, and we both maybe took different things away from it. He was really focused on housing and kind of the,the mechanics of zoning and how the government has intervened in the housing market and all the kind of things that I would just put under an urbanist label. And for me, I was really fascinated with the financial side of the whole thing. That was the thing to me that when I was in grad school, I didn't think the housing people made any sense, quite frankly. You have to take some of that. And I was like, this is really dumb. I don't get it. AndI think I didn't get it because as an engineer, I was more plugged into the finance side. I spent a number of years just reading every book on finance that I could. I actually watched for like two years straight, I had CNBC on in my office. Not because I think CNBC is like a good channel or like has revealing things, but because the lingo that they use, the finance lingo that they use, I didn't understand.So when they said like MBS, like what is an MBS? It's a mortgage backed security. When they were talking about interest rate spreads and swaps, like I'm like, what the heck is that? Once I learned that language, to me the fascinating thing about housing was how it really is at its core downstream of the financial conversation that's going on in this country. So Daniel and I really tried to merge those two together, first in a set of insights that the two of us could agree on.and then in a narrative of the book that we could publish and share with the world.Kevin K (06:45.348)So, without giving away too much of the book, obviously we want people to go buy the book. And I think you can pre -order it right now, is that right?Charles Marohn (06:48.656)Yeah, yeah.Charles Marohn (06:55.248)Well, it's not like it's a murder mystery, you know, like I'll tell people the core insights, but you know, there's a lot of depth there beyond that. So.Kevin K (06:57.892)Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. But maybe how about just tease out a couple of the key insights that you think are critical to share related to what the housing trap actually is.Charles Marohn (07:12.912)Well, the housing trap is the situation we've gotten ourselves in where housing as a financial product needs to go up in value. So the price of your house needs to go up for the economy to churn. But housing as shelter, when the price goes up, everything falls apart. Lots of people can't get into a house. If they get into a house, they're very financially strained. Once they're in a house, it's tough to move, take another job.So these two things compete against each other and they're both necessities. I mean, shelter is in Maslow's hierarchy of needs and we've literally structured our entire economy to where mortgage -backed securities, your house bundled with a bunch of other houses, sit as the bank reserves for every bank in the country. Housing prices can't go down. They have to go up financially. Housing prices can't go up. They must actually come down.for us to be able to function as a society. And that is the trap because both of those things are true at the same time.Kevin K (08:17.412)Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think probably the word of the decade has been financialized. And it seems like we've used that to discuss a lot of the foundation of the economic system we have today. And it certainly affects housing in all forms of real estate.Charles Marohn (08:23.76)Mm -hmm.Charles Marohn (08:35.184)Well, Daniel and I reached this understanding quite a while ago, I mean, way before we started working on the book, that if you if you look at the market for housing today, it represents the market of financial products. So when you see developers out building single family homes on the edge of Kansas City, what you're seeing is the manifestation of a financial instrument. The mortgage bundled with other mortgages.securitized, sold off as a mortgage -backed security. There's a lot of liquidity. There's a lot of money and capital put into that product because it's a really good financial product. When you see the five over ones being built, the one story of concrete with five stories of wood construction, whether it is an apartment building or a condo, whether it's a high -end condo or a mid -level condo, whatever it is, those also are financial products.Those are really easy to bundle with other similar structures from all over the country. Again, securitized, sold off, bought up by pension funds, put on the books of banks, all this stuff. What you don't see is you don't see the single family home converted to duplex. You don't see the single family home where we take the fourth bedroom that nobody's using and put it, make it an accessory apartment. You don't see the backyard cottage. You don't see the small 400, 600 square foot starter home.because there's no financial product for those things. But those are the products that if they were available in the local market would actually anchor the market at a lower price point and keep the rest of it from going crazy. And so the conclusion that we've come to is that we just need a policy to build not more single family homes and not more five over ones and more apartment buildings. We really need policies to build lots of this starter stuff.And the cool thing about it is that cities can do that on their own. They don't need federal grants and approvals. They don't need state support and funding. They actually have the capacity to really shift their local housing market, make it more locally responsive, and they can do it all on their own. They just have to do it with intention.Kevin K (10:50.436)Yeah, I think one of the things that you've talked about and written a lot about too is the notion of how after the financial crisis, 2008, 2010 or so, that the housing recovery in many ways has been kind of re -inflating a bubble. And I'm fascinated by this because obviously I'm not an economist, although I play one on TV. And it certainly seems like...Charles Marohn (11:07.248)Hahaha.Kevin K (11:17.604)the signs of stress that we've seen in the banking system even the last, let's say, year, year and a half, is putting a ton of pressure on the local community banks and continuing to centralize the banking system into larger and larger banks, including the four banks that are essentially protected by the federal government. So in essence, it kind of seems like we haven't really...At a federal level, we're almost doubling down on this approach that has given us these large products that we don't really like.Charles Marohn (11:53.84)There's no doubt that our strategy when housing starts to level off or go down, as in like 2007, 2008, when housing went down in price, our strategy is to pump more money into the top of the financial funnel in order to keep housing going in the other direction, in order to keep housing from falling. And so, yeah, you have this weird thing where every economist looks back at 2001 to 2008,And when you say housing, what they'll fill in the blank with bubble. They'll say, yes, it was a housing bubble. And you say, OK, well, in 2008, it started to go down a little bit. And then 2010, it hits bottom and it starts to go back up. And it's way, way higher than it is today than it was in 2008. That was a bubble. What is this? And they say, well, that's a housing recovery. Right. Like we recovered to a bubble and then beyond. This is.You know, I think we don't know all of the things that we will know after the next reset. Warren Buffett has the same. You don't know who's swimming naked till the tide goes out and the financial tide has not gone out yet. So we really don't know where the bodies are buried. But if you listen to financial news, you'll hear a lot of fretting over regional banks, commercial real estate.A lot of people when they hear commercial real estate think Walmart or strip mall or franchise restaurant or what have you. Those are certainly part of commercial real estate, but also part of commercial real estate is apartment buildings. You know, multifamily, multifamily buildings is a big part of commercial real estate. And those are financed with at least partially with short term financial products at local banks that have to be rolled over. And there is a huge incentive to extend and pretend.to pretend that they'll someday be rented out at high margins, at high prices. And that works when interest rates are low or very stable. But when interest rates rise, those financial products actually decrease in value, those bonds do. And so banks are less willing to, or less able to really pretend that...Charles Marohn (14:10.544)You know, the in the hundred unit apartment, the 50 units or 40 units that aren't rented will someday be rented at this really high rate. The bank can only pretend so much until, you know, the grim reaper of finance comes for them. And it kind of feels like for regional commercial banks, like that's going to be the shakeout that will make a lot of cascading things in the apartment market. Be very, very different six months, 12 months from now.Kevin K (14:39.684)Yeah, if I were to maybe tie together a couple of different things, one, you had a recent, one of your recent podcasts where you talked about, uh, this is an election year and you kind of went through, uh, this, which was great. I really enjoyed it. Uh, and, uh, I have long enjoyed the way that you have talk about politics and the sort of reframing of the top down versus bottom up, you know, instead of like left, right all the time. I think that's incredibly helpful to think about.Charles Marohn (14:49.808)Haha.Kevin K (15:09.764)But you mentioned, you kind of talked a little bit about the old Tip O 'Neill phrase and the all politics is local, you know, and how that shifted to all politics is national today. And I can't help but think about that in relation to like this real estate discussion and financing where real estate used to be hyper local and it feels more and more like all real estate is national in that respect in terms of how we plan, design and finance whatever is being built.Charles Marohn (15:40.4)I think that's a brilliant insight. To me, the question is, what is the price of the house sensitive to? And a lot of us think that it should be sensitive to the buyer's ability to pay, right? You have a product in the marketplace, there's someone coming to buy it. If that person can't afford it, the market will have to adjust and figure out, is it smaller units, is it smaller rooms, is it less appointment? What is it that will make thatunit affordable to the person buying it. But our market is completely insensitive to the ability of people to pay. What it is more sensitive to is the macroeconomic funding stream. If we can lower interest rates, if we can print money at the Fed and buy mortgage -backed securities, if we can create massive amounts of liquidity, if we can funnel this liquidity to hedge funds and others that will invest in single -family homes as rental products or in a commercial -backedreal estate, what we can do is we can really drive up the price. And so I think from a consumer standpoint, you have to ask, like, what is the product here? We think that the product is us buying a house where the consumer, the house is the product. But the reality is, is that that transaction is incidental to creating what the real product is, which is a mortgage or a commercial real estate certificate, something that can be bundled, can be securitized and sold off.That is what the market is sensitive to, not to your inability to pay. We are, in all sense, not the consumer, we are the product.Kevin K (17:18.436)Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think that's right. And well, I suppose this topic, since the book is fresh or will be freshly out, will be a big center of discussion at the Strong Town's national gathering coming up in a couple of weeks.Charles Marohn (17:34.736)Yeah, no doubt. I mean, I know that I'm scheduled to do a little bit of housing discussion there. You know, the National Gathering is really we don't call it a conference. We don't call it we call it a gathering because it really is Strongtown's advocates from all over. I would say all over the country, but it's all over North America. And we've got people coming from around the world for this thing. It really is a chance for people to see and learn.what other people are doing bottom up to build strong towns. And housing is certainly part of that and will be part of the discussion. But a big, big emphasis of the gathering is just to, there's a phrase that I used last year that I'll probably talk about this year again, is just like, you're not alone. Being an advocate in a city can feel, you can feel very alone. Like you're the man or the woman against the machine. And the reality is, is that when people join together in a neighborhood,when they start to gather more people together with them, there's so much that can be done from the bottom up. It's really empowering to get these local heroes in a room, let them see each other, let them talk to each other, let them hear each other's stories. I feel like that's the most powerful part of the gathering, really.Kevin K (18:50.371)Yeah, yeah. Well, I certainly enjoyed it last year and then the first one you had a few years ago in Tulsa. And this one's coming up in Cincinnati, May 14th and 15th. It precedes the Congress for the New Urbanism and both are well, well worth attending. So I hope folks who are listening can get out. And if you get a chance to attend, that's great. If you can't look at it for next year, it's really a cool way to meet.Charles Marohn (19:03.055)Yep.Kevin K (19:19.556)people who are interested in the same things. I was really fascinated, Chuck, last year in Charlotte at the, I talked about this with a number of our CNU friends, the difference in the dynamic between the Strong Towns crowd and the CNU crowd. Seeing that like back to back was really fascinating. And it's completely and utterly anecdotal and just judging by what I saw. But I felt like there was a lot.Charles Marohn (19:30.64)Yeah.Kevin K (19:47.268)of energy in the Strong Towns room and Strong Town side of things. And generally speaking, a younger crowd and less, you know, like the senior crowd long has been focused on the design and building professions, architecture, engineering, planning, and the Strong Town, which is great. You know, it's fine. We need, we have to do that, but the Strong Towns crowd was really different. It was much more diverse in terms of the backgrounds of the people that were there.Charles Marohn (20:16.24)So you and I are, I'm gonna say I'm a little older than you, right? I'm 50 this year.Kevin K (20:20.836)No, I'm 54, my friend.Charles Marohn (20:24.112)Okay, okay, well, all right. I assumed I was a little older than you. You just look younger, that's what it is. You and I have been hanging out together at the CNU for many years. And I remember when I first started going, this was the place of super high energy, right? Like I would go, I would meet all these thinkers and all these people doing stuff. And we would like,Kevin K (20:30.436)It's just, I just kept my hair color longer, that's all.Charles Marohn (20:50.48)debate things in the hallway. And there was all these like side things going on. Remember in Salt Lake City, when we did the first debates, it was just this like crazy wild party of, and I say party, I don't drink. There was no like, this was a party of like intellect. Like it was just like electric in the air. I have, I have, I have been searching for that the last few years. I've been like, where's that? Like I want, I want to be in the room with that energy. And I showed up at,are gathering last year with high expectations, but really, you know, knowing, having been on the road and met with people, knowing that our movement had a lot of this bottom up energy, a lot of, you know, just very different people from people who are doing retail and like, I sell flowers and I, you know, have a bakery to people who are, I'm out building homes, I'm doing this stuff, I'm on a planning commission, I'm a mayor of a city.There really is a, when you say diverse, it's a crazy group of bottom up people all who self identify as like, I love my place. I want it to be better. I walked into that room at the opening last year and I'm like, this energy is out of this world. It's amazing. I'll give you a little like under the hood. I'mI wanted last year, like, let's get some music. There should be a party. Like we're having a party here. Like everyone's coming together. Let's get some music. And when I got there and like I had a thing where my daughter was graduating, like that was the week of her graduation from high school. And I could, I flew in at the last minute and I had to fly out right away. So it was just like the timing didn't work well for me, but I got there and like, we didn't have the music because like logistically it wasn't going to work and the sound system wasn't going to work and all that.And I kind of was like a little disappointed. I'm like, Oh, I don't, I don't, I kind of want the vibe to be up here. I walked in the room and the vibe was up here. And I'm like, if we would add music, like they would have blown the roof off this place. It would have been a little too crazy because people were amped. They were excited. Um, I have been re I've been assured that this year there will be music. So we'll see what, we'll see what happens in Cincinnati. If we can, uh, yeah, get, uh, get things even more, uh, more excitement, let's say.Kevin K (22:53.284)Yeah.Kevin K (23:02.564)Oh good.Kevin K (23:11.364)Yeah, well, I look forward to that. I mean, I think like you, I have, you know, it used to be like the CNU, we would come back from a CNU and the adrenaline rush was so crazy that for like a month afterwards, all you could do was think about the stuff that you heard and talked about and you're like, we've got to do X, Y, and Z now. And, you know, I honestly haven't felt that rush in quite a while with CNU. Part of that might just be that I'm getting older and...It's harder for me to feel that and things change. But there's definitely, I love the excitement of the debate and the discussions and seeing a lot of younger people there I think is really cool. So kudos to you guys and hope it continues.Charles Marohn (23:57.488)Thank you. Thank you. It definitely will. We're committed to it. And, you know, I mean, this thing is going off here in a couple of weeks and we're almost full. So, I mean, we've sold hundreds of tickets, people flying in from all over. It will be, it will be, it will be really cool.Kevin K (24:08.164)Yeah, good.Kevin K (24:17.092)All right, well, let's shift and talk about something a little more lighthearted, perhaps. But