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PODCAST

Upzoned

Sometimes, a hot new story will cross our desks that we need to talk about right away. That"s where Upzoned comes in. Join Multistudio"s Abby Newsham, Strong Towns President Chuck Marohn, and other guests to talk in depth about one big story from the week in the Strong Towns conversation, right when you want it: now.

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All Episodes

50:20

Want To Use This Rural Road? That’ll Be $50K

Upzoned ·

2025/07/30

In Lincoln County, South Dakota, a growing agriculture company is being charged $50,000 annually for wear and tear on township roads caused by the company's trucks and machinery.Abby and Edward discuss the balancing act between infrastructure costs and municipal budgets, especially in rural areas with few taxpayers. They explore the public process behind this kind of decision and offer suggestions on how it could be improved. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES “Milk facility to pay $50,000 for road use” by

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53:40

Suburbs Broke the American Sunbelt. Now What?

Upzoned ·

2025/07/16

Sunbelt cities like Phoenix, Dallas, and Atlanta have long prided themselves on having affordable and abundant housing. However, they’re now seeing stagnation in housing construction and rapidly rising costs. Today, Abby is joined by Rachel Leonardo, a trained architect and Strong Towns’ video creator, to discuss how rigid single-use zoning has locked cities into expensive fragility. They explore whether these cities can course correct and how they could become more resilient and prosperous in the

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01:01:43

How To Stop Slumlords and Protect Urban Spaces

Upzoned ·

2025/07/02

Today, Abby is joined by Bernice Radle, a small-scale developer and historic building preservationist from Buffalo, New York. They cover two developing stories: First, a new bill was proposed that would give the Buffalo housing court more power to sell or repair buildings taken from absentee or negligent landlords. Second, the Historic Preservation Fund is currently at risk.Bernice and Abby discuss how these changes could affect small-scale developers and historic preservationists. Bernice also

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43:36

A Strong Towns View of the New SpaceX Company Town

Upzoned ·

2025/05/14

Residents of Boca Chica, Texas, have voted to turn their community into a new official city called Starbase. This new municipality is tightly controlled by SpaceX leadership and most residents are SpaceX employees, which has raised concerns about the reemergence of company towns.In this Upzoned episode, Abby is joined by our Chief Technical Advisor Edward Erfurt to discuss the Strong Towns perspective on this story. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES “Elon Musk’s company town: SpaceX employees vote to create

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55:57

California Universities Face a $17 Billion Growth...

Upzoned ·

2025/05/07

As of the 2023-24 academic year, the University of California faces $9.1 billion in deferred maintenance, while California State University faces $8.3 billion. In today’s episode, Chuck and Abby explore how this problem arose, how it mirrors the challenges cities are facing, and what it'll take to manage this decline.ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES “Inside a $17 billion maintenance backlog plaguing California’s universities” by Victoria Mejicanos, Matthew Reagan and Mercy Sosa, CalMatters (April

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58:37

Will Privatizing Mortgages Fix the Housing Market?

Upzoned ·

2025/04/09

President Trump has proposed the privatization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, organizations that back the majority of mortgages in the U.S. and have been under a government conservatorship since the 2008 financial crisis. In this Upzoned episode, Chuck and Abby discuss the proposal and how it would affect the housing market.ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES “How Trump plans to get government out of the mortgage business” by Paige Sutherland and Meghna Chakrabarti, WBUR On Point (March 2025). Abby Newsham

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48:57

Can We Take Community Wealth Back From Walmart and...

Upzoned ·

2025/03/19

In this Upzoned episode, Abby is joined by Strong Towns Chief Technical Advisor Edward Erfurt to discuss the emergence of food deserts in the United States. In the 1980s, the U.S. government stopped enforcing price discrimination laws, letting large supermarkets use their size to leverage better prices from suppliers. This led to the closure of many small, independent groceries and helped create today's food deserts.Abby and Edward discuss the shift from grocery stores being neighborhood assets to

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55:14

What Does the Future Look Like for Tiny Towns?

Upzoned ·

2025/03/05

Co-hosts Abby Newsham and Chuck Marohn discuss the challenges faced by Victoria, Prince Edward Island, a town in Canada that only has 139 full-time residents. In an attempt to attract new residents, the town has adopted its first five-year development plan.Chuck and Abby talk about how very small towns like Victoria show the absurdities of the Suburban Experiment best — and feel its consequences most keenly. They explore what the future could look like for communities like this and emphasize the

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45:49

How a Popular Development Practice Backfires on...

Upzoned ·

2025/02/26

Residents of a neighborhood in Colorado are confronting a $434 million debt incurred by their community’s special taxing district, which was set up by developers to finance the neighborhood’s infrastructure. A group of neighbors are now organizing to take control of the district’s board and try to bring transparency to the financial situation.In today’s episode of Upzoned, Abby is joined by Edward Erfurt, Strong Towns’ chief technical advisor. They discuss how using special taxing districts to fund

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42:21

How To Handle the Looming Shortage of Senior Housing

Upzoned ·

2025/02/19

The U.S. senior housing market is poised to shift from a surplus to a shortage in the next five years, as the oldest baby boomers turn 80 by 2030. In this Upzoned episode, Abby is joined by Norm Van Eeden Petersman, Strong Towns’ director of Movement Building. They unpack the implications of this market shift and discuss what building more options for older adults could look like.ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES “Aging Boomers Are About to Rekindle the Senior-Housing Market” by Peter Grant, The Wall Street

