Basement Office

Strong Towns TEDx Talk

I’ve been behind on things and just got the chance to watch this:

Chuck Marohn of Strong Towns recently took his message to the TEDx 1000 Lakes event in Grand Rapids, MN. His talk, titled “The Important Difference Between and Road and a Street,” is a another good primer on the principles behind his group (also not to be missed is the Curbside Chat companion booklet that was recently released).

I’m a big believer in what he’s saying and have tried, with middling levels of success, to use their ideas to influence discussion of local issues in the places where I’ve lived. It was especially entertaining and gratifying, then, to see the main street of Wahpeton, my hometown, being held up as an example of what not to do. Check out the 5:44 mark for a redux of this gem of a photo.

Perhaps the best thing to come out of this project is the realization that we should never do something like this again.