I want to talk, first, let's talk about baseball, something that both of us share an interest in, both American League Central Division fans of different teams. And obviously, there's a rivalry. But honestly, there isn't really much of a rivalry because both teams are never good at the same time.Charles Marohn (24:24.464)All right.Charles Marohn (24:43.152)Who do you like legitimately consider your top rival?Kevin K (24:47.076)Well, I think for years, the weird thing is it was like the Cardinals, right? But they're not even, but they're National League. Right, so when interleague play started, I think that became a really, really big deal and those games were enormous in both cities. It's tapered off a lot and it's probably, you know, the Cardinals have been such a great organization for so long, they probably kind of laugh about it amongst themselves.Charles Marohn (24:51.312)Okay, right, they're not even in your division, right?Charles Marohn (25:03.248)Yeah, yeah.Charles Marohn (25:12.976)Sure.Kevin K (25:14.468)Uh, so, uh, any more, I don't know, you know, when I was growing up, um, it was the Yankees, it was the Royals and the Yankees. Um, because in the seventies, the Royals had those great teams that won the division every year, 76, 77, 78, and then went to the playoffs and just like lost to the Yankees every year. And, uh, finally turned around in 1980 and won it and world went to the world series. But.Charles Marohn (25:21.104)Okay. Yep.Kevin K (25:41.732)So for years there actually was a pretty fierce rivalry between the Royals and the Yankees, but that was again not in the same division. So it was a little odd.Charles Marohn (25:50.8)We share this in common because the twins, I think we, I mean, we did have the record of all sports for most consecutive playoff losses. And losing consecutively in baseball games is hard to do because you, even, you know, even coming in with mismatched teams, you've got a like 40 % chance of winning statistically any game. So the idea, I think we lost 17 or 18 in a row post -season and almost all of those were to the Yankees. And so we had a deep,Kevin K (26:04.228)Yeah.Charles Marohn (26:20.912)I mean, I told my daughter growing up, you know, she's two years old. And I said, in this family, we don't hate anybody, but we do hate the Yankees. So that's, that's an acceptable, but for me in the division, it's the white Sox. Like I, I'm not a fan of Cleveland. I, I don't really care about Detroit all that much. I gotta say Kansas city does not, like I don't get, you know, foaming at the mouth when we're playing Kansas city, but.Kevin K (26:29.38)Ah yes.Charles Marohn (26:49.712)When we play Chicago, the White Sox, I like go ahead and hit every ever the batter like I don't care. Like I'm I don't like those guys.Kevin K (26:56.868)Yeah. Yeah. And the White Sox, they just have every misfortune. I mean, come on. I think ever since they tore down Old Kamisky, it's been like a curse on that team. So speaking of, go ahead.Charles Marohn (27:06.192)Yeah. Yeah. Well, I took, let me, let me tell this story real quick. Cause this will solidify Chicago for me. I took Chloe, my oldest, she came, I was speaking in Chicago once and she, she's probably like five or six young kid. We rode the train, the Amtrak to Chicago and we were just there for a couple of days. I spoke at this conference. The White Sox were playing a game.And so we went to the game because she likes baseball, you know, dad and daughter go in the game. We showed up. She wanted to wear her twins jersey because, you know, the twins weren't playing. It was the White Sox versus some other team. I don't even remember. We walked in to sit down. Little girl with a cute little pink twins jersey on. People started booing her and yelling at her like literally like she started crying. She felt bad. I'm like, these people don't deserve this kid. This is the White Sox. I hate you guys.Kevin K (27:52.164)Oh my god.Charles Marohn (28:01.296)I'm sorry I came to your dumb stadium with my beautiful daughter. Get lost. So.Kevin K (28:06.02)Well, it is their punishment for tearing down a nice stadium, building a horrific one, having a lousy owner. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was probably the worst new baseball stadium built in that entire era. So speaking of new stadiums, one of the things I just want to chat with you about and get your perspective on is we are having a big debate here locally regarding baseball stadiums because the Royals ownership.Charles Marohn (28:11.984)Yeah, it was a bad stadium. Yeah. Yeah.Kevin K (28:34.884)which is a new ownership group. They bought the team, I guess, three years ago, local people led by John Sherman. They want to build a new park. They want to leave Kauffman Stadium and build a new park in the downtown area. And which in theory, you know, I'm, I and many other people are like, great, let's do it. Sounds awesome. But, you know, obviously we're having this kind of age old debate about,how to finance and build a stadium. And in a smaller market like Kansas City, that comes with fairly large public subsidy one way or another. And the projects themselves just balloon in size incredibly. So we're talking instead of a baseball stadium that might be, I don't know, let's say $600 million, now it's a stadium in a district that's two billion.And the public is expected to underwrite a significant share of that. So there's, you know, we have this, we, there's been this knowledge within our world for years that a lot of us, the economics of this are just kind of silly, but how the, how the hell do cities escape this discussion and this trap? Because I'm completely mystified as how we ever get out of the situation where we are subsidizing major league franchises.Charles Marohn (30:04.784)I have some weird thoughts on this. And yeah, I don't think that, I think that people who are gonna hear this and I'm probably just gonna make like everybody angry. Because I do have like very strange thoughts on this. So let's go out to the edge of Kansas City where the DOT and the city are actively building interchanges because they wanna get more development.Kevin K (30:06.692)please share.Charles Marohn (30:32.816)What I find frustrating about that, when you go build an interchange and you've got on ramps and off ramps on the highway, you're in a sense robbing the highway capacity, right? Because an interchange creates friction and slows down traffic and all that. In order to get the development on the side of the highway, the frontage roads, the interchange, all the big box stores and all the stuff that will go there, and then the housing subdivision that will go adjacent to that.The act of building that interchange makes multimillionaires out of a bunch of randos out in the middle of nowhere. It might be the guy who like inherited it from someone who inherited it or someone from inherited it like. And that's probably the most palatable. What generally happens is someone by bought it from him a decade ago and like a land speculator just sat on it and then worked with the D .O .T. to get it developed. But either way, it's a massive cash transfer from the public.to private property owners. And I have always said, if we're gonna do that, we should do one of two things as a public. We should go out and buy up all that land around where the interchange is gonna be. I'm thinking like a mile in each direction. You know, we should buy that ahead of time at pre -interchange rates. We should build the interchange and then the interchange makes the land more valuable.We should then sell the land back to the market at that higher rate and use that amount to pay for the interchange. That or a more conventional way to do it would be to do a special assessment, which cities do all the time when they're out building sewer and water, they special assess the whole thing.I'm cognizant of the fact that like the Colosseum in ancient Rome was not built in order to get ancient Rome. Like ancient Rome was what it was. And then wealthy patrons came in and said, I want everybody to think I'm awesome. So I'm going to build this Colosseum and, you know, deck it all out and do all that. I feel like our stadiums are, in a sense, the same thing. And if I were a city.Charles Marohn (32:41.36)working with some very rich people to try to build what is in a sense a monument to them and their play thing, this major league baseball team. I would want to use the tools of either imminent domain and development, or I would want to use the tools of special assessment to recoup my part of the investment. Because if I'm gonna build a baseball stadium,I want it to be Wrigley field in terms of the intensity of the development around it and what that actually means to the land values in its vicinity. If I'm going to build, I can't remember what the Atlanta one is called. I hate that state, the new Cobb field or something like that. It's a junk park. Like it might be a nice place, but I like, don't like anything about its development. Even, um, you know,Kevin K (33:21.028)the new one.It's truest. Is it truest park? Yeah.Charles Marohn (33:36.112)Target Field, which is like one of my, I think Target Field is my favorite park and I'm biased obviously, Minnesota Target Field. But I think it's a great park. I think the way they financed it is really backward. And the development around it has trailed the park by 10 to 15 years because we didn't have the right kind of financial.I'm going to use the word incentives, but I don't mean giveaways. I mean, incentives by like now you've got a $10 million special assessment in this land. You better build something that's a hundred million dollars on it or, you know, you're going to pay a high tax rate year after year after year. You got to make use of this property. We didn't have everybody's incentives aligned when we made the big public investment. And so we didn't get the private investment out of it that we should have got. That's.I could buy into stadiums if we actually had that mindset because then the public is not only going to recoup their investment ultimately, but you're going to get a really nice product at the end.Kevin K (34:44.804)Yeah, I think that's a really interesting way to think about it. And unfortunately, I don't think we don't really have public officials who think about it that way. Yeah. Well, yeah, we don't have the stomach for it. And it's a good point.Charles Marohn (34:53.36)the stomach for it? I mean, Chuck says, imminent domain, everything within a mile. I mean, that's crazy. But if you were responsible with your finances, you would do a special assessment.Kevin K (35:08.932)Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I think there's a lot of logic to that. And maybe you don't even recover all of the public investment, but you could recover a substantial portion of it. Who knows?Charles Marohn (35:20.72)What I think you can, I think you recover some of it upfront, right? Like you can, you can have your upfront and then you'll have the after effect of basically having the incentives aligned where people will then develop and then you will collect the rest of it in terms of long -term taxes. I mean, I, I've watched Kansas city Joe, our friend, Joe Mancosi did some, some analysis of tax increment financing deals that Kansas city's done that would make your stomach churn. I mean, just giving away.tens of millions of dollars to the most ludicrous kind of things that will never cashflow. I've watched Kansas City build monstrosity things out on the edge of town and call it growth and call it public investment when the city's guaranteed to lose money on every single one of these things. You don't even need more than a napkin analysis to figure that out. It makes me sad. I would, if, if Kansas City were to become more sophisticated about the public purse, I think they could build a stadium.responsibly, but they can't do it without, you know, in a sense, demanding that everyone who's going to get rich on it contributes proportionately to what is being built.Kevin K (36:28.74)Yeah, yeah, I like that. I mean, it seems to me almost like it's sort of a third way thought, you know, thought pattern about it because as I tried to talk to people locally about it here, unfortunately with the reality of sports and sports economics today, like a city the size of Kansas City, you're just not going to build a new facility without public investment in it. It's just not going to happen or you're going to lose the teams. And that sucks, but that's where we are.Charles Marohn (36:55.408)Did New York, didn't New York have public subsidy on their ZO2? I mean, I'm.Kevin K (37:00.612)I think they might have. I know in San Francisco when the Giants built their new stadium, they built it all themselves. And I can't remember some of the new football stadiums they have. Yeah. Yeah.Charles Marohn (37:10.704)I know the 49ers, the 49ers got a huge subsidy on theirs. So, I mean, you're like, I'm with you because you and I are both told that we're mid -market teams, you know, and you've suffered the trauma. No, I was going to say you've suffered the trauma of having a football team lead, but that was St. Louis that had the football team lead. That wasn't Kansas City. You guys have the glorious football team.Kevin K (37:30.308)That was St. Louis, yeah. Uh -huh. Nope.We do. We had a baseball team leave, but that was before I was born. So the Kansas City A's. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we lost an NBA team and an NHL team in my life.Charles Marohn (37:40.048)Okay, so that that trauma is is gone.Charles Marohn (37:47.984)Really? What was your NBA team? I don't remember that.Kevin K (37:50.276)It was the Kansas City Kings. They went to Sacramento. Yeah, in the 80s. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, at one point we were the smallest city in the country that had all four major sports leagues.Charles Marohn (37:53.104)Sacramento, no kidding. I did not know that. Huh. Huh. Um.Charles Marohn (38:05.52)We've been told that that Minnesota can't support four because we're too small for that. And there's always the, you know, I feel like it's one of those things where each team can kind of threaten to leave because they're the we're the fourth one that can't be supported without a public stadium. Yeah, it here's here's so you have a you have a background in architecture. Here's what I struggle with with stadiums. I feel like.And I'll say this even about my beloved target field. We don't build stadiums that will be around to be excavated in the future. Like the Roman Coliseum, we can look at and we can see this grandeur and like it's been there thousands of years. We don't build anything that isn't in a sense, it might have a nice fancy facade and it might be nice. And we've used some decorative brick to make it look good.But the reality is, is like, like we just built a plastic band box with some good veneer on it that looks cool. And I like the dimensions, but these aren't like massive public investments meant to endure beyond really a generation. Right? I mean, am I, am I misunderstanding something about how we build these things?Kevin K (39:25.38)Well, I think there was an era where they were built differently. I think that's probably more commonly the case now. I mean, even Kauffman Stadium is a pretty incredible structure in and of itself. There were a lot of impressive structures, though, built in that era in the 60s now that basically are all gone. They're all torn down and replaced. It seems more like they're thought of more like a consumer product.Charles Marohn (39:48.4)Yeah. Yeah.Kevin K (39:55.076)now that is like you build these stadiums and they're wildly expensive and they're huge, but essentially they're built to last maybe two generations. And then we're looking to either completely overhaul it or replace them.Charles Marohn (39:55.888)Yeah!Charles Marohn (40:11.952)Well, I realized that the Metro Dome, which the Metro Dome was a special case product where we built the dumbest stadium at the end of the dumb stadium era. And like, I think the year after we built the Metro Dome or two years later, Camden Yards was built and everyone had buyer's remorse right away. But, you know, you're talking about a stadium that at the 18 year mark.They said needs to come down and we're going to contract this team and actually have fewer baseball teams because of this bad stadium. We got target field in 08 or 09 somewhere in there. I think somewhere in that range. So, you know, the the the Metrodome era lasted 24, 25 years. And I remember that like the roof caved in on it and like you blew it like no one was sad really to see it go because it was really like a plastic box.It seemed to me like it's a consumer good, like it's just designed. And I wonder if, because Wrigley Field, you know, say you could tear that down and rebuild it in place, right? I don't know what it would take to do that. I mean, people would flip out if you did that. They're going to maintain it till it can't be maintained anymore. But.there's really no question of where the Chicago Cubs will play. And I don't think that's because it's iconic as much as it is embedded in this ecosystem around it. You know, so to I'm sorry, Kevin, to me, the key to having a good public stadium investment would be that you have to actually grow the ecosystem around it. So there's some codependency. So that thing actually like could never leave again.Kevin K (41:45.7)Yeah, yeah.Kevin K (42:03.428)Yeah, as our as our friend, Philip Bess would say, he wrote a great, great little book called City Baseball Magic, which actually was a study of what the White Sox should have done when they replaced Comiskey Park. But he talked about it's just the best ballparks are neighborhood ballparks. It would then emphasis on the neighborhood park. So check out one fun little bit of baseball park trivia for you.Charles Marohn (42:24.784)Yeah.Kevin K (42:30.436)One of the very first projects I worked on as a young architect right out of college was at the Metrodome. You remember at one point they put in these big vertical screens to block off parts of the seats. Yeah, to block off part of the seats to make it look more full for different events. I did that. It was a ridiculous project.Charles Marohn (42:30.8)Uh oh.Charles Marohn (42:44.336)The baggy? Yeah, the baggy.Uh huh. Uh huh.man, I hated you then. Because it was so weird because what it was, the Metrodome was built like a football stadium and then they overlaid this baseball stadium within it. And I had season tickets for a while. My brother and I, when I was in grad school, I got them. We went up, the twins had been historically bad for many years and they were selling season tickets at an event. And my brother and I said, well, let's...Let's