Strong Towns, Charles L. Marohn, Jr.
Strong Towns, Charles L. Marohn, Jr.
1 Rating(s)
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
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Strong Towns
A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity

Author: Charles L. Marohn, Jr.

Narrator: Matthew Boston

Unabridged: 7 hr 26 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Kalorama

Published: 11/05/2019


Synopsis

Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Build American Prosperity is a book of forward-thinking ideas that breaks with modern wisdom to present a new vision of urban development in the United States. Presenting the foundational ideas of the Strong Towns movement he cofounded, Charles Marohn explains why cities of all sizes continue to struggle to meet their basic needs, and reveals the new paradigm that can solve this longstanding problem.

You'll learn why inducing growth and development has been the conventional response to urban financial struggles—and why it just doesn't work. New development and high-risk investing don't generate enough wealth to support itself, and cities continue to struggle. Listen to this book to find out how cities large and small can focus on bottom-up investments to minimize risk and maximize their ability to strengthen the community financially and improve citizens' quality of life.

Strong Towns acknowledges that there is a problem with the American approach to growth and shows community leaders a new way forward. The Strong Towns response is a revolution in how we assemble the places we live.

About Charles L. Marohn, Jr.

Charles L. Marohn, Jr., is the president and cofounder of Strong Towns, a nationally recognized nonprofit media organization working to shape the conversation on growth, development, and the future of cities. Strong Towns supports a model of development that allows America's cities, towns, and neighborhoods to grow financially strong and resilient.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Ryan on September 26, 2020

Did not finish. I wanted to like this book. I even agree with most of it! To be fair, the central insight - that planned neighbourhoods aren't able to pay for themselves, with disastrous consequences - is very good. It seems unintuitive to think that affluent-seeming suburbs are really a pyramid sche......more

Goodreads review by Anne on January 21, 2020

My husband Will surprised me with a new urban planning book for Christmas, and I enjoyed reading this over our holiday break. The author, a Minnesotan who's been an urban planner for several decades, argues that our cities are on the verge of a long, slow decline, and that any solution needs to begi......more

Goodreads review by Jas on May 24, 2022

Edited to add: I listened to the audio book. Ok, so I've been on my city's planning commission for a few years. I've been introduced to many of the Strong Town tenets through my trainings, so I decided to read the book. I agree wholeheartedly with Marohn's call for cities to be self-sufficient and t......more

Goodreads review by Ian on January 27, 2021

I recently started reading posts on Charles Marohn's website, strongtowns.org, and so I decided to read the book behind the website. I think more urbanists and city planners should read this, as it makes some essential points about the fallacy of seeking growth to pay for infrastructure, the need to......more

Goodreads review by Brandon on October 29, 2019

I've been a fascinated follower of the Strong Towns blog for years, and count Chuck Marohn as one of my favorite contemporary thinkers. Not only are his insights novel and prescient, but he comes from a place of down-to-earth morality and honesty that couches his arguments in a place of authentic in......more