Join Abby Newsham, Chuck Marohn and occasional surprise guests to talk in depth about one big story from the week in the Strong Towns conversation, right when you want it: now.
Episodes
Wednesday Jul 21, 2021
Wednesday Jul 21, 2021
As we all know, following World War II, many individuals who had once lived in cities left urban centers to move into newly created suburbs. Retailers and servicers naturally followed their market. This left empty downtown cores with prominent buildings, the uses of which had to evolve over time if they were to survive and remain standing.
This transition bred the urban monoculture of downtown office districts, supported by highways and seas of parking lots. According to CoStar data, in some downtowns 70–80% of all real estate is now dedicated to office space.
This week on Upzoned, host Abby Kinney and regular cohost Chuck Marohn look at an article from The New York Times titled “The Downtown Office District Was Vulnerable. Even Before COVID.“ They “upzone” it—i.e., they look at it through the Strong Towns lens. They talk about how office-heavy, monoculture downtowns are inherently less sustainable, and how this was the case long before COVID. However, the pandemic has led to shifts in how we think about the future of office work, which in turn has created a heightened uncertainty about what a downtown should be.
Then, in the downzone, Chuck takes a fresh look at—or rather, a fresh listen to—a book he’s read and admittedly mischaracterized before. Meanwhile, Abby attended a wedding in a town close to where she grew up, but which she had never fully appreciated.
Additional Show Notes
Wednesday Jul 14, 2021
Wednesday Jul 14, 2021
Editor’s Note: This podcast was recorded on July 9, and therefore does not reflect any updates that have since come out on the Surfside condominium story.
In the middle of the night on June 24, a building in Surfside, Florida, collapsed, destroying 55 of the complex’s 136 units. At least 50 people are known to have died in the collapse, and over 100 people are still unaccounted for.
This tragic event will most likely turn out to be the deadliest building accident in United States history; our hearts go out to the families of those who have been injured, killed, or who remain missing.
This week on Upzoned, host Abby Kinney and Strong Towns Senior Editor Daniel Herriges discuss the larger problem that the disaster in Surfside points to: the fact that the American condominium experiment began 60 years ago, and many condos are now reaching the end of their first maintenance life cycle. The hard truth is that condo owner associations are often not adequately prepared for the cost of this maintenance, especially when it gets deferred for several decades.
The situation is laid out in a recent Slate article: “Condos Are in Uncharted Territory.” Abby and Daniel “upzone” this piece—i.e., they look at it through the Strong Towns lens, to see how condo boards can be viewed as American local governance, in a nutshell.
Then, in the downzone, Daniel is reading about how people band together in the face of disaster, and Abby has discovered a nice little urban oasis.
Additional Show Notes
Wednesday Jul 07, 2021
Wednesday Jul 07, 2021
Last year, Strong Towns published a twelve-part series on Kansas City’s fateful suburban experiment. Drawing on a detailed survey of the city’s fiscal geography, conducted by Urban3, we explored the history of Kansas City and the financial ramifications of its development pattern. (The series was made possible by the generous support of the Enid & Crosby Kemper Foundation. It culminated in a free e-book, available here.)
As part of that series, Strong Towns president Chuck Marohn wrote an article entitled “The Local Case for Reparations.” In it, Chuck described Kansas City’s history of redlining, a practice that emerged in the Great Depression ostensibly to identify which neighborhoods were deemed too risky for the federal government to insure mortgages, but which in practice led to generations of neglect and disinvestment along racial and economic lines. The legacy of these policies include decades of chronic poverty in once-redlined neighborhoods. But the opportunity costs have affected everyone. For example, it’s estimated that one ½-sq. mile neighborhood could have generated over $30 million in tax dollars for Kansas City since 1937. Now multiply those opportunity costs across many such neighborhoods, and it’s clear that redlining squandered an enormous amount of prosperity for the region.
In that same article, Chuck proposed a local approach to reparations, a way of putting wealth back into the hands of people who live in redlined neighborhoods. Two things must happen, he wrote. “First, the neighborhood must experience investment, an inflow of capital that stays within the neighborhood. Second, that capital must be allowed to accrue to the people who are already there; it can’t result in their displacement.” Moreover, the tools for such development—zoning changes, grants, and tax increment financing—already exist.
Last month, KCUR, a local NPR affiliate, reported that Quinton Lucas, the mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, was one of 11 founding members of MORE (Mayors Organized for Reparations and Equity). And according to KCUR, some of the concepts being discussed by these city leaders are similar to the ones Strong Towns proposed for Kansas City last summer.