go look at them. If we can get front row seats, we'll do it. Well, we got front row seats down by the tunnel where they come out for the football game. So it was like by the bullpen. It wasn't it wasn't by the dugout or anything. It was like maybe like what would be in the corner today. But front row is front row. I mean, they were really cool. Like we were right there. You could yell at the right fielder and talk to the guys in the bullpen. It was it was awesome. The problem was you were facing the 50 yard line.which was like center field. So if you wanted to watch the game, you had to like crane your head over the left to actually see the game going on. Those when those banners went up, I think the what you tell me, I feel like the thing was to try to make it feel less empty because you took out like 20 ,000 seats by by putting up this big curtain to say, hey, it's not as empty and it's a little more intimate. Yeah, it didn't work.Kevin K (44:12.164)Yep. Mm -hmm.Kevin K (44:22.148)It was a funny deal. Just the sort of project you give a young architect to work on.Charles Marohn (44:22.288)Hahaha!Charles Marohn (44:28.88)So did you, you came up to the metronome and like, you know, what was your level of involvement with?Kevin K (44:33.988)The funny thing on that, I was just the kid in the office doing the drawing work, so I didn't actually go get to do a site visit for any part of it. But when I was a little kid growing up in Albert Lee, I mean, we went to the Metrodome a lot. I have a lot of great memories of going to games at the Metrodome.Charles Marohn (44:38.352)Sure, sure.Charles Marohn (44:49.648)Now hang on a sec, you're not Minnesotan, are you?Kevin K (44:52.836)No, not really. We lived in Albert Lee.Charles Marohn (44:55.536)Okay.I mean, I like you, I like you, and you have some positive characteristics about you. I didn't want to automatically attribute them to being Minnesotan, but now things are falling into place.Kevin K (45:05.54)No, we lived in Albert Lee for eight years. And yeah, yeah, totally. Yeah. And it was when I was a, you know, elementary school kid and junior high. So, you know, those are great years and great, great memories. My parents, I think my parents really were happy to get out. They thought it was way too cold and, you know, they weren't, they weren't too fond of that. But well, I was a kid. I was a kid. I didn't, you know,Charles Marohn (45:09.68)OK, OK, so you got a little of the vibe.Charles Marohn (45:21.456)Yeah, yeah.Charles Marohn (45:31.376)You didn't think it was too cold though, did you? Cause you're, yeah, bring it on.Kevin K (45:36.548)So, last thing I just wanna kind of touch on a little bit, cause it's a fun topic is you've been, you've shared a lot in many podcasts about your love for Disney World and your enjoyment of Disney World. And I just wanna touch on this a little bit. And I've probably like, you know, thinking way too deeply about all this stuff, but we took our kids there, I guess it was about a year and a half ago. I have actually no experience with Disneyland in California, just Disney World in Florida.Charles Marohn (45:47.824)Yeah.Charles Marohn (46:04.752)Mmm.Kevin K (46:05.7)And of course we had a fantastic time. It was absolutely magical for the kids for the age they were. And everything about it was really, really nice. And I just want to talk a little bit about it because it's fascinating to think about because if you could think about like the un -strong towns, it would be like Walt Disney World. It's...you know, if you think about the most incredible, or at least this was the thought I had at the time. If you thought about something that was like the most top -down, large enterprise you could conceive of, it's Disney World. And yet we both really, really enjoy it and find a lot to admire. And I wonder if you could maybe expand on that a little bit or talk about it.Charles Marohn (46:40.912)Absolutely.Charles Marohn (46:51.984)Well, let's start with this. I think the thing that I have always loved from the time that I was, I think 13 was the first time that my family went up until today, is that it is some of the best designed urban spaces in America. If you want to experience, you know, you and I hang out with a crowd.where there's actually a debate over, do you like your urbanism gritty or do you like it fake? And there's a whole strain of people who like, if I can't smell urine in the street, it's not a real city. And I'm from a small town. I actually like things nice. So the idea of going to Disney World and riding transit and having it be beautiful and comfortable and fun, the idea of not having a car and going to places and walking around and...Yeah, there's a lot of other people there, but it's so well designed and proportioned. And the hyper attention on the human experience, not just standing, how you stand in line and wait, but how you actually get the transition from one place to another, to another. You know, like the sight lines that you have and the smells, like all of this, the music, as someone who is an auditory person,The idea that you would walk between different places and the music would not clash with each other as you would go from one place to another, but actually blend. I try to explain this to my wife decades ago and I didn't do a very good job. I said, it's comforting to me because it's so well designed. I used to take my, when I ran my own planning and engineering firm, I used to take my team down to just show them.Here's what good urban design looks like. And like, let me look at the way these buildings are proportioned and laid out. Look at where they've done with the lighting. Look at this. It wasn't like we were going to come back to Brainerd, Minnesota and build Disney World. But my gosh, you look at the lights we put in the park, they're just like ugly street lights because, oh, we need light here. The attention to detail is so deep and thorough. And the stories are just legend of like, you know.Charles Marohn (49:10.416)They would they would put a tree in a spot and what would come and he'd look at him and be like, oh, geez, I should be three feet over this way. And be like, why should it be three feet? Well, look at like here's where it blocks this view and that like this and that. And then he'd walk away and they go, we had to move the tree three feet because now I'll never be able to walk by this and see it that way again. Our cities. Could spend way less money and be vastly more beautiful if we had just.a tiny bit of the understanding of urban design that like the base Imagineer has. And I think that is the thing that, you know, it is Disney World is not meant to endure. It is. I mean, they call it a stage. You're on stage when you're there at the park. It is, you know, like a stage in a theatrical production. It's false fronts. It's like not.Not like super high quality construction. It's meant to be ripped down and rebuilt after a certain amount of time. But your city is made to endure. I mean, you want your city to be around 100 years from now, 200 years from now. None of us build thinking that, well, this neighborhood is going to be disposable. If if we grasped 10 percent of what the Disney Corporation grasp about building great places, it would be a revolution in this country of.of urban design.Kevin K (50:38.66)Yeah, I think one of the things that struck me or maybe it just occurred to me differently this time as well is since I'm in professionally now, I'm running this place management organization here in Kansas City. And so I have gotten a whole lot more exposure in day -to -day work with just management of public space and how difficult that is and just the challenges.Charles Marohn (50:51.888)Yeah.Kevin K (51:07.652)I started to look at it a little bit through that lens. And I think when I started to do that, I'm just completely and utterly impressed with the management of everything that Disney does from beginning to end, from the entire experience, from when you arrive through the process of going through security. Oh my God. The thousands and thousands of people that go through security per hour. And it's just this utterly seamless experience that you're just like, why can't the airport be like this? You know?Charles Marohn (51:37.072)Yeah. Yeah.Kevin K (51:37.092)And, you know, all the aspects of it really makes you say, this is what I think a lot of us are really hoping. This is how we wish our places were managed on a daily basis, including the cleanliness of it. And I know it's a fake world. It's a theme park. But I think that's part of it seems to me like that's part of the attraction.Charles Marohn (52:00.464)Yeah, and I actually think we can discount it and say it's a fake world, like I totally get it. But I also feel like what they've recognized that we all could easily recognize is that a huge part of creating value is the experience. We were having a chat here internally today about an article that one of our writers is working on about transit.and just how a lot of the wayfaring is being taken out in New York and in other places because it was old and it just didn't get replaced. And you can go to a place like Vancouver where they've got new parts of the system and those parts have great wayfaring and great signage. The reason is because the way we finance transit focuses on massive one -time investments.but it doesn't really look at long term the user experience and how do we improve that? How do we put money towards that? And how do we make that fun? We would rather have double the size of the transit system and have it be really crappy for everybody than to have half the transit system and have it be marvelous for everyone who uses it. And that is really a byproduct of like our macro economy, right? Grow, grow, grow, build, build, build more, more, more. Disney builds a lot, butThey never build anything without having a strategy for how it will be exquisitely maintained, for how it will really be conformed and contorted to match the experience. They're always willing to check their assumptions, check their understandings based on how people use stuff. And I think that we could learn a lot from that.The four step process that we use at Strong Towns, the idea that you humbly observe where people struggle and you ask yourself what's the next smallest investment and then you do that and you repeat the process. Part of that comes from really Walt Disney himself. This may be a apocryphal insight, but there's a story about Walt that feels like it's genuine.Charles Marohn (54:21.232)He had an apartment at Disneyland and he would go down in the morning and walk around in his bathrobe watching people get the park ready. And one day he's out walking around and they're putting up a fence. And he's like, why are you why are you putting up a fence there? And he's well, people keep cutting across the grass. We want them to stay on the sidewalk. And his answer was, well, you've got it wrong. Rip out the sidewalk and put it here where people are walking. They're showing you where to go.anyone who's been at one big box store and trying to drive to the next big box store and recognizes that they have to drive half a mile up the highway and then do a weird U -turn and come back and use a right in right out and do all this. Anybody who's tried to cross a street and recognize that they have to walk half a mile to a street light to cross and then come back appreciates the idea that Walt has, which is observe where people are struggling, observe where this is hard and just make it easier for them.To me, this is a genius insight, but it shouldn't be a hard one for us to do.Kevin K (55:27.46)Yeah. Yeah. And I think the other thing is the other observation that I think ties into all that is what you see with Disney World, or at least what I saw with it, is we're in this weird time and place in our culture where there's just not a lot of feeling that we're doing a lot of things really well. And even at the big corporate level,very large corporations, it seems like there's more bad news than good when it comes to all that. And here you have this massive corporation. The Disney Corporation is absolutely massive and owns so many things. And they own this enormous complex of Walt Disney World. And I think when you go there, it's like it kind of, I can understand how my parents would have thought about that era, that America.does big things really well because Disney World epitomizes somebody, an organization doing big things really, really well down to the smallest detail like you describe.Charles Marohn (56:38.096)Well, Walt Disney embodies, for better and for worse, I mean, I think there's obviously two sides to this, the immediate post -war mentality. I mean, Disneyland itself is a hubristic undertaking to transform an orange grove out in the middle of nowhere into this dreamland where you can take your kids, you can take your grandparents, everybody can go and have this wonderful time.His vision came about because he was sitting at like an old carnival, watching his kids go on rides that were dirty and not well taken care of and grounds that weren't very fun. And he's like, as an adult, you're kind of ostracized from participating. Let's build this dream world. I think it is in many ways the best of that era because he did have aa dream and a vision that was very, I'm not gonna use, I want to use the word inclusive, but I think that is probably wrong in our current context. But he would have said, a place for everybody to come. He was also criticized for it being too expensive like it is today. So there's limits to what is very expensive. But I think it's also the worst.Kevin K (57:55.3)It is expensive. Yeah.Charles Marohn (58:00.912)of what we did, because it is this idea that you can create perfection. All like it is possible to build to a finished state and have it be done right. And when it comes to magical make believe places, I think that that's probably right, because they don't have a mindset that it will always be there. They are always redoing and refixing things and all that. But we when we take that mentality and we bring it into our neighborhoods and our cities and we're like, well, we can build this.with a Disney mentality where we go out and build it perfect the first time and then walk away. Sure, we'll get 20 years where it's the nice neighborhood and the good place, and then it will become a downward spiral like every place else. And I do think we have not, it's almost become a place that allows us to believe in the wrong things. Like we, to me, I feel like if my mayor went to Disney World, he would come back,not with the mentality of we need obsessive maintenance and to humbly observe where people are struggling and to respond to the human condition and have great urban design. He would come back and say, wow, we can build big stuff really quickly and have it be awesome. And I'm like, that's the wrong takeaway, buddy.Kevin K (59:16.196)Yeah, yeah, it's interesting. I mean, I think it does espouse a lot of those contradictions. So that feels like probably a good place to leave it. I should also mention in case you didn't know that Walt Disney is from small town Missouri. And Marceline. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, everything in Missouri is pronounced strange. That's just the way it is. It's also Missouri. So I should say that. You know.Charles Marohn (59:22.032)Yeah, yeah, yeah.Hey, thanks, man.Charles Marohn (59:31.696)He is, no, I definitely knew that. I've been wanting, it's Marceline, is that the name of the place? Marceline, okay, I'm saying it like I'm Minnesotan.HahahaDo people actually say that? Missouri?Kevin K (59:47.619)If you're if you are not in Kansas City or St. Louis, it's pronounced Missouri. Oh, yeah.Charles Marohn (59:52.336)Seriously, I did not know that. You know, I spent a summer at Fort Leonard Wood, which was one of the most miserable summers of my life. So I had clay, you know, Minnesota, we have this beautiful glacial outwash. Doesn't mean like the engineering geek, but we have this nice glacial outwash. So when it rains, the water drains into the ground and I'm in Kansas City or I'm sorry, I'm in Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri and I have a tent that I'm sleeping in because I'm a soldier.Kevin K (59:57.316)Oh, that's right. Yeah. Yeah, that's it.Charles Marohn (01:00:21.392)And it rains and guess what happens to the water in Missouri? It just runs into the lowest area and floods it, which happened to be my tent. Oh my gosh, it's horrible. Just wretched.Kevin K (01:00:24.548)Yeah.Kevin K (01:00:29.124)Yeah, yeah, and you just get mud everywhere. It's wonderful. Yeah, but yeah, but yet continuing the story just briefly, Walt Disney then as a young man went to Kansas City and got his start in journalism and his professional career in Kansas City. And he worked at a place called the Laffagram Studios, which a friend of mine here, a developer is trying to restore and they're trying to make it into an attraction. But yeah, it should be a cool thing when it gets done. So.Charles Marohn (01:00:41.328)Yeah.Charles Marohn (01:00:54.128)Oh nice.Is that where he did the first, because there was a first iteration before Mickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse was the second prototype after he had a falling out with his business partner. Yeah.Kevin K (01:01:01.348)Yes.Kevin K (01:01:06.628)Yes. Yeah. There, there is some, you know, urban legend that the first one was here at the Laffagram studios. But I think, I think that's, uh, I mean, we'll claim it, but it's hotly debated. Uh, well Chuck, thanks so much for doing this. Uh, for again, um, the book, uh, coming out is Escaping the Housing Trap, the Strong Towns Response. And then the Strong Towns National Gathering is coming up May 14th and 15th in Cincinnati.Charles Marohn (01:01:13.392)Sure. Let's go with that. Yeah, yeah, let's go with that.Kevin K (01:01:35.844)So I can't wait to see you there and see our other good friends and look forward to a great week in a city that I've been looking forward to spending more time.Charles Marohn (01:01:48.624)Thank you, my friend. And I'm, I'm happy, uh, to introduce a whole bunch more people to your podcast. Um, if you're not listening, if this is your first time listening and you're listening, cause of me, put this on your rotation. Cause this is a very good podcast and Kevin, uh, has a lot of my friends and our mutual friends and a lot of other interesting people. Um, we talk about more than just Disney and, uh, Kansas city and baseball. So yeah, thanks friend. Absolutely.Kevin K (01:02:10.052)Yeah, absolutely. All right. Well, thanks, Chuck. I appreciate that. All right. Take care. Get full access to The Messy City at kevinklinkenberg.substack.com/subscribe

