🎙️ Replay Now Available! Join Live Every Wednesday on Zoom!
Hosted by Edward Erfurt and Norm Van Eeden Petersman
In this Ask Strong Towns Anything session, members wrestled with questions about how to activate downtowns, nurture small-scale businesses in an online-shopping era, and push back when cities prioritize fringe development over downtown reinvestment. We also dug into the messy realities of public engagement, election cycles, and what it takes to motivate real conversations about community challenges.
Whether it’s fostering “we before me” collaboration, moving a curb during reconstruction, or pushing back on empty storefronts, this session highlighted the hard but hopeful work of everyday people.
🔍 Whether you're a city planner, small business owner, activist, or just care about your place, you’ll find ideas here to spark action in your community.
Key Takeaways
Small business resilience: Members explored how to incubate small-scale businesses despite the dominance of online retail. Chuck Marohn’s reminder stood out: “In order to progress, modern society should be treating ruined entrepreneurs in the same way we honor dead soldiers.”
Downtown vs. fringe development: Saeed V. shared his city’s redevelopment proposal near a business park. He asked the critical question: Why invest at the edge instead of strengthening downtown? Norm pointed to Medicine Hat’s data showing older downtown properties can outperform shiny new developments.
The “We vs. Me” problem: RL M. observed, “Business owners will come to an economic development seminar to figure out how to increase business. But they don’t want to bother creating energy with their surrounding area…they just want to increase their business.”
Public engagement pitfalls: Members discussed how many city processes are designed to bury problems—especially near elections. “Everything is tucked away in silos,” RL M. added. “The goal (for me) is opening windows in all those silos.”
Civic resilience: From smaller fire trucks (Jaye H.) to longer council terms (Chesla A.), participants emphasized incremental changes that build long-term capacity.
Resources Shared in This Session
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On small business and mixed use:
Large-Scale, Small-Scale — Addison Del Mastro on the reality of small business survival.
In Praise of the Corner Store — Why small mixed-use buildings matter.
Communities Need to Make Space for Entrepreneurs — Chuck Marohn’s call for cities to create space for small-scale risk-takers.
Small-Scale Manufacturing: A Key to Revitalizing Your Downtown — Ilana Preuss on local economic redevelopment.
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On downtown revitalization:
The Urban Revival Triangle — New and unique businesses are key to shifting perceptions of downtown.
Low-Cost Pop-Up Shops Create Big Value in Muskegon — How quick, cheap experiments breathe life into places.
Empty Commercial Storefronts — Why vacant downtown spaces matter.
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On engagement and governance:
Most Public Engagement is Worse Than Worthless — Rethinking how cities ask for input.
Fine-Grained vs. Coarse-Grained Urbanism — Why messy, human-scaled development works.
Citizen Development: Higher Value Per Acre — Why old downtowns often outperform new edge development.
Flushing Success Down the Toilet — On embracing failure as a learning opportunity.
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On street design and infrastructure:
Reconstructing the Street? Move the Curb — Don’t miss the chance to reconfigure for long-term savings and safety.
Engineers Should Not Design Streets — Why streets must be human-centered.
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Community examples and inspiration:
Delta Optimist: Faster Action on Housing Solutions — An example of citizens pressing candidates to embrace incremental housing and mobility change.
Danny Schaible’s Bottom-Up Street Design Team — How one resident mobilized dozens of neighbors to rethink stroads.
Jaime Izurieta: Bottom-Up — Lessons on creating vibrant downtowns from the ground up.
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