In this episode of Upzoned, host Abby Kinney, an urban planner in Kansas City, and regular cohost Chuck Marohn discuss how, when it comes to reparations, mayors are turning their good intentions into action. Abby and Chuck talk about why redlining was a “self-inflicted” wound for Kansas City, why it’s important that local communities lead the charge for reparations, and how cities can take tools that usually hurt cities (like tax increment financing) and use them for good by scaling them down to the neighborhood level.
Then in the downzone, Abby talks about a fun new bike ride in Kansas City, as well as an iconic ‘80s movie she just saw for the time. And Chuck gives an update on his boat...or should we say BOAT?
Additional Show Notes
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“Mayor Lucas Signs On To Test A Reparations Program For Black Kansas Citians,” by Chris Haxel
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Strong Towns content related to this episode:
Wednesday Jun 30, 2021
Wednesday Jun 30, 2021
Last month, the I-40 bridge connecting Memphis, Tennessee, to West Memphis, Arkansas, was closed unexpectedly after a large crack was discovered in one of the bridge's steel support beams. The closure has resulted in 40,000 vehicles being rerouted every day, turning a 10-minute drive across state lines into a three-hour slog through traffic. Unsurprisingly, the region's economic recovery has taken a hit as millions are being lost to the disrupted local and national supply chains.
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal, titled "One Failed Bridge in Memphis Is Costing Business Millions," covers this disquieting story. Across the United States, 45,000 bridges are in poor condition and 42% of bridges are at least 50 years old. I-40 is not just a Memphis problem; it's a national infrastructure crisis that will get worse and worse as more bridges begin to fail.
This week on Upzoned, host Abby Kinney and regular co-host Chuck Marohn "upzone" this looming crisis—i.e., they examine it through the Strong Towns lens. They discuss the implications of national and regional infrastructure failures, and why people need to become more interested in maintaining and effectively managing our aging infrastructure.
Then, in the downzone, Chuck talks about the recent staff retreat that he hosted in Brainerd, Minnesota, for the Strong Towns team. Meanwhile, Abby is reading a rather positive book about global trends and world history.
Additional Show Notes
Wednesday Jun 16, 2021
Wednesday Jun 16, 2021
The federal government has proposed $20 billion in infrastructure spending to be allocated toward targeted freeway removal, a concept that has become fairly mainstream as more people are becoming aware of what's been lost to 60 years of freeway expansion. Not only has freeway expansion reinforced segregation, but the costs associated with urban freeways make them an unproductive liability that undermines the social and economic health of everything around them. So, they need to go, right?
Maybe, but a recent article from VICE posits the argument that "Tearing Down Highways Won’t Fix American Cities." It points out that freeway removal alone will not solve many of the problems that American cities face, and rather than asking whether or not freeways should be removed, what we really should be concerned with is what to do with the land once that infrastructure is gone. If we don't start addressing this question, then many of the top-down mechanisms that segregated cities in the first place could just end up being reinforced.
This week on Upzoned, host Abby Kinney and co-host Chuck Marohn "upzone" these questions—i.e., they look at them through the Strong Towns lens. They discuss some historical points behind freeway expansion and what happens next after freeway removal, when the time comes to decide how that freed-up land should be utilized.
Then, in the downzone, Chuck has been listening to some Hardcore History, and Abby is reading a book that was recommended by Strong Towns.
Additional Show Notes
Wednesday Jun 09, 2021
Wednesday Jun 09, 2021
Companies like Tesla have been very effective in creating a perception amongst the public that the self-driving car industry is heading a positive direction. But in reality, will cars ever be able to fully drive themselves?
Missy Cummings, director of the Humans and Autonomy Laboratory at Duke University, thinks not. In an interview pointedly titled “Self-driving cars might never be able to drive themselves,” she makes the argument that there are problems with the so-called “deep learning” that is requisite to support fully autonomous vehicles. What often appear to be self-driving cars are actually being monitored by a team of humans—and at that point, the driver may as well just be operating the vehicle themselves.
And at the end of the day, do we actually need self-driving cars? Are they a solution looking for a problem—or perhaps the wrong solution for problems (traffic deaths, traffic congestion, etc.) that could be solved in better, easier ways?
This week on Upzoned, host Abby Kinney and regular cohost Chuck Marohn “upzone” the conversation about self-driving cars; i.e., they examine it through the Strong Towns lens. They discuss whether or not such technology could truly address all of the sticky fiscal and socioeconomic implications that have been derived from building a world for cars. Moreover, has our fixation on automated vehicles sidelined, or even stifled, conversations about other solutions that could more immediately improve people’s lives?
Then, in the downzone, Chuck’s daughter has presented her own solution for our faulty transportation system, and Abby got to attend a local hot air balloon event.