While Charles Marohn began his career as an engineer, he soon realized that the problems plaguing American urban design - particularly in the suburbs - ran deep. So he quit his engineering job and began writing about how to redesign cities for livability and people rather than cars. His work - including books Strong Towns and Confessions of a Recovering Engineer - became very influential in the New Urbanist movement and the past decade of innovation in urban design and real estate development.In this episode, Marohn joins Brad on the final episode of Season One of the Thesis Driven Leader Series to discuss the future of cities. We'll touch on the design and policy interventions that would save lives and improve our cities' finances as well as how real estate developers should approach designing better places. We'll also discuss the role that technology can - and cannot - play in making cities better.Marohn brings a perspective and insights that will be relevant for anyone looking to innovate in the built world.

Listener email: an endorsement for Charles Marohn's "empathy for the driver," D.C. bike infrastructure, and an inquiry about our theme song, "Bike:" https://www.malwebb.com/bike.html 2:41 The entire state of California and the individual cities of Oakland, Berkeley, and Los Angeles have proposed or passed measures which implement bike plans when repaving roads. With Bike East Bay Advocacy Director Robert Printz. 7:19 California isn't the only leader in bike friendly legislation; heads of bike and safe streets organizations in New York City, Minneapolis, Detroit, Massachusetts, and Paris share their success stories. 17:20 ValleyBike, Massachusetts' 2nd largest bikeshare, went bankrupt. Carolyn Misch, Sustainability Director of the city of Northampton, MA., talks about the lesson therein, and how bikeshare can be sustainable. 28:26 Union-busting, bikeshare-fleeing Lyft's bid to replace the current Los Angeles bikeshare vendor, Bicycle Transit Systems, failed. Anne Marie Drolet, Chief Shop Steward of Metro Bikes LA, gives some context. 47:52 Listener email: can companies be sued for letting employees do virtual meetings or read work docs while driving? 49:52 Traffic by Don. 50:52 Bike Thought by Stacey. 52:01

