This Member Week, we’re excited to introduce you to Bottom-Up Shorts, a new collection of 10-minute episodes that we're adding to The Bottom-Up Revolution feed. Each week, Member Advocate Norm Van Eeden Petersman will talk with inspiring guests who are taking action in their community.

This week, he’s joined by Manav Sharma, one of the leaders of Strong Towns Vancouver, a Local Conversations group. Sharma and his group were inspired to make their community stronger through the tactical deployment of stickers. Here’s how they’re doing it.

• Become a member today!

• Strong Towns Vancouver sticker campaign coverage, pictures and video.

• Resources for creating safe and productive streets.

• Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn).

• Do you know someone who would make for a great The Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Rik Adamski is the founder and president of Ash+Lime, a planning firm that strives to help cities and neighborhoods create thriving places by drawing on the wisdom of the past. Originally from Chicago, Adamski consulted for several of the most prominent planning organizations in the U.S. before moving to Texas and embracing a more nimble, actionable and participatory approach to developing communities.

In this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution, Adamski joins host Tiffany Owens Reed to discuss his approach to urban planning, the challenges of implementing a new planning approach in cities, and the importance of community engagement and incrementalism.

• Local recommendations:

  • Ten Bells Tavern (reopening soon).

  • Texas Theatre.

  • Jefferson Boulevard.

  • Tyler Station.

  • Stockyards District in Fort Worth.

• Ash+Lime (website).

• A Better Brainerd report.

• Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram).

• Do you know someone who would make for a great The Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Norm Van Eeden Petersman is the director of membership and development at Strong Towns. He regularly writes for Strong Towns on topics including housing, transportation and community building. He also co-leads his area’s Local Conversation, Deltans for People-Oriented Places.

In this episode, Petersman joins host Tiffany Owens Reed to discuss his work with Strong Towns and the importance of building community in your place. They also share an exciting update about the future of The Bottom-Up Revolution.

• Local Recommendations:

  • Dunbar Lumber..

  • Nerd Feeder.

  • Localz Urban Cafe.

  • My Original Danish Pastry Baker.

• Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram).

• Do you know someone who would make for a great The Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Yamini Karandikar is the leader of Strong Towns San Antonio, a Local Conversation in Texas that advocates for safer streets and alternative transportation. Among other efforts, she successfully nominated an intersection in her city for review in the Strong Towns Crash Analysis Studio and is co-hosting a Local-Motive session on improving street safety. Professionally, she works in process improvement strategy within the electric and gas industry.

In this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution, Karandikar talks with host Tiffany Owens Reed about her advocacy journey, what it’s like to conduct a Crash Analysis Studio, and how her community is changing for the better.

If you want more information about Karandikar’s experience with the Crash Analysis Studio and how it’s transforming her community, join her Local-Motive session on October 24 at noon CDT: “From Crash to Community Empowerment: How Addressing a Car Crash Helped Save and Change Lives.”

• Local recommendations:

  • The Friendly Spot.

  • The Station Café.

• Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram).

• Do you know someone who would make for a great The Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Jacob Hyman is a civil-site engineer in training and the leader of Strong Towns Steubenville, a Local Conversation in Ohio. Originally from Florida, he moved to Steubenville after serving in the Air Force and started the city's Local Conversation two years later. He works for Crabtree Group, Inc., which provides site engineering services for traditional neighborhood developments and infill development across the country and globe.

Today, Hyman joins host Tiffany Owens Reed on The Bottom-Up Revolution to discuss the challenges of revitalizing a Rust Belt city, how Strong Towns Steubenville is tackling those challenges, and how a combination of creativity, community and faith could be exactly what Steubenville — and cities like it — need to thrive.

• Local recommendations:

  • Steubenville Nutcracker Village.

  • Leonardo's Coffeehouse & Renaissance Coffee Roasting Co.

  • Spyridon Studios.

  • Chesterton & Co. Cigars.

  • Yorgo's Gyros & Potatoes.

  • 4th Street Standard.

  • Martonis Pizza.

• Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram).

• Do you know someone who would make for a great The Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Tiffany Elder is a licensed general contractor, realtor and real estate investor/developer in Durham, North Carolina. She is the owner of Paradigm Construction (a design-build construction firm) and Paradigm Properties (a real estate brokerage firm). She also facilitates real estate ownership and investing seminars for residents.