Additional Show Notes
Wednesday Jun 02, 2021
Wednesday Jun 02, 2021
"Minnesota Threatens to Fine This Engineer for Calling Himself an Engineer," says the headline of a recent article from Reason. Who's the engineer in question? None other than Strong Towns founder and president, Chuck Marohn.
The article covers the recent lawsuit that Strong Towns has filed against the Minnesota Board of Engineering Licensure in federal court. Our announcement last week about the case has sparked multiple discussions around the internet about freedom of speech and the right (or, rather, lack of right) of professional associations to silence their critics.
This week on Upzoned, host Abby Kinney is joined by Chuck as they "upzone" this discussion—i.e., they look at it through the Strong Towns lens. They talk about the lawsuit, the engineering profession, public trust, and Chuck's thoughts on having to take this step in defense of the guaranteed right that all Americans have to advocate for change, free from harassment by government agencies and industry insiders.
Then in the downzone, Chuck took some time to unwind this weekend by indulging in fiction-reading and baseball, and Abby has been testing out her new bike.
Additional Show Notes
Wednesday May 26, 2021
Wednesday May 26, 2021
Back in the sixties, writers like Lewis Mumford and Jane Jacobs recognized that parking lots are dead spaces that destroy the spirit of a city. Fast-forward 60 years later and we have yet to resolve the issue, as driving has become required for many living situations and most cities in the United States.
In theory, personal vehicles have revolutionized transportation by increasing mobility and enabling autonomy. In practice, however, the promise of autonomy and mobility are only truly fulfilled if your car has a place to store itself. Consequently, the development of parking lots and structures is now systematic within zoning and development codes. In other words, the cost of driving has been brought down, but in doing so, we’ve driven the cost of development up.
This week on Upzoned, host Abby Kinney is joined by special guest John Reuter, a former councilman and columnist of Sandpoint, Idaho, and bipartisan strategist and board member for Strong Towns. Together, they "upzone" a recent article from The Atlantic—i.e. they look at it through the Strong Towns lens. The article, entitled "How Parking Destroys Cities" (formerly, “How Parking Drives Up Housing Prices”), examines how the cost of auto-centric development is ultimately passed on to tenants and consumers, regardless of whether or not they themselves actually drive.
Then in the downzone, John has been learning about how the brains of octopi can teach us a lot about our own. Meanwhile, Abby has been watching a series on Netflix that has got her thinking about the benefits of short-form storytelling.
Additional Show Notes
Wednesday May 19, 2021
Wednesday May 19, 2021
According to a recent article from Orlando Weekly, "Orlando is a car-reliant hellscape," but its new director of transportation, Tanya Wilder, intends to change that.
Central Florida is famous for its tourism industry, but it's also one of the fastest-growing regions in the United States, and has subsequently seen a growing demand for better multimodal infrastructure and more walkable development patterns. For Wilder, this means thinking more regionally about transportation, while also taking more targeted approaches to managing investments, including outside of city limits.
Here at Strong Towns, we love talking about Disney World, but on today's episode of Upzoned, host Abby Kinney and Strong Towns president Chuck Marohn focus instead on "upzoning" Wilder’s approach to regionalism—i.e., they look at it through the Strong Towns lens. They also discuss how did such an auto-oriented "hellscape" came about in Florida, and in other places in the U.S., particularly in southern regions. And, well, it can't be helped: there has to be some discussion about Disney World, too.
Then in the downzone, Chuck has been doing yard projects while thinking about how humans deal with "end of the world" scenarios, and Abby has been listening to interviews with a Gonzo journalist.
Additional Show Notes
Wednesday May 12, 2021
Wednesday May 12, 2021
Is America on the path to experiencing a small-town revival? A recent article by James Kunstler posits that, especially in the wake of COVID-19, we have entered into "an era of stark economic contraction that will change the terms of daily life in America." One major such change would be that our living arrangements will shift from focusing around big cities and suburbs back to small towns.
We live in a society where the tendency is to scale up more and more; we’re going from the Walmart economy to the Amazon economy, which is likely a larger scale than we ever envisioned, and this would seem to be the total opposite of Kunstler’s thesis. How would his suggested “scaling down” happen, and would it be a rapid change or something that will follow the Amazon age—or is it perhaps something that will happen as a part of the Amazon age?
This week on Upzoned, host Abby Kinney is joined by Strong Towns president Chuck Marohn as they "upzone" these questions—i.e., they look at them through the Strong Towns lens. They dive into the reasons why Kunstler suggests we might be facing an economic collapse (not quite as an apocalyptic event as the word “collapse” might imply), and they discuss the allure of small towns, especially in regards to quality of life.
Then in the downzone, Chuck shares some exciting extraterrestrial news, and Abby is starting a thriving seed collection.