Listener Email: Jonathan Weiss on how much harder it is to get a driver's license in Europe than in the U.S., and what that means for everyone. 1:06 The Best Bike Light is reviewed by Reo Ramsey of Motown Trailblazers in Detroit. 2:52 Listener Email: Jonathan Levin on how shaming drivers causes intransigence. 6:20 Recovering Engineer and Strong Towns founder Charles Marohn on gaining local control over streets to make them safer for everybody, and, to that end, refraining from shaming drivers as in this tweet: https://x.com/clmarohn/status/1759392452262203397?s=20 With Stacey Randecker. 9:53 2 new anthologies of Feminist Bicycle Science Fiction from Bikenomics author Elly Blue and Microcosm Publishing: Bikes, the Universe, and Everything and The Bicyclist's Guide to the Galaxy. 30:20 A Bike Life Rideout in Springfield, Massachusetts. 50:06 Bike Thought by Stacey. 54:40

This week on Upzoned, host Abby Kinney is joined by Mike Keen, a retired professor and incremental developer in South Bend, Indiana, to discuss a recent article in WSBT, “Major mixed-use development could be largest in downtown South Bend history.” It highlights a $350 million project that has been proposed in downtown South Bend: a mixed-use district that would include hotels, apartments, and commercial uses, to be completed by 2028. The development, led by nearby Memorial Hospital, will take up about two city blocks and is expected to be a catalytic project for the city. So, we ask: is this project going to be a positive for South Bend and its small-scale developers like Keen? ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES “Major mixed-use development could be largest in downtown South Bend history,” by Sean English, WSBT (February 2024). “This ‘Accidental Developer' Wants To Show You How To Revitalize Your Neighborhood,” by Seairra Jones, Strong Towns (April 2023). Escaping the Housing Trap: A Strong Towns Response to the Housing Crisis by Charles Marohn. Available for preorder now! Abby Newsham (X/Twitter). Mike Keen (LinkedIn). Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

A suburb of Washington, DC is exploring a new approach to creating more affordable housing through public-private partnerships. And it's seeing success! In this episode of Upzoned, Chuck and Abby discuss the history of public housing and government housing subsidies in the US, the good, the bad and the ugly. Then they consider whether this new model could be helpful or harmful to cities. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES “What if public housing were for everyone?” by Rachel M. Cohen, Vox (February 2024). Escaping the Housing Trap: A Strong Towns Response to the Housing Crisis by Charles Marohn. Available for preorder now! Abby Newsham (X/Twitter). Chuck Marohn (X/Twitter). Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

The federal government has reached a deal with Google to pay Canadian media companies. We'll see if Taproot makes the cut. Meanwhile, city council makes a cut to the proposed budget adjustment increase.Here are the relevant links for this episode:Budget News Release: City Council confirms fall budget adjustments Edmonton city council approves 6.6% property tax hike for 2024 Jennifer Rice 'Hostile work environment': Former staff accuse Edmonton city councillor of bullying amid high office turnover Audio recording of Edmonton councillor Rice's argument with staff reveals turmoil in office Keith Gerein: Edmonton Coun. Jennifer Rice has no one to blame but herself for her failures in office Edmonton mayor 'deeply concerned' about bullying allegations against councillor Rice 'Toxic and abusive': Former staffers accuse Jennifer Rice of bullying while Edmonton councillor dodges questions Warehouse ParkProject aims to entice families, spur developmentBill C-18 Federal government reaches deal with Google on Online News Act Mack's interview with Jessica Ng on CBC Edmonton Connor McDavidEdmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid named one of NHL's stars of the weekEl NiñoNo-snow November: El Niño could mean a warm and dry winter for EdmontonThis episode was sponsored by the University of Alberta Sustainability Council, the School of Urban and Regional Planning, the Edmonton Metro Region Board, the City of Edmonton, Coun. Ashley Salvador, and Coun. Michael Janz. Strong Towns is coming to Edmonton for a Dec. 13 event and Dec. 14 workshop. This is a unique opportunity to take part in a growing dialogue on sustainable, economically resilient urban development in Edmonton. Keynote by Strong Towns founder Charles Marohn. Tickets are $30 for Dec. 13 and $22 for Dec. 14. (You can go to one or both.) Speaking Municipally listeners can get 50% off with the offer code TAPROOT, while supplies last.Speaking Municipally is produced by Taproot Edmonton, a source of curiosity-driven original stories, curated newsletters on various topics, and locally focused podcasts, all in the service of informing Edmontonians about what is going on in their community. Sign up to get The Pulse, our weekday news briefing. It's free! ★ Support this podcast ★

In this episode, which I've edited down from our Livestream on Oct 27th, 2023, I welcome back Charles "Chuck" Marohn, founder of Strong Towns, for an in-depth discussion about proven strategies for creating safer streets without resorting to a constant cycle of trying to find someone to blame. Thank you so much for tuning in! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend and subscribe to the Podcast on your preferred listening platform, and don't forget to check out the Active Towns Channel for more contentHelpful Links (note that some may include affiliate links to help me support the channel):- Strong Towns websiteIf you are a fan of the Active Towns Podcast, please consider supporting the effort as an Active Towns Ambassador in the following ways:1. Join our Patreon community. Contributions start at just $1 per month(Note: Patron benefits include early, ad-free access to content and a 15% discount in the Active Towns Merch Store)2. If you enjoyed this episode, you can also "leave a tip" through "Buy Me a Coffee"3. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my storeCredits:- Video and audio production by John Simmerman- Music via Epidemic SoundResources used during the production of this video:- My recording platform is Ecamm Live- Editing software Adobe Creative Cloud Suite- Equipment: Contact me for a complete listFor more information about the Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit our links below:- Active Towns Website- Active Towns on Twitter- Periodic e-NewsletterBackground:Hi Everyone! My name is John Simmerman, and I'm a health promotion and public health professional with over 30 years of experience. Over the years, my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization in how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.Since 2010,  I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be while striving to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."The Active Towns Channel features my original video content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them. Thanks once again for tuning in! I hope you find this content helpful and insightful.Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2023 ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

North Anchorage Assembly Member Daniel Volland was born and raised in Washington State, and began coming to Alaska regularly in 2016 to do remote work as an optometrist. After relocating permanently to Anchorage in 2019, he became very active very quickly in local politics and successfully ran for the newly established 12th seat on the Anchorage Assembly in the summer of 2022. Today he is talking about the Anchorage Assembly's Housing Action Strategic Plan and the Anchorage Housing Action Week that just finished with a big summit on Friday. That summit was held at UAA and the keynote address was given by Charles Marohn, a land-use planner and municipal engineer who advocates for the development of dense towns and the restructuring of suburbia. I bring this up because he features prominently in my conversation with Assembly member Volland. Important links:1. Anchorage Assembly Housing Focus Page2. Charles Marohn's book Strong Towns3. Charles Montgomery's book Happy Cities4. Zoom link to Tenants' Rights meeting, Thursday, Nov. 9, 5:30 - 6:15 pm 

Me, John and Kim get together to go over the weekend that was. From Transportation Dr. Shawn Wilson to Chuck Marohn's Confessions of a Recovering Engineering book signing we had a eventful weekend. Join us as we reminisce over the good time we had. Male voice intro

Strong Towns founder and president, Charles Marohn, was invited to the Lit with Charles podcast to discuss Jane Jacobs' seminal work, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, and the impact it has had on urban planning and the building of cities. If you love Jane Jacobs or want to learn more about her views and how Strong Towns advocates are working to make them a reality, you will want to explore this conversation. We have provided a full transcript to go along with the audio version, which we share here with the permission of the Lit with Charles podcast.

Charles Marohn is a recovering engineer. He used to build roads. Charles followed all the rules he learned while studying to become an engineer. But in 2008, well into his engineering career, he became disenchanted with the notion that more roads lead to prosperity. So, Charles started blogging his thoughts. He advocated for a new approach to land use and warned about the dangers of suburban sprawl. With each blog, Charles gained readers until the blog converted into a non profit organization called Strong Towns. Today, Strong Towns has millions of followers. If you'd like to join me in my quest to rethink real estate, there are two simple things you can do. Share this podcast and go to RethinkRealEstateForGood.co, where you can subscribe to be the first to hear about my podcasts, blog posts and other goodies.

American cities are prioritizing big box stores over small businesses, in a model predicated on permanent growth. But when growth hits a snag, will suburbs collapse?  Charles Marohn is the founder and president of Strong Towns. He is a land use planner and (retired) professional engineer. He is the author of Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity SUPPORT THE SHOW! Patreon.com/andrewheaton  

Intro: Seamus and Don at the San Fernando Valley CicLAvia 0:52 https://on.soundcloud.com/vXEK4 Counsel: Los Angeles' City Council District 4 Councilmember Nithya Raman at CicLAvia on biking, the need to get people out of cars, and what can get the LA City Council to implement the City's mobility plan. With Seamus Garrity. 13:14 https://on.soundcloud.com/CFyTx Beautiful day: Metrics of success at CicLAvia in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, with Tafarai Bayne, CicLAvia's Chief Strategist. By Seamus Garrity. 14:20 https://on.soundcloud.com/4Gq7J Origin story: How a volcano may have inspired the invention of the bicycle, with Lindsay Sturman and Seamus Garrity. 17:45 https://on.soundcloud.com/86ap6 Culture: Although France is thought of, rightly, as surpassing countries like the U.S. in bike and safe streets infrastructure, rural roads can be unsafe for cyclists. Recovering engineer Charles Marohn and Beate Kubitz, a new resident of Feuilla, France, discuss the need to create cycling culture in rural areas. 35:49 https://on.soundcloud.com/crKgo 911: A state of emergency has been declared in Carlsbad, California because of rising cyclist deaths. Taylor Nichols discusses the issue with Del Mar Times reporter Luke Harold and San Diego Bicycle Coalition Advocacy Director Will Rhatigan. https://www.delmartimes.net/news/story/2022-10-02/the-accident-data-behind-carlsbads-local-emergency-proclamation-for-e-bike-bicycle-accidents 48:50 https://on.soundcloud.com/4rPGA Visualize it: The U.S. Department of Transportation has released new charts showing the cities with most and least traffic fatalities per capita, a departure from the USDOT's more car-centric metric of traffic deaths per vehicle mile travelled. Streetsblog USA Editor Kea Wilson unpacks the data. https://twitter.com/streetsblogkea/status/1623753663863717889 Editing by Kevin Burton. Closing Song, "Bike," by Mal Webb. Interstitial music, "Just Moving," by Don Ward. Visit BikeTalk.org to be involved.

In this episode of the Trust Your Voice podcast, host Sylvie Légère sat down with Charles Marohn, Founder and President of Strong Towns, and Lou Powell, President of High-Tech Small Town, to talk about what makes a town strong and thriving. In this conversation, Sylvie with Charles and Lou discuss: What makes a strong town? 5 pillars of a strong town to note of Insights on what makes a thriving community How to improve the quality of life and prosperity of a community Transforming cities to be successful Here is an article how High-Tech Small Town, with their advocacy of bring tech talents and attracting high-tech remote jobs into a small town, made Aledo stronger than it was before. Charles authored great books about communities in America: Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity and Confessions of a Recovering Engineer: A Strong Towns Approach to Transportation . He has a podcast piece about struggling communities and you may listen it here: A Model for Suburban Development? And lastly, if you want to know the difference between a road and a street, Charles also has a TedTalk episode about it. Connect with Lou: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/loupowell Connect with Charles: LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesmarohn Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/marohn Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/clmarohn We hope you enjoy the episode! Tell us what you think by leaving a review on Apple podcasts. Stay tuned for more episodes and be sure to subscribe to the Trust Your Voice podcast on your favorite podcast player.

