Strong Towns - New Thinking about La Plata’s Growth

Given La Plata’s present growth pressures, I want to talk about Strong Towns, established in 2009, this is a national non-profit organization, promoting a new way of thinking about how towns grow, to be sustainable and resilient communities. 

Their website -https://www.strongtowns.org/

Strong Town Principles:

·         Strong cities, towns, and neighborhoods need strong citizens working together to improve the community. 

·         Local government is not the lowest level of government, but the highest level of collaboration for strong citizens working to build a prosperous place. 

·         For local government, financial solvency is a prerequisite for long-term prosperity. Land is the base resource from which community prosperity is built and sustained. It must not be squandered. 

·         A transportation system is one of many means of creating prosperity in a community, but never an end unto itself. 

·         Job creation and economic growth are the results of a healthy local economy, not substitutes for one.

The Strong Town Approach:

·         Relies on incremental investments ("little bets") instead of large, transformative projects. 

·         Favors resiliency of result over the efficiency of execution. Is designed to adapt to feedback, to evolve over time to meet the changing needs of the community. 

·         Is inspired by bottom-up action ("chaotic but smart") and not top-down systems ("orderly but dumb"). 

·         Seeks to conduct as much of life as possible at a human scale. 

Is obsessive about accounting for its revenues, expenses, assets, and long-term liabilities ("do the math 

https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2019/10/9/we-need-growth-but-only-if-it-generates-real-wealth