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40:04

How To Reform Chicago Zoning: The Western Avenue Project

Upzoned ·

2025/02/12

In this episode, Abby is joined by Chicago aldermen Matt Martin and Andre Vasquez to discusses the Western Avenue corridor study, one of the most ambitious planning efforts Chicago has seen in decades. It includes widespread rezoning reform, and it also addresses affordable housing, economic vitality and transit efficiency. The aldermen share their approach to rezoning, emphasizing the importance of a community-first approach.ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES “Let’s fix Western Avenue and make Chicago

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52:04

Why Massachusetts Might Sue Its Cities Over Zoning Codes

Upzoned ·

2025/01/29

In 2021, Massachusetts signed a law requiring communities that are served by the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) to legalize multifamily housing development near MBTA transit stations. Recently, a state court ruled that the state has the authority to sue cities and towns that don’t comply.In this episode of Upzoned, Abby and Chuck discuss whether that’s a good idea, the broader trend of states intervening in city zoning practices, and how the root issue is actually poor transportation

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41:06

How Homeowner’s Insurance May Change in the Wake of...

Upzoned ·

2025/01/22

In California, many major insurers have recently dropped homeowners in high risk areas from their plans, forcing them to seek alternate coverage with the state. However the state has nowhere near enough money to cover current property damage costs, a situation that will likely get worse as wildfires continue to burn.In this episode of Upzoned, co-hosts Abby Newsham and Chuck Marohn discuss the impact of natural disasters on the insurance industry, the feasibility of government-run insurance

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38:32

Is Life More Difficult for Younger Generations?

Upzoned ·

2025/01/08

In this episode of Upzoned, host Abby Newsham is joined by Kevin Klinkenberg, an urban designer, planner and executive director of a place management organization. They discuss how a middle-class life — especially homeownership — has become increasingly difficult for younger generations to attain. They also cover the factors that contribute to this difficulty and possible responses.ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Transcript available on our site. “Is a Middle Class Life Still Attainable?” by Tom Owens,

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01:01:33

Motivated Reasoning: The Psychology Behind Big...

Upzoned ·

2024/12/04

In this episode of Upzoned, co-hosts Abby Newsham and Chuck Marohn talk about satellite communities — towns that are developed a distance away from existing urbanized areas. They also discuss the psychological phenomena that incline people toward big projects that may solve an immediate issue (such as housing) but will cause larger difficulties later on (such as maintenance debt).ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES “Tewin's $590M infrastructure bill locks in 'forever sprawl,' councillor says” by Arthur

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43:41

Urban Forests Are the Stroads of Urban Environmental...

Upzoned ·

2024/11/27

Canada needs an additional 3.5 million housing units by 2030, and that means Canadian cities — as well as many others throughout North America — are facing the challenge of building more housing without wasting natural resources like mature trees. In this episode of Upzoned, co-hosts Abby Newsham and Chuck Marohn discuss this balancing act, the high value that trees bring to a community, and why sacrificing “urban forests” for housing doesn’t have to mean sacrificing those trees.ADDITIONAL SHOW

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40:39

The Goldilocks Option: Why Townhouses Might Be Just...

Upzoned ·

2024/11/20

In this episode of Upzoned, host Abby Newsham is joined by Andrew Ganahl, managing partner of a real estate development company that specializes in urban infill housing. They discuss a Washington Post article about townhouses, exploring the benefits of this style of development and Ganahl’s own experiences with building townhouses in Kansas City.ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES “The new American Dream should be a townhouse” by Amanda Shendruk and Heather Long, The Washington Post (October 2024). Andrew

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45:44

Here’s Why You May See More Corner Stores in the Future

Upzoned ·

2024/11/13

Post-COVID-19, there’s been a resurgence of interest in mixed-use neighborhoods, leading some cities to allow for small corner stores even in neighborhoods that are otherwise residential only. In this Upzoned episode, host Abby Newsham is joined by Norm Van Eeden Petersman, the director of membership and development for Strong Towns. They discuss the role that small corner stores play in local economies, the benefits of allowing residents to continue using and creating these kinds of businesses, and

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58:11

Deferred Maintenance Dilemma: Why Florida’s Condo...

Upzoned ·

2024/11/06

After the collapse of a Florida condo made national news in 2021, new safety regulations were enacted, requiring nearly 90% of Florida units to be updated. This left condo owners and buyers blindsided by a large backlog of deferred maintenance costs with no money saved to pay for them.In this episode of Upzoned, co-hosts Abby Newsham and Chuck Marohn explain that this situation is an example of the Growth Ponzi Scheme, where maintenance costs are hidden by rapid growth until they eventually come

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48:36

Can “Urban Homesteading” Help Cities Fight the...

Upzoned ·

2024/10/23

In this episode of Upzoned, host Abby Newsham is joined by John Anderson, a builder and developer in Georgia, to discuss the Strong Towns take on “urban homesteading,” where cities sell derelict houses to people for $1 in exchange for a promise to renovate the property and live there for a period of time.ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES “Can Selling Off Homes for $1 Solve Urban Blight?” by Rowan Bridge, BBC (October 2024). Abby Newsham (X/Twitter). Chuck Marohn (X/Twitter). Theme Music by Kemet the

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167 results

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