Anyone should be able to speak up and question whether current engineering practices truly benefit our communities. That's especially true for licensed professionals who have a special duty to the public to be heard. And when they do speak up, their statements should not make them a target for licensing boards.  Members of the Minnesota board of engineering licensure are supposed to uphold the integrity of their institution, but instead they have abused their power, overstepping their authority in order to slander a leading reformer—someone who was not even practicing engineering—by issuing a state order against Strong Towns founder and president, Charles Marohn.  We're fighting to have the board's decision overturned. In this Strong Towns Podcast, listen to the latest update on the appeal for this case and the oral arguments made in front of the Minnesota Court of Appeals.  For more information on this case, visit www.strongtowns.org/supportreform. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Learn more about our fight for engineering reform. Charles Marohn (Twitter).

How bad are our freeways? According to land-use planner and municipal engineer Charles Marohn, if someone tried to design a transportation system to create the maximum amount of congestion possible, the result would be the United States' current system.

A prominent question that keeps coming up since the beginning of the Jackson, Mississippi, water crisis is, “How did we get to this point?”  If you've been tuning in to the Strong Towns Podcast, you'll know that Chuck has talked about the water crisis in Jackson a couple of times working to answer this question. He's gone in depth about the financial fragility of our water systems, how they work, and why we even have them.  After hearing Chuck's analysis, some Strong Towns members felt there was not enough emphasis on the impact systemic racism has had on the situation. In this podcast, Chuck talks with Amanda Lanata, Strong Towns member and former Jackson resident, on the racial complexities in Jackson and how race is linked to the water crisis.  ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES “The Jackson Water Crisis Is Not a Fluke. Your City Could Be Next,” hosted by Charles Marohn, Strong Towns Podcast (September 2022). “Water System Crises and Solutions,” hosted by Charles Marohn, Strong Towns Podcast (November 2022). Don't forget to participate this Friday in Strong Towns' annual #BlackFridayParking event! Charles Marohn (Twitter). Cover image source: Unsplash.

In a September episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck talked about the water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi. He spoke on the technicalities of American water systems, what failed in Jackson, and how Jackson ended up in a crisis.  Now, in this week's episode, Chuck dives a little deeper into water systems and why we even have them (hint: it's not just about safe drinking water). He takes listeners back to the 1800s and describes how historical events affected the standard for today's water systems—shining a light on current aging water systems, like Jackson's, and how we should be thinking about water systems going forward. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES “The Jackson Water Crisis Is Not a Fluke. Your City Could Be Next,” hosted by Charles Marohn, Strong Towns Podcast (September 2022.) Charles Marohn (Twitter).

In this episode we speak with Charles Marohn, Founder of Strong Towns, about the Minnesota Board of Engineering's frivolous investigation and censure of him. We also talk about the work of Strong Towns and why the board would be threatened by their advocacy. Here's the full info on the case and here's the hearing we spoke about. Today's Show is brought to you by Central, commercial carpenters and supporters of our conversations. Enjoy the show! Follow the Mass Construction Show here: Linkedin Instagram Twitter Facebook TikTok Intro & Outro music by Sound Revolution --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/joekelly/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/joekelly/support

What's happened with Jackson's water crisis is an absolute tragedy. In late August, a state of emergency was issued after there was no clean running water in the city. Residents who could get water reported that they'd turn on the tap and be met with a brown consistency, and the city instructed people to boil it before any sort of usage.  For seven weeks Jackson's residents had to bear the brunt of a failing water system, and unfortunately it was bound to happen. Like all American cities, Jackson rests on the wrong business model and its systems are stretched too thin. It was only a matter of time before it started to leak.  In this episode, Chuck Marohn covers the technicalities of American water systems, what failed in Jackson, and how Jackson even got to this place. Chuck also addresses the two main narratives that have been the national media focus during this crisis: climate change and racial inequity. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES “Financial Fragility Is To Blame for Jackson's Water Crisis,” Charles Marohn, Strong Towns (September 2022). Charles Marohn (Twitter).

Today we are joined by Chuck Marohn of StrongTowns.org to discuss his work in building more resilient towns and cities along with a bottom up approach to restoring and rebuilding American prosperity. Charles Marohn is dedicated to the survival of North American cities. A … Continue reading →

Over the past few years, deaths from car accidents in the United States have spiked dramatically. Journalists and commentators have been quick to point to pandemic-induced stress and anxiety to explain the increase. But is that account too pat? On episode 44 of The Politics of Everything, hosts Laura Marsh and Alex Pareene talk with three guests about road design, automobile regulation, and what's wrong with blaming crashes on reckless drivers. Guests include Charles Marohn, the author of Confessions of a Recovering Engineer; Jessie Singer, the author of There Are No Accidents, and Jason Slaughter, the creator of the YouTube channel Not Just Bikes.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Watch the video version of this episode to get the full effectStrong Towns and Active Towns together again! I was honored to welcome Charles "Chuck" Marohn, founder and president of the Strong Towns organization, back on the Podcast, this time in a Live-Streaming broadcast event.Helpful Links (note that some may include affiliate links to help me support the channel):- For more information on Strong Towns, visit their website- My interview with Chuck in 2021- Chuck's Confessions book- Chuck's first book - Strong Towns- Here's a video Excerpt of the EpisodeFour Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon(As a thank you will have early and commercial-free access as well as bonus content and special discounts in the Active Towns Store)2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up", leave a comment, and share it with a friend.3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred platform and on the Active Towns YouTube Channel4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my store(note: See no. 1 for access to special discounts in the store)Credits:All video and audio production by John SimmermanMusic:- Intro and Outro mixed by John SimmermanResources used during the production of this episode:- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm- Adobe Creative Cloud SuiteStudio Equipment:- Main MIcrophone Sennheiser Pro Audio MKH416-P48U3- Rode RODECaster Pro Podcast Production Studio- Additional Microphone - Shure MV7- Camera - Sony ZV-E10 (currently sold out)- Lens - Sigma 16mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary Lens- Elgato Cam Link 4k- Elgato Streamdeck XL*- Elgato Streamdeck (*you may not need the XL)Editing Computer System:- Apple MacBook Pro 16" 2021 M1 Pro- LG 34WP88C-B 34-inch Curved 21:9 UltraWide QHD (3440x1440) IPS Display with Ergo StandAll video, audio, and music production by me, John SimmermanFor more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along please visit my links below:- Website- Twitter- Newsletter- Podcast landing pages- Facebook- InstagramBackground:Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.I'm a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.Since that time I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities".My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.Thanks for tuning in, I hope you find this content helpful.Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2022Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. Any donations collected are used specifically to support the organization's mission.To make a donation to Advocates for Healthy Communities go here★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Every hour, four people are killed in an automobile accident. Over a year, this totals up to about 40,000 people.  “It's an astounding number,” says Strong Towns President Chuck Marohn.  In this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck talks about his experience serving for nine years in the National Guard. He covers some sensitive topics, relaying what he's learned from how people respond to military deaths, and what that can tell us about how we respond to traffic deaths.   “I bring this up, because I want to talk a little bit about the way we respond to tragedy, the way we respond to hardship,” says Chuck.  If 40,000 people suddenly died in a massive accident, we'd notice. We'd all turn our heads and as a collective of officials and citizens, we would mourn and strive for change so as to prevent that sort of catastrophic event from happening again. The reality is, about 40,000 people die in automobile accidents every year in the United States. But we don't respond with the same sense of urgency the way we would respond to a large, very noticeable, tragic accident. Chuck explains why this is, how our society functions, and how it needs to change to solve this ongoing tragedy of needless traffic deaths. We can solve this problem. We can apply bottom-up processes to quickly make our streets safer for everyone. We can end the drip, drip, drip of traffic deaths.  Additional Show Notes “Here's Why We Respond in Force to One Amtrak Crash While Ignoring Thousands of Daily Car Crashes,” by Charles Marohn, Strong Towns (July 2022). Charles Marohn (Twitter).

Montavius Jones is a Strong Towns member who describes himself as “getting radicalized” about urban planning issues on Twitter. (This conversation is actually a good argument for the positive potential of Twitter as a place to meet people, connect and share ideas!) Jones majored in commercial real estate in college, and brings that expertise to his work today at a community development financial institution, as well as a lot of on-the-ground advocacy in Milwaukee. A few years ago, he also had the opportunity to travel around Central and South America, observing the way so many cities to the south have built themselves with people as the priority, not cars. In particular, he talks about his all time favorite city, Mexico City, and why it's a perfect example of successful, strong urban planning. Jones sees the connections between the challenges that many communities, especially mid-size cities like Milwaukee, face: population stagnation, educational and health disparities, safety, housing affordability… He sees solutions in a Strong Towns approach to urban planning. In this conversation, you'll also hear about an initiative he helps lead called Urban Spaceship. We'll just leave that as a teaser since the name alone should be enough to get you intrigued. Additional Show Notes Find Montavius Jones on Twitter. Check out Jones' travel blog. Incremental Development Alliance. Newaukee. “Design Speed is a Value Statement,” by Charles Marohn, Strong Towns (July 2021). “The Strong Towns Approach to Public Investment,” by Charles Marohn, Strong Towns (September 2019). Send your story ideas and guest suggestions to rachel@strongtowns.org. Subscribe to The Bottom-Up Revolution on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Podbean, or via RSS. Support this podcast by becoming a Strong Towns member today.

Charles Marohn — “Chuck” to his friends — grew up in a small town in Minnesota and later became an urban planner and traffic engineer in the state. After a few years, he began noticing that the projects he was building were hurting the towns he was putting them in — subtracting more tax value than they added, forcing everyone into cars, breaking apart communities and saddling them with unsustainable long-term liabilities.He began recording his observations on a blog called Strong Towns. It quickly caught on, and over the years, Strong Towns has grown into a full-fledged nonprofit with an educational curriculum, an awards program, and a rich network of local chapters working to improve the towns where they are located.Marohn has since written several books, most recently 2021’s Confessions of a Recovering Engineer and 2019’s Strong Towns. Intellectually, he sits somewhat orthogonally to most of the contemporary urbanist community. He’s an avowed conservative and opposes many of the state and federal solutions to the housing crisis favored by today’s YIMBYs. But there is arguably no one alive in America who has done more to get people thinking about what makes for a healthy community and how the US can begin to repair its abysmal late-20th-century land-use choices. I was excited to talk to Marohn about why suburbs are money-losers, the right way to think about NIMBYs and local control, and why the city planning profession is so resistant to reform. Get full access to Volts at www.volts.wtf/subscribe

Advocating For Cities Of All Sizes To Be Safe, Livable, and Inviting with Charles MarohnCharles Marohn, known as “Chuck” to friends and colleagues, is the founder and president of Strong Towns. He is a land use planner and (retired) professional engineer with decades of experience. He holds a bachelor's degree in civil engineering and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning, both from the University of Minnesota.Strong Towns is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit media advocacy organization. They produce content that analyzes the failures of the post-war North American development pattern while giving citizens the knowledge and tools to start making our places better today.They seek to replace America's post-war pattern of development, the Suburban Experiment, with a pattern of development that is financially strong and resilient. They advocate for cities of all sizes to be safe, livable, and inviting. They work to elevate local government to be the highest level of collaboration for people working together in a place, not merely the lowest level in a hierarchy of governments.Chuck offers an insightful look into the paradigm shift of development and how through education we can all become better stewards of the communities we work and live in.Strong Towns is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit media advocacy organization. We produce content that analyzes the failures of the post-war North American development pattern while giving citizens the knowledge and tools to start making our places better today.We seek to replace America's post-war pattern of development, the Suburban Experiment, with a pattern of development that is financially strong and resilient. We advocate for cities of all sizes to be safe, livable, and inviting.We work to elevate local government to be the highest level of collaboration for people working together in a place, not merely the lowest level in a hierarchy of governments.Charles Marohn, known as “Chuck” to friends and colleagues, is the founder and president of Strong Towns. He is a land use planner and (retired) professional engineer with decades of experience. He holds a bachelor's degree in civil engineering and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning, both from the University of Minnesota.Marohn is the author of Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity (Wiley, 2019) and Confessions of a Recovering Engineer: Transportation for a Strong Town (Wiley 2021). He hosts the Strong Towns Podcast and is a primary writer for Strong Towns' web content.He has presented Strong Towns concepts in hundreds of cities and towns across North America. Planetizen named him one of the 10 Most Influential Urbanists of all time.Mac and Bleu is the hot new podcast dedicated to all things related to building Arizona. Topics discussed range from construction, economic development, supply chain, and market segments.Mac & Bleu also includes diversity in construction, local politics affecting construction, women in construction, construction technology, and more.The host JJ Levenske of Bleuwave have their finger on the pulse of the people building Arizona.The show brings in the brightest minds in their perspective positions and industries and JJ has the unique ability to touch on the subject matter that you want to hear.If you want to know who's building Arizona, tune in and subscribe to Mac and Bleu today!___________________________________________________________________________________JJ Levenske is a seasoned construction executive with over 30 years of experience in the commercial and industrial sectors.From pre-construction services to complex quality controls and close-outs, he brings a commitment to delivering the highest levels of professionalism and customer service.

