The Strong Towns Podcast

Welcome to new members Pat Kemp, Nick Whitney, Eirc Rogers, Blue Weber, Chris Kennedy and Tom Broderick. Rachel and Chuck discuss last week's events in Salt Lake City, the schedule for Kentucky and New Hampshire this week and The Selfish Gene.

Audio of the opening statements and rebuttal from Chuck Marohn of Strong Towns and Randal O'Toole of the Cato Institute in their debate in Lafayette, LA. 

A podcast preview of the upcoming week including introducing Jason Schaefer, the new Member Support Specialist at Strong Towns, a trip to Lafayette with Joe Minicozzi, a debate with Cato fellow Randal O'Toole and a success story in Waco.

The global climate is a complex system. Economic markets are a complex system. Why do we react so differently to these different forms of complexity and what can we learn from those reactions?

Chuck talks about the organization behind the Strong Towns movement, an update to their strategic plan based on what has been learned and a powerful theory of change.

Aaron Brown -- author, college instructor and radio producer from Minnesota's iron range -- joins the podcast to talk about the history of the Iron Range, economic development issues and cultural obstacles to change. You can get Aaron's book, Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range, and read his regular blog at his site, MinnesotaBrown.com.

Chuck reviews three different incidents involving children killed by automobiles and asks: Who are really the ones showing casual indifference here? 

Tony Dutzik, Senior Policy Analyst with Frontier Group, joins the podcast to talk about a new report he co-authored: Who Pays for Roads? How the "Users Pay" Myt Gets in the Way of Solving America's Transportation Problems.

A ruling last week in U.S. District Court has potentially profound implications for road widening projects. This podcast features an interview with Steve Hiniker, Executive Director of 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, the plaintiff that prevailed in a recent lawsuit against the USDOT, WisDOT and others. We also speak with an appellate attorney, Mahesha Subbaraman, about details in the ruling and potential subsequent moves.

Jonathan Coppage and Benjamin Schwarz of the American Conservative talk about their publication, how they got involved in New Urbanism and why conservatives are embracing New Urbanist approaches.

Robin Bergstrom of CNU New England talks about how she became involved in CNU, how she came to be the Executive Director of CNU NE and the unique challenges of New Urbanism in the Northeast.

Scott Doyon and Ben Brown of Placemakers talk about public engagement that actually engages.

John Anderson and Monte Anderson (no relation, except in good looks) talk about how small, incremental development can save the world and make a nice living for the entrepreneurial startup builder trying to transform their city.

Strong Towns contributor Matthias Leyrer talks about how he got started blogging, how urban renewal hurt his city and the memes he has been sharing on the Strong Towns Blog.

In what has become a CNU tradition, Andrew Burleson takes over the podcast and turns the table on the host. Andrew pushes Chuck to talk about the advice he would give a fictional mayor in handling contraction of the city.

Sinclair Black and Heyden Walker, architects with Austin-based Black and Vernooy, talk about great streets, Austin and the potential to bury and cap an interstate. Their new ebook is available at ProjectGreatStreets.com. 

CNU President and CEO Lynn Richards talking about accelerating the pace of change, #IamCNU and ways the Congress for the New Urbanism is leading a movement for building great places.

Jarrett Walker of Jarrett Walker + Associates and James Llamas of Traffic Engineers, Inc. talk about the reimagined Houston transit network, the hard choices that brought it about and how the city's bus network now provides more service to more people with the same budget.

Jeff Tumlin of Nelson/Nygaard talks about the nuances of the Trinity Toll Road, the cognitive dissonance of parking and using performance metrics to make good local decisions.