The Strong Towns Podcast

Kevin Klinkenberg, urban designer and director of Midtown KC Now who hosts the Messy City podcast, talks about why local action beats waiting for permission. He explores incremental developers, place-based entrepreneurship, and devolving city power to neighborhood groups. They examine incentives, starter homes, and how messy, bottom-up efforts shape lasting urban change.

Tony Dutzik, senior policy analyst at Frontier Group known for transportation research and exposing highway boondoggles. He traces the messy history of the gas tax and federal highway funding. They discuss urban damage from interstates, the 1970s transit funding pivot, repeated Highway Trust Fund bailouts, and big choices about devolving funding to states versus national priorities.

Jim Wunderman, president of California Forever and longtime Bay Area business leader, outlines plans for a new planned city in Solano County and large-scale solutions to California’s housing-job imbalance. Discussion contrasts building a brand-new town with maturing existing neighborhoods. Topics include mid-rise housing, CEQA and permitting reform, local finance challenges, and mobilizing pro-housing coalitions.

Geoff Cooper, chief executive of New Zealand’s Infrastructure Commission, leads the National Infrastructure Plan and advises on asset strategy. He explains why maintenance and renewals dominate costs. The plan reframes choices about big new projects, growth on the fringe, and who ultimately pays. It stresses better asset data, portfolio thinking, and realistic spending limits.

Michel Durand-Wood, author and civic commentator who writes on municipal finance, describes realizing cities can be structurally insolvent. He discusses how service cuts and rising costs revealed deeper fiscal design problems. They cover urban form, infrastructure burdens like roads and pipes, the limits of efficiency fixes, and small, local actions that nudge long-term financial resilience.

They compare three lenses on the housing crisis: supply shortages, demand pressures, and a finance-focused view of hidden capital flows. Listeners hear metaphors for unseen financial forces that amplify booms and deepen busts. The conversation spotlights local tactics, why single-policy wins often fail, and a strategy centered on incremental, neighborhood-scale change.

A rethink of America’s transportation priorities and why the interstate program outlived its purpose. A look at how federal funding and grant structures favor big expansion over local maintenance. Proposals to shift responsibility to states, prioritize stewardship, and align money with safety, walkability, and community needs.

Chuck Marohn, founder of the Strong Towns movement and former civil engineer turned planner, shares his journey from small-town engineering to advocating financially resilient communities. He contrasts Jane Jacobs’ humble incrementalism with Robert Moses’ technocratic master plans. The conversation covers how cheap money favors big projects and chains, why local capacity matters, and why Gen Z gives him hope.

A reflection on where the movement stands in 2026 and how strategy has shifted from traffic to deeper membership engagement. Growth of local groups worldwide and new tools like the Finance Decoder and housing toolkits get spotlighted. Plans for city partnerships, national campaigns on highway policy and parking mandates, and upcoming gatherings and training programs are previewed.

In this episode, Matt Steele, a Brainerd-area resident and transportation advocate, joins to discuss the proposed highway interchange in Baxter. They dive into the hidden costs of this safety upgrade, exploring the rapid suburban development and its implications. Public perception of traffic safety sparks debate, while the complex design features like roundabouts face cultural resistance. They examine the influence of local businesses, the effectiveness of public engagement, and question whether the project truly benefits the community.