The Bottom-Up Revolution

Will McCollum is a registered architect and the president and co-founder of Citymakers Collective, a nonprofit that teaches aspiring architects and planners how to design resilient, beautiful and prosperous places.

He joins Tiffany on this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution to talk about what it takes to design environments for human flourishing, as well as the importance of educating the next generation of architects and planners.

Local Recommendations:

Piedmont Park

Bold Monk Brewing

The Works Food Hall

Citymakers Collective (Website)

Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram)

Do you know someone who would make for a great The Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Amy Emery is a community leader focused on fostering sustainable growth and smart development in Warrenville, Illinois. In today’s Bottom-Up Short, she joins Norm to discuss several initiatives the city is running, including an incubator program for local businesses and a zoning overlay that allows for mixed-use development.

Warrenville made it to the Sweet 16 in this year’s Strongest Town Contest, from a list of almost 40 nominees. There are many great lessons that cities of all sizes can learn from their hard work. Click here to read more about their progress, and remember to vote today in the Championship Round!

Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn)

Do you know someone who would make for a great The Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Sarah Rose is an artist from Spokane, Washington, who uses her art to raise awareness about street safety and the protection of native insects. She is active in her city’s Local Conversation, Spokane Reimagined, and often speaks with local reporters and at city council meetings. She joins Tiffany on this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution to talk about how the intersection of advocacy and art is driving change in Spokane.

Local Recommendations:

Pacific to Palouse Wine Bar

Page 42 Bookstore

Zola

“One Block Revolution” by Summer Hess

Connect with Sarah Rose:

Instagram

Website

Spokane Reimagined (Website)

Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram)

Do you know someone who would make for a great The Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Hannah Rechtschaffen is the director of the Greenfield Business Association in Greenfield, Massachusetts. She joins Norm on this episode of Bottom-Up Shorts to discuss the unique challenges and opportunities that Greenfield faces and how it’s becoming a stronger town.

Read more about Greenfield:

Hope for More Affordable Housing Options Is Growing in Greenfield (article)

Strongest Town Nomination

Visit Greenfield (site)

Feeling inspired? Vote for Greenfield in the Strongest Town Contest!

Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn)

Do you know someone who would make for a great The Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Kip Santos is a trained civil engineer and construction manager who quit his job to build Local Conversations full-time. Now he splits his time between the U.S. and Canada, nurturing the groups he's founded and building missing middle housing

In this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution, Santos talks about what inspired him to quit his job, what his different groups are working on, and how he became an small-scale developer.

The Strong Towns National Gathering is coming to Providence this June! Get your ticket today.

Local Recommendations:

Nitro Coffee Bar

East Bay Bike Path

Providence Athenaeum 

Del’s Lemonade

Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram)

Do you know someone who would make for a great The Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Sean Hayford Oleary is a city council member in Richfield, Minnesota. A Strong Towns member of seven years,  Hayford Oleary has helped reintroduce duplexes, reduce parking mandates, and support walkable, financially strong neighborhoods in his community. In this episode of Bottom-Up Shorts, he and Norm discuss the progress Richfield is making in becoming a stronger town.

Richfield made it to the Sweet 16 in this year’s Strongest Town Contest, from a list of almost 40 nominees. There are many great lessons that cities of all sizes can learn from their hard work. Click here to read more about their progress, and remember to vote next week in the Final Four matchup!

Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn)

Do you know someone who would make for a great The Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Montana Gau is the founder of Strong Denver, a Local Conversation in Colorado. A software engineer by trade, he built the group into a registered nonprofit with a board of directors and several hundred members. Now, city officials are reaching out to the group for collaboration on a variety of initiatives.

In this episode of the The Bottom-Up Revolution, Gau joins Tiffany to discuss Strong Denver’s origins and where the group is now. He talks about how his role shifted as the group grew, from advocating “on the ground” to creating a space where others can more effectively advocate, and the new challenges and opportunities he has because of it.

Local Recommendations:

Rino Neighborhood

South Broadway

Washington Park

Irish Rover Pub 

Strong Denver (Twitter/X)

Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram)

Do you know someone who would make for a great The Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Travis Goedken is the city manager of Decorah, Iowa. In this Bottom-Up Short, he joins Norm to talk about a few of the practices and reforms that are making Decorah strong, including making its budgeting easier to understand for residents, embracing a highly collaborative planning process, and opening up new housing options by finding creative loopholes in restrictive state laws.

Feeling inspired? Vote for Decorah in the Strongest Town Contest!

Travis Goedken (LinkedIn)

Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn)

Do you know someone who would make for a great The Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Ryan Andrews is the CFO of Hiatus Homes, a small-scale development company in Bend, Oregon. He is also the CFO of the Hiatus Capital Fund, which helps Bend locals invest in development projects in their own community. He’s managed more than 20 investment funds and syndications across real estate debt, equity and venture capital, and he specializes in capitalizing construction and development projects.

In this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution, Andrews discusses the importance of local investment and explains how to fund small-scale development in a way that channels profits back to locals, instead of outside investors. He and Tiffany discuss the success this model is having in Bend and how it could be replicated in other cities.

Feeling inspired? Vote for Bend in the Strongest Town Contest!

Local Recommendations:

Crosscut Pub

Mount Bachelor Community Inc.

Hear more about Hiatus Homes:

“The Bottom-Up Revolution Is...Making a Big Impact With Tiny Homes” (podcast)

Hiatus Homes (website)

Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram)

Do you know someone who would make for a great The Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

David Jenkins is a city councilor in La Plata, Maryland, as well as the city’s Local Conversation leader. He joins Norm on this episode of Bottom-Up Shorts to discuss his work with the city’s budget, particularly his efforts to share the city’s financial information with the community in a way that’s easy to understand and actually allows residents to participate in the budgeting process.

La Plata Financial Sustainability podcast

The Local-Motive session that inspired Jenkins: “Parsing Through Your Local Budget to Find Some Real Answers”

“You’ll Pay for This! How We Can Afford a Great City for Everyone, Forever” by Michel Durand-Wood

Learn more about:

Finance in a Strong Town

Local Conversations

Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn)

Do you know someone who would make for a great The Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!