One hundred years ago, homes were primarily places for people to live, and weren't considered as investments. Most Americans acquired wealth through income, and homes were only partially an investment consideration. For many reasons since the Great Depression, home ownership has begun to play a larger role than income in carrying generational wealth for Americans. “Housing has become (more of) a financial investment, not a place where you live,” Strong Towns founder Charles Marohn states in this latest episode of Upzoned. “And that changes everything about how we deal with housing.” Those changes include the role of institutional investors, who have become a much more significant player in many housing markets.  Upzoned host Abby Kinney and Marohn, her regular guest, talk over an article about research done by the Rutgers Center on Law, Inequality and Metropolitan Equity (CLiME). The study found corporate investors in Newark, New Jersey, now own nearly half of Newark's residential property, the highest rate in the nation, researchers said.  Dig into the details of this discussion and hear an early notice about an upcoming Strong Towns book on housing on this week's Upzoned. Additional Show Notes “Who Owns Newark? City Fights Back Against Corporate Home Buying Spree,” by Eric Kiefer, Patch (May 2022). Abby Kinney (Twitter) Charles Marohn (Twitter) Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

This week on Upzoned, host Abby Kinney wades into a proposal for a new Philadelphia-based public bank, a financial institution being created to provide new loans with reduced cost of capital in marginalized neighborhoods. Along with co-host Charles Marohn, president and founder of Strong Towns, Abby examines the concept of public banks as presented in a podcast by the progressive non-profit media outlet, Next City.  Next City Executive Director Lucas Grindley and Senior Economics Correspondent Oscar Perry Abello ask whether the first public bank owned by a city can be a “systemic gamechanger for the racial wealth gap,” according to the group's summary of the podcast. Derek Green, a Philadelphia city council member championing the city's public bank, joins the Next City hosts to explain that loans to small businesses can be a source of jobs in economically stagnant “bank deserts.”  This could be a creative option if you're looking for creative financing solutions in your place and find that local Community Development Financial Insitutions (CDFIs) are too strapped to make loans. Nevertheless, it might make sense for public bank shareholders—aka local taxpayers—to be watchful. Additional Show Notes “The First City To Launch Its Own Bank,” hosted by Lucas Grindley and Oscar Perry Abello, Next City (May 2022). Abby Kinney (Twitter) Charles Marohn (Twitter) Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

This episode of Doomer Optimism sees frequent contributor Anarcho-Contrarian (@AnarContrarian)and DO newbie Kara Marshall (@karakara98) sit down with the founder and president of Strong Towns, Charles Marohn (@clmarohn). Naturally, the conversation drifts toward community resilience and building...well...strong towns, as well as the future of community building. About Charles Marohn Charles Marohn—known as “Chuck” to friends and colleagues—is the founder and president of Strong Towns. He is a professional engineer and a land use planner with decades of experience. He holds a bachelor's degree in civil engineering and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning, both from the University of Minnesota. Marohn is the author of Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity (Wiley, 2019) and Confessions of a Recovering Engineer: Transportation for a Strong Town (Wiley 2021). He hosts the Strong Towns Podcast and is a primary writer for Strong Towns' web content. He has presented Strong Towns concepts in hundreds of cities and towns across North America. About Kara Marshall Kara Marshall works to promote energy efficiency and, with her husband, takes care of and old house and five acres in Connecticut. About Anarcho-Contrarian Anarcho-contrarian is a nostalgia-poasting Twitter Anon who is passionate about the resiliency of rural places.

The U.S. Department of Transportation was the administrative tool with which the Interstate Highway Act of 1956 was implemented, a massive public works program of a scope not seen since in the United States. It resembled the scale and transformative impact of the high-speed rail China built in the 21st century.  Now, the USDOT is rolling out a $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) over the next five years. Among its 539 amendments and 127 related bills is the law of the land for transportation funding for the next five years. Contained within are new requirements for equity in the way IIJA locates minority-owned contractors and conducts public hearings in underserved neighborhoods.  In their blog, Pedestrian Observations, Alon Levy takes issue with USDOT's equity action plan. Levy's April 15 essay, called “The Solution to Failed Process isn't More Process,” says the plan “suffers from the same fundamental problem of American governance, especially at the federal level: everything is about process, nothing is about visible outcomes for the people who use public services.”   In this episode of Upzoned, host Abby Kinney points out that local knowledge and participation are critical to successful projects in her experience as an urban designer. But transportation budgets are more telling than rhetoric, Kinney argues.  Her co-host Charles Marohn of Strong Towns says in order to get $8 billion of equity funding, Congress had to pass a $1.2 trillion budget. That's less than 1% for equity. IIJA funding for projects such as $1 billion dedicated to removing freeways built through poor neighborhoods of color in the 1960s (originally $20 billion) pale in comparison to the hundreds of billions which will be spent to expand the highway system in America in the next decade.  Since the Interstate Highway Act, massive DOT budgets and the highway projects they support have served to marginalize and pollute urban neighborhoods where poverty is concentrated. “Maybe we should just abolish the U.S. Department of Transportation?” Marohn asks. Additional Show Notes “The Solution to Failed Process isn't More Process,” by Alon Levy, Pedestrian Observations (April 2022). Abby Kinney (Twitter) Charles Marohn (Twitter) Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

With the housing market still hot as a red poker despite an uptick in interest rates, Nolan Gray, in a recent article from Bloomberg's CityLab, explores the idea of building brand-new cities (in the mode of 21st-century China or the Brasilia of the latter 20th century) to address the housing crisis. Alain Bertaud, a fellow at the Marron Institute for Urban Management and a former city planner at the World Bank, engages with Gray in this published interview to explain whether or not this is a realistic solution.  Host Abby Kinney and her co-host Charles Marohn of Strong Towns chew it over in this episode of Upzoned.  “Historically, infrastructure follows the market, not the other way around,” Kinney notes. “Huge public investments in infrastructure where there are no jobs are not really a very smart investment because the upfront costs of building an entire city's worth of infrastructure are so incredibly high. The public sector would have to be in a negative cash flow for a very long time.” Marohn talks about places where this has actually been done, with the government fronting the money for infrastructure and subsidizing individuals through mortgages and commercial real estate loans. “They fail in every financial metric that is longer than the immediate sugar high you get out of the transaction,” he says.  There are interesting examples, as both hosts discuss, but it's hard to beat an organically grown, incrementally developed city, where historic trial and error has made places that work. Where do you fall on this question? Additional Show Notes “The Problem With Building a New City From Scratch,” by Nolan Gray, CityLab (April 2022). Abby Kinney (Twitter) Charles Marohn (Twitter) Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

Learn more and register for the Profitable Syntropic Agroforestry course today! Fill out this form to receive free trees and planting support as well as a consultation call with Oliver I've often wondered what in the world goes on in the thought process behind the planning and design of the newer towns that I've lived in. In the case of really old places, the layout and architecture always made more sense to me. Streets are laid out with orientations to sun patterns or for ease of access to important markets or buildings, and the homes reflect the integral relationship between extended family or workers, animals, and the processing of food and household goods, and the simple natural materials with which much of it is built is integrated with art, gardens, and water features which also serve important cultural functions In contrast, while modern civic planning is very utilitarian, the utility appears to ignore many essential human functions for the ease of machinery and transport. I knew neighbors who would drive to get their mail at the end of the street because there were no walkways, and who spent countless hours maintaining lawns that their children rarely walked on. There were few if any gathering spaces or community activity centers unless you count shopping malls or gyms.  When you grow up in those environments they seem pretty normal, but once I got to travel and see the contrast of places that were built before cars, concrete, and steel, I began to wonder why we ever abandoned that style of building.  I'll put in a disclaimer here that I will stop short of over romanticizing the past. I've learned enough about history that I don't envy the sanitary or living conditions of almost any previous century, nor do I want to gloss over the challenges that these old places are having in integrating with the modern world. There are many complex and contextual reasons why these places are both heralded for their picturesque tourist value while the younger generations flee to find work and opportunities in new developments.  And yet, I wanted to gain some insight about why modern towns abandoned some patterns that we know to be more conducive to connected living and what can be done to retrofit and redesign the infrastructure we have.  For this I spoke to Charles Marohn, professional engineer and a land use planner with decades of experience. Marohn is the author of both Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity, and Confessions of a Recovering Engineer: Transportation for a Strong Town. He hosts the Strong Towns Podcast and is a primary writer for Strong Towns' web content. He has presented Strong Towns concepts in hundreds of cities and towns across North America and Planetizen named him one of the 10 Most Influential Urbanists of all time. In this interview we explore the transformation of urban planning over the last few decades and Charles gives vivid examples from well known studies of major cities around the United States of both the dire consequences of poor planning and the potential of better design. We also look into the simple steps that anyone can take to begin to reverse the disconnection of their community and begin to create connections and deeper relationships that can set their community on a new trajectory.  Join the discord discussion channel to answer the weekly questions and learn new skills with the whole community Links: https://www.strongtowns.org/ https://twitter.com/clmarohn https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesmarohn/ https://www.facebook.com/marohn https://regenerativeskills.com/abundantedge-mark-lakeman/ https://regenerativeskills.com/abundantedge-city-repair/ https://regenerativeskills.com/david-holmrgren-on-the-hidden-regeneration-potential-of-the-suburbs/

Over the past few years, deaths from car accidents in the United States have spiked dramatically. Journalists and commentators have been quick to point to pandemic-induced stress and anxiety to explain the increase. But is that account too pat? On episode 44 of The Politics of Everything, hosts Laura Marsh and Alex Pareene talk with three guests about road design, automobile regulation, and what's wrong with blaming crashes on reckless drivers. Guests include Charles Marohn, the author of Confessions of a Recovering Engineer; Jessie Singer, the author of There Are No Accidents, and Jason Slaughter, the creator of the YouTube channel Not Just Bikes.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on the Strong Towns Podcast, we wanted to give our listeners an update on the lawsuits that Strong Towns is involved in. For those new to Strong Towns, here is a brief overview: Charles Marohn, president of Strong Towns, is an engineer and maintains his license even though he stopped doing engineering work in 2012. Briefly in 2018, his license lapsed. Once he realized this, Marohn promptly renewed it, however, the Minnesota Board of Licensure is claiming that he misrepresented himself to the public during the time when his license had expired. They are now demanding that Marohn sign a stipulation order stating that he deceived the public. In turn, on May 18, 2021, Strong Towns filed a lawsuit against the Minnesota Board of Licensure. The complaint holds that the Board and its individual members have violated the First Amendment free speech rights of Charles Marohn and Strong Towns. The threatened action by the Board of Licensure is about one thing: using the power of the state to discredit Strong Towns, a reform movement. To silence speech. To retaliate against an individual who challenges the power and financial advantages enjoyed by a certain class of licensed professionals. This has become even clearer with some new documentation that casts a disturbing light on the situation. Marohn discusses this in detail in the podcast, and you can download the accompanying PDF here. The original article referenced in the documentation can be read here. Additional Show Notes Read more about the lawsuit here, along with the full complaint that was filed and accompanying exhibits, as well as background articles from Strong Towns on engineering reform and the engineering profession. Charles Marohn (Twitter) To support this podcast and the work of Strong Towns, become a member today.

