• 17 minutes 2 seconds
    Running for Office Without a Political Background

    Horry County, South Carolina has grown so fast that the median household can no longer afford the median home. Dylan Thompson has lived there his whole life, and he's running for county council because he thinks the people making decisions about that growth should actually be accountable to the people living through it. He's a former pastor running under the Forward Party, focused on flooding, housing, and development policy, and making the case that those issues don't have to break along party lines; they're the same things his neighbors on both sides of the aisle are worried about.

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

    23 June 2026, 10:00 am
  • 1 hour 5 minutes
    The Housing Choices Cities Are Missing

    Zoning reform matters, but Eric Kronberg says it is not enough on its own. Cities also need useful building types, realistic development math, better street design, thoughtful tax policy, and a clearer vision for what good neighborhoods can become. He and Tiffany explore why many cities say they want more housing but still make the most useful housing types illegal or impractical. They also talk about compact cottages, missing middle housing, Atlanta’s affordability challenges, and the overlooked power of a simple box, a good porch, and a house people can picture on their own block.

    ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

     

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

    18 June 2026, 10:00 am
  • 22 minutes 7 seconds
    Strong Towns and the Art of Repair

    Before Strong Towns became a national movement, its ideas spread through conversations, conferences, friendships and people willing to make room for a difficult message. For Member Week, Norm talks with Founders Circle member Paddy Steinschneider about watching Chuck Marohn’s work gain traction and why the movement has always depended on more than one voice. Paddy reflects on the role members can play when a community realizes its streets, budgets, infrastructure or public life are not working. He describes Strong Towns members not as a strike force, but as people with a toolkit: ready to help when a community realizes its streets, budgets, infrastructure or public life are not working.

    ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

     

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

    17 June 2026, 10:00 am
  • 21 minutes 53 seconds
    The First Strong Towns Member

    Nate Hood was the first person to donate to Strong Towns, back when the movement was still a blog, an irregular podcast, and a small circle of people asking better questions about cities. Norm Van Eeden Petersman talks with him about the early days of Strong Towns, the ideas that first made the movement feel different, and what has changed as those ideas have spread across North America. This is a story about growth, but also about why the movement’s power still comes from people noticing what is broken nearby and doing the next small thing.

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

    15 June 2026, 10:00 am
  • 41 minutes 14 seconds
    Building Community On Church Land Again

    Eli Smith, director of the Faith-Based Housing Initiative, joins the show to talk about churches turning underused land and aging buildings into housing and everyday community spaces. He explains how his team helps congregations understand their property, imagine specific projects, and gain the language and tools they need to work with developers, lenders, and local officials. Eli and Tiffany dig into the tension between commuter churches and a more rooted parish model, and why thoughtful design often leads congregations beyond a standard apartment block toward pocket neighborhoods and shared spaces.

    ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

     

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

    11 June 2026, 10:00 am
  • 21 minutes 43 seconds
    The Lane That Kept Bringing Crashes

    A car had crashed into the same Madison coffee shop three times. That was enough for Josh Olson and Strong Towns Madison to push for a change on Willie Street — a dense, locally-owned corridor that doubles as a commuter shortcut during rush hour. The intervention they proposed cost a fraction of what the city had budgeted, took two weeks to implement, and ran as a two-month trial. Josh breaks down what made the argument land with city staff and commissioners, and what happened after the results came in.

    ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

     

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

    9 June 2026, 10:00 am
  • 43 minutes 31 seconds
    Small‑Town Housing, Big Feelings

    In Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, housing debates are tied to favorite trees, familiar views, flood scars, and whether younger residents can afford to stay. Planning commissioner and neighborhood organizer Taylor Lightman talks about what it’s like to rewrite zoning in the same place you grew up. He explains how a housing committee rallied around ADUs, why they rolled back strict parking and owner‑occupancy rules, and how they worked through worries about students, flooding, and change itself. The conversation paints a detailed picture of housing reform in a small town that wants to welcome more neighbors without losing its character.

    ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

     

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

    4 June 2026, 10:00 am
  • 22 minutes 9 seconds
    Students Who Got a Sidewalk Built in 14 Days

    Evan Clark and Natalie Eger are college students studying sociology in Lexington, Virginia, and they came back from the 2025 National Gathering in Providence, RI fired up to do something. In the past year they've built a thriving local conversation group, turned a city council member into a regular at their monthly meetings, and had a broken sidewalk fixed fourteen days after they flagged it. They walk through how they started from scratch, made real change at the local level, and kept people showing up month after month.

    ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

     

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

    2 June 2026, 10:00 am
  • 30 minutes 54 seconds
    Listening Your Way Into Local Change

    Mary Kate Norton, Strong Towns’ Mobilization Coordinator and Trainer, came to advocacy through other people’s stories: campus workers juggling multiple jobs, family members stuck without safe transportation options, and neighbors trying to find housing they could afford. Those experiences shaped how she sees local change now: as something rooted in attention, trust, and the willingness to let a place tell you what it needs. In this episode, Mary Kate reflects on how personal stories become public work, why successful local groups begin by listening, and how advocates can build movements that fit their own communities instead of copying someone else’s model.

    ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

     

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

    28 May 2026, 10:00 am
  • 18 minutes 10 seconds
    Spokane, Washington Is Betting on Buses, Benches, and Fourplexes

    Before the car took over, Spokane, Washington ran an extensive streetcar network that shaped its neighborhoods. Sarah Rose and Erik Lowe of Spokane Reimagined are working to recover that spirit through a bus system that has already surpassed pre-pandemic ridership, a zoning reform that opened the city to missing middle housing, and hand-built benches placed in all 29 neighborhoods, each painted by a local artist. Their city motto is "In Spokane, we all belong" and they're putting in the work to prove it.

    ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

     

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

    26 May 2026, 10:00 am
  • 20 minutes 29 seconds
    When a Tornado Hit Main Street

    On March 14, 2025, an EF3 tornado hit Cave City, Arkansas, directly, something the town of about 2,000 people had never experienced in more than a century. Mayor Jonas Anderson describes the shock of that night and the neighborly response that followed, but the story does not begin or end with disaster. Cave City had already been investing in its own center, moving City Hall to Main Street and supporting a new wave of local activity downtown. This conversation looks at how a small town’s existing relationships shaped its recovery and strengthened the work already underway.

    ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

     

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

    19 May 2026, 10:00 am
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