A Conservative's Manifesto Against Sprawl

Kaid Benfield, on first discovering the Strong Towns ideals as espoused by Chuck Marohn:

I was intrigued, because this economic argument, while not entirely new, was coming from a new voice, and from someone who had not, as far as I could tell, come up through the usual channels of planning schools and smart growth activism.

[…]

Chuck is now a star among people who think about towns and cities, in great demand as a consultant and speaker, which he clearly enjoys. In my opinion, his emergence as someone worth paying attention to is not just because he is such an earnest, nice guy (although that’s part of it), but also because his plain, easy-to-understand logic about public spending and return on investment is so consistent, and insistent. Somewhere along the line he and the Congress for the New Urbanism discovered each other, and that has been to the benefit of both.

I think what makes Chuck so compelling is his ability to take these pretty complex concepts and weave a coherent, logical, and simple narrative throughout the various facets of making great places. I love that Chuck provides an entirely different perspective on the issues but arrives at generally the same conclusions. That, to me, is proof that creating great places is not a political issue but a human issue. We need ideas from all sides and we may find that even though we start at opposite ends of the spectrum we all end up closer together than we thought.

I’m looking forward to reading Chuck’s new book: Thoughts on Strong Towns - even more so after reading Kaid’s great overview and review of the book.

You can get the paperback version or the kindle version from Amazon.