This session of the radio show shares the Strong Towns Town Hall event with Congressman Jake Auchincloss, State Rep Jeff Roy, Franklin Town Councilor Cobi Frongillo, and Charles Marohn from Strong Towns.  The event was held at THE BLACK BOX in downtown Franklin, MA and broadcast via Franklin TV and Zoom.  After a round of opening remarks, there is a question and answer period with audience participation. Each question asker identifies themselves so you should be able to follow along. The recording runs about 1  hour and 14 minutes, so let's listen to the Strong Towns Event on Nov 15, 2021. -------------- My notes from the session https://www.franklinmatters.org/2021/11/recap-strong-towns-event-fostering.html (https://www.franklinmatters.org/2021/11/recap-strong-towns-event-fostering.html)  More about Strong Towns can be found online -> https://www.strongtowns.org/ (https://www.strongtowns.org/) -------------- We are now producing this in collaboration with http://www.franklin.tv/ (Franklin.TV) and Franklin Public Radio (http://www.wfpr.fm/ (wfpr.fm)) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial.   This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help. How can you help? If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors If you don't like something here, please let me know Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening. For additional information, please visit https://franklinmatters.org/ (Franklinmatters.org/) or http://www.franklin.news/ (www.franklin.news/) If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com The music for the intro and exit was provided byhttp://www.eastofshirley.com/ ( Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley"). The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana"  c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission. I hope you enjoy! ------------------ You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"

Show Notes:Strong Towns - https://www.strongtowns.org/ Confessions of a Recovering Engineer: Transportation for a Strong Town - https://www.confessions.engineer/ Strong Towns Podcast - https://www.strongtowns.org/podcast 2022 Good Roads Conference - http://www.OGRAConference.ca Past Milestones Episodes - https://milestones-the-podcast.simple...http://www.OGRA.org/MilestonesPodcastFor questions or comments drop us a message at podcast@ogra.orghttps://twitter.com/Ont_Good_Roadshttps://www.facebook.com/ontariogoodroads/https://ca.linkedin.com/company/ontario-good-roads-association

The Strong Towns founder and former engineer discusses what his former profession gets wrong, what makes streets safer and why St. Louis is, in one key way, a “tragedy” — albeit one that could still be fixed.

“The North American development pattern, the way we build our cities, creates a lot of liabilities and not enough wealth, financially, to actually take care of those liabilities.” These are the words of today's guest Charles “Chuck” Marohn. Chuck is the founder and president of Strong Towns, as well as a professional engineer and land use planner with decades of experience. He is also the author of Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity and Confessions of a Recovering Engineer. In this episode, Chuck sheds light on how the way in which we build our cities has drastically changed since before the Great Depression and how the current North American development pattern creates towns and cities that lack the wealth to be able to maintain their critical infrastructure and take care of their own futures. Tuning in you'll hear how the problems of Ferguson, Missouri can be attributed to this pattern, how northeastern cities compare with southwestern cities based on their development since World War II, and why Chuck has more hope for the future of Detroit than the future of Phoenix. For an eye-opening conversation on how we need to adapt in order to build strong towns, tune in today! Key Points From This Episode: •   Charles “Chuck” Marohn explains how Strong Towns is both an organization and a movement. •   How the North American development pattern creates towns and cities that are unable to take care of their own futures. •   Why Chuck believes that the way cities grow today has a Ponzi scheme-like aspect to it. •   Thoughts on what percentage of the liabilities are covered by Wall Street capital versus state and federal. •   How northeastern cities compare with southwestern cities based on their development since World War II. •   Ferguson, Missouri as an example of a once affluent area that has aged and is experiencing this distress. •   How the way in which we build our cities has drastically changed since the pre-Great Depression. •   Why Chuck is excited about the neighborhoods in Detroit where they are reusing old buildings instead of tearing them down. •   The concept of the Paris 15-minute city and what Chuck likes about it. •   Thoughts on other countries that have copied the North American development pattern. •   A comparison between the development styles of cities in the Netherlands versus those of Belgium and why the cities in the Netherlands are doing better. •   What we can learn from Amsterdam transitioning from a car-centric environment to a pedestrian and bicycle-centric environment. •   What we should expect southwestern American cities like Phoenix to look like in 30 years. •   What Chuck would do if building a new town or a new city from scratch. •   The lesson we can learn from the shift from the 20th century to the 21st century.  •   Thoughts on Manhattan's framework for development. •   The concept of a “good party” and why the ratio of private to public investment is more important than the density ratio. •   Chuck's thoughts on the YIMBY movement. •   Insight into what became of civil engineering. •   Thoughts on why the local Government has become so ineffective and so overburdened. •   What it means to build a Strong Towns movement and what we can expect from it over the next 5 to 10 years.   Links Mentioned in Today's Episode: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesmarohn/ (Charles Marohn on LinkedIn) https://twitter.com/clmarohn (Charles Marohn on Twitter) https://www.strongtowns.org/ (Strong Towns) https://www.amazon.com/Strong-Towns-Bottom-Up-Revolution-Prosperity/dp/1119564816 (Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Support this podcast

William Henry and Carmelita Dominguez join us to talk about the Chamber's Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board and its efforts to make Billings a more welcoming and inclusive community. To learn more or to get involved, email John Brewer, or check out William's website Be Better World. If you would like to email us to offer feedback, suggest a future guest, or simply ask a question, email us at podcast@billingschamber.com.   Here are Marya and Jack's answers to this week's Rorschach questions. 1. What is your favorite way to spend some off-time with your family?   Marya: I love to cook a great meal together and then enjoy it on our amazing patio! Jack: In our off time, my wife and I will either be in our garden or out with the dogs (recently, Centennial Park).   2. What is on your nightstand right now?   Marya: A fluff novel for the summer called Secrets of the Chocolate House by Paula Brackston, and then for more in-depth reading, The Enneagram of Belonging by Christopher L. Heuertz. Jack: I always have a copy of The Economist and right now, I'm reading Strong Towns by Charles Marohn. I will also take this opportunity to plug my favorite recent book, The Revolt of the Public by Martin Gurri.   3. If it was your birthday, what's that one place that your family would know you would want to go for dinner?   Marya: Wherever has the best patio – my birthday is in August. So Montana Brewing Co. (the beer is the bomb) Jake's on the West End (oh those coconut shrimp!) Buffalo Block (seriously best patio around), or The Vig in the heights (love those cheese curds!) Jack: I would have to say Blue's BBQ for lunch and Walker's for dinner.  

placemakingpodcast@gmail.com Facebook-f Twitter Linkedin Instagram Strategies in Building Strong Towns with Incremental Developments with Charles Marohn, P.E. – Ep. 44 About the Guest One of the best shows yet is coming your way! I am excited to share this next conversation with all of you. Charles Marohn is the Founder and President of Strong Towns and the author of Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity. He is a Professional Engineer (PE) licensed in the State of Minnesota and a land use planner with over two decades of experience. He holds a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning, both from the University of Minnesota. He has presented the concept of Strong Towns in hundreds of cities and towns across North America. He is featured in the documentary film Owned: A Tale of Two Americans, and was named one of the 10 Most Influential Urbanists of all time by Planetizen. “Strong Towns supports thousands of people across the United States and Canada who are advocating for a radically new way of thinking about the way we build our world. Strong Towns believes that in order to truly thrive, our cities and towns must:• Stop valuing efficiency and start valuing resilience• Stop betting our futures on huge, irreversible projects, and start taking small, incremental steps and iterating based on what we learn• Stop fearing change and start embracing a process of continuous adaptation• Stop building our world based on abstract theories, and start building it based on how our places actually work and what our neighbors actually need today• Stop obsessing about future growth and start obsessing about our current financesBut most importantly, they believe that Strong Citizens from all walks of life can and must participate in a Strong Towns approach—from citizens to leaders, professionals to neighbors, and everyone in between.” In this episode, we are going to discuss the mission of the Strong Towns movement, the attributes of successful developments and how they can impact the surrounding neighborhoods and towns, and how developers can learn from the past in order to help build developments that ultimately benefit their cities and communities. There is loads of great information in this episode and I greatly appreciated Charles for taking the time out of his extremely busy schedule to discuss this topic of Strong Towns with me. As always, if you have enjoyed the show, please subscribe to the show and share with your friends in the industry. There will be more exciting conversations on the shows to come. Main Take-Away's From This Show This was another interesting episode to record. I thoroughly enjoyed Charles candidly sharing his story behind founding Strong Towns and the various revelations he came across on his journey. From just beginning to ask questions about “successful” City spending to the formulation of his thoughts on what truly successful developments are and can be. As mentioned in the show, this wasn't just a dive into the history of Cities, but truly a deep dive into understanding humanity as a whole. There were so many great talking points that Charles shared throughout the discussion, so it is hard to just pick three for my main take-away's this week. The following main topics of the show come from an understanding in City Planning, Engineering, and Development that Charles possesses. As an incremental developer, you are fighting against forces much bigger than yourself. (i.e. subsidized capital) Private Public Partnerships; the good, the bad, the ugly. There are a lot of basic business principles that Cities could very well adopt that will make them much stronger. As always, I will dig into each of these “take-away's” every week on the blog. So, without further a due, here we go!

"The Federal Reserve's market operations are ramping up by the day, and it's using more tools simultaneously to “fix” markets than ever before. So what are these tools and how is the Fed using them?" - Colin Harper Wondering what is happening in the hurricane that is finance and finding it difficult to piece together all of the puzzle. You aren't alone. Colin Harper has a great new addition to Bitcoin Magazine to help make sense of all the jargon of Repo markets, interest rates, zero reserve, QE4 to infinity, and the rest. Don't miss it! Link to the original article: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/zero-interest-limitless-repo-and-qe4-the-federal-reserves-market-operations-explained Don't forget that SwanBitcoin.com is now live! Start stacking your sats now! Set a weekly, every paycheck, or every month purchase and even auto-withdrawal to your own keys! With Swan Bitcoin you'll never have to wonder again if you are stacking for the future, set it once and forget it. Other great content I've enjoyed recently to dig further: • Tales from the Crypt with Charles Marohn: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3VE9cgPq32Ynd78rYDvfeA • Swan Signal with Parker Lewis & Giacomo Zucco: https://citizenbitcoin.world/episodes/giacomo-zucco-and-parker-lewis-on-swan-signal-live-By5ZBPnv • Hayek's Use of Knowledge in Society: Part 1: https://anchor.fm/thecryptoconomy/episodes/CryptoQuikRead_250---Use-of-Knowledge-in-Society-Part-1---F--A--Hayek-e43pfj Part 2: https://anchor.fm/thecryptoconomy/episodes/CryptoQuikRead_251---Use-of-Knowledge-in-Society-Part-2---F--A--Hayek-e444k0 • On The Brink: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jurrien-timmer-fidelity-on-the-global-macro-landscape-ep-58/id1480586463?i=1000469486863 --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bitcoinaudible/message

In episode 6 of the Market Urbanism podcast, we talk about the overstretched nature of American infrastructure, and what mechanisms could be used to better fund it. In segment 1, we discuss this so-called "growth Ponzi Scheme" with Chuck Marohn, founder of Strong Towns. In segment 2, we discuss how it might be addressed through value capture mechanisms, with Rick Rybeck, founder of the land-use consultancy Just Economics.