Elder joins this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution to discuss her career path, how her various roles intersect, and the challenges and opportunities she’s faced in Durham.

To hear more from Elder, check out her Local-Motive session “Investing in Housing Development that Strengthens Neighborhoods Without Pushing People Out.” You can join live today at noon CDT or access the recording at any time in the Strong Towns Academy.

• Local recommendations:

  • Bar Virgil - Downtown.

  • Nzinga’s café.

  • Walk downtown.

  • Duke Gardens.

  • Tiffany Elder’s TEDx Talk.

• Tiffany Elder (website).

• Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram).

• Do you know someone who would make for a great The Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Jennifer Krouse is a real estate strategist and the CEO of Liberty House Plans, an architectural publishing house that provides architectural plans for neighborhood-friendly buildings. Previously, she served as a business advisor to real estate developers and a consultant in the field of municipal productivity. She is a member of the National Town Builders Association and holds a BA from Williams College and an MBA from the Stockholm School of Economics.

Krouse returns in this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution to dive deeper into what it means for an area to be productive. She and host Tiffany Owens Reed also discuss the importance of social capital and smart municipal investment strategies.

• Local recommendations:

  • Peter Pan Donuts.

  • Liberty House Plans.

  • Columns Jennifer has written for Strong Towns.

• Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram).

• Do you know someone who would make for a great Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Paloma Delgadillo is a council member in the city of Broomfield, Colorado. Originally from Texas, Paloma holds a B.A. in economics and a minor in statistics from the University of Chicago undergraduate program. She also earned a master’s degree in analytics from the University of Chicago Graham School.

In this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution, Delgadillo joins host Tiffany Owens Reed to discuss her efforts to make her city more resilient, including through parking reform.

To hear more from Delgadillo, sign up for next week’s Local-Motive session: “The Parking Revolution is Here. Is Your Community Ready To Sign On?”

• Local recommendations:

  • Arista Deli.

  • Proto's Pizzeria Napoletana.

• Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram).

• Do you know someone who would make for a great The Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Alec Davis is a native of Des Moines, Iowa, with a background in engineering and consulting. In 2018 he left the corporate world to venture out as an entrepreneur, starting a restaurant alongside his brother back home in Des Moines. In 2023, after learning more about zoning and advocacy, he started Momentum Des Moines, an urban advocacy organization.

On this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution, Davis joins host Tiffany Owens Reed to talk about Momentum Des Moines’ efforts to build a better city by working with local government to end car dependency and make the city more accessible for everyone.

• Local recommendations:

  • Dough Co. Pizza.

  • Des Moines Biergarten.

  • Lua Brewing.

  • Big Grove Brewing.

  • Bartenders Handshake.

  • Lucky Lotus.

  • Lachelle's.

  • Cheese Bar.

• Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram).

• Do you know someone who would make for a great Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

• Subscribe to The Bottom-Up Revolution on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Podbean or via RSS.

Jennifer Krouse is a real estate strategist and the CEO of Liberty House Plans, an architectural publishing house that provides architectural plans for neighborhood-friendly buildings. Previously, she served as a business advisor to real estate developers and a consultant in the field of municipal productivity. She is a member of the National Town Builders Association and holds a BA from Williams College and an MBA from the Stockholm School of Economics.

On this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution, Krouse joins host Tiffany Owens Reed to talk about the ways Liberty House Plans makes incremental development easier and less risky. They also discuss the art of placecraft — also known as placemaking — and the importance of places being productive.

• Liberty House Plans (site).

• Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram).

• Do you know someone who would make for a great Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Seth Zeren is a a neighborhood developer and founding member of Strong Towns, as well as a self-proclaimed recovering city planner and a writer at the Build the Next Right Thing Substack. A San Francisco native, Zeren now lives with his family in Providence, Rhode Island, where he works as an incremental developer.

Zeren returns in this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution to talk with host Tiffany Owens Reed about the political side of incremental development and how to deal with issues like balancing needed development with the increased property taxes that development usually brings.

• Build the Next Right Thing (Substack).

• Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram).

• Do you know someone who would make for a great The Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!