You've read Granola Shotgun. You've seen Johnny Sanphillippo on our website (including in an article just released today). You've heard him on the Strong Towns Podcast multiple times, and those interviews have each been hits with our listeners. So, we've invited him back again to chat with Strong Towns President Chuck Marohn.
For those who don't know yet, Johnny is a blogger and small-scale developer working with property in and around Madison, Wisconsin. His adventures (and sometimes misadventures) in the suburbs of Madison, along with traveling, interviewing others, and photographing places around the country, have all afforded him some interesting insights into the North American development pattern.
On this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, he shares his perspectives on “occupying” the suburbs on its own terms, the future of our relationship with the automobile, dealing with complex problems (especially when those problems become a crisis), "dystopian" views, intergenerational cooperation, and more.
Additional Show Notes:

Granola Shotgun


Johnny Sanphillippo (Twitter)


Charles Marohn (Twitter)

Johnny Sanphillippo: The Trajectory of Suburbia

We advocate for a model of development that allows our cities, towns and neighborhoods to grow financially strong and resilient.

Government

Megan Kimble is an Austin-based journalist and author who’s spent the last four years writing about urban highways and highway expansion in Texas. Today, she’s joining us to discuss her new book “City Limits: Infrastructure, Inequality, and the Future of America's Highways,” where she explores three highway projects in Austin, Dallas and Houston, and the different groups fighting to stop them.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

Megan Kimble (Website).


Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).


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Megan Kimble: The Toll Urban Highways Take and the People Fighting Back

The Messy City is a podcast that discusses urban planning and design issues. Its host, Kevin Klinkenberg, recently invited Strong Towns President Chuck Marohn to appear on an episode. It was a great conversation, so we’re sharing that audio with you here on the Strong Towns Podcast, too. Up for discussion today: takeaways from “Escaping the Housing Trap: The Strong Towns Response to the Housing Crisis,” the logistics of building new sports stadiums, and how Disney World simultaneously embodies and contradicts Strong Towns’ principles.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

Order your copy of Escaping the Housing Trap: The Strong Towns Response to the Housing Crisis today!


The Messy City podcast (Substack) .


Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).

How to Escape Housing (and Baseball Stadium) Traps, Plus a Little Disney Urbanism.

The Strong Towns approach to housing has some obvious tensions with NIMBYism, but what about YIMBYism? That’s the topic for discussion on the table for today’s episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, because while our approach has more in common with the YIMBY (“Yes in My Backyard”) crowd than differences, there are some nuances that are worth addressing. And if you want to take a serious deep dive into the Strong Towns approach to housing, then you’ll be glad to know that Escaping the Housing Trap: The Strong Towns Response to the Housing Crisis is going to be released tomorrow—so order your copy now!
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

Order your copy of Escaping the Housing Trap: The Strong Towns Response to the Housing Crisis today!


Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).

The Strong Towns Tension With YIMBYism

This week on the Strong Towns Podcast, host Chuck Marohn is joined by Alex Alsup of Regrid, an organization that, among other things, has put together the only 100% complete national parcel map for the United States. Alsup chats with us about this 10-year project and some of the data and analyses Regrid has gotten out of it—including what percentage of property in any given jurisdiction is locally owned, and the implications of these numbers.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

Check out the national parcel map here.


Click here to read Regrid’s “Owned Away From Home” report.


Find Alex Alsup via LinkedIn or his Substack, The Chargeback.


Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).


Pre-order your copy of Escaping the Housing Trap: The Strong Towns Response to the Housing Crisis today!

Alex Alsup: How Much of the U.S.'s Housing Stock Is Locally Owned?

As the U.S. enters another election year—one that is certain to be contentious—we know that many Americans are going to be engrossed in the conversation about national politics. And many of our readers want to know where Strong Towns stands on the issue. In this week’s episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, host Chuck Marohn responds to this question, and promises one thing above all else: we will remain dedicated to our mission, no matter what.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

Strong Towns is a bottom-up movement for change across North America. Join today!


Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).

Johnny Sanphillippo: The Trajectory of Suburbia

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