A couple weeks ago, Chuck Marohn shared an image on Facebook that sparked a contentious conversation. It was an illustration of a potential retrofit project, turning a suburban big box site into a slightly denser — but still quite auto-oriented — development. Comments rained in from other Strong Towns advocates, many in agreement, others pushing back. Then the developer who originally posted the image called us and asked to talk. So we invited him onto our podcast.
Bob Barber is a founder partner at Orion Planning+Design, a Mississippi native and the former planning director for the City of Hernando, MS. In this conversation with Chuck Marohn, Barber discusses the challenges and different approaches to pushing for change in smaller, more suburban communities. In his experience, the people who approach change from a positive angle in the communities where he works have a much better chance of building a strong town than the people who begin by putting the community down and pointing out where it has gone wrong.
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Chuck Marohn Answers Your Questions
Ryan Crane: Malpractice and Accountability in Engineering—A Surgeon’s Take
An Update and the Strong Towns Strategic Plan
“How Can My Town *Not* Be Wealthy When There’s Been So Much Growth?”
Annamarie Pluhar: Shared Housing Doesn’t Have to Be Scary
The Latest Update on the Strong Towns Lawsuit
Truth in Accounting: Making Cities’ Finances Transparent for All
Jeff Speck on Confessions of a Recovering Engineer
Chuck Marohn Answers Your Questions
Jarrett Walker: ”Prediction and Freedom Are Opposites”
Peter Norton: The Illusory Promise of High-Tech Driving
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Tim Soerens: Reconnecting Churches with Their Neighborhoods
Two Different Languages
Which Wins Out: An Engineer‘s Discretion or a Book of Standards?
Another Tragedy at Springfield
The Hidden Values Behind Our Unsafe Streets
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