Upzoned
Episodes
Why a Legal Home Addition Sparked Outrage in Fairfax County
17 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A multigenerational home addition sparked national attention and local outrage in Fairfax County, Virginia. Chief Technical Advisor Edward Erfurt sits...
Zoning Reform Is Only Step 1 in Fighting the Housing Crisis
10 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Utah wants to override local zoning to boost housing supply, but allowed by right doesn't mean possible in practice. Abby and Edward dig into the hidd...
What Happens When Official Decisions Clash With Community Traditions?
03 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Who decides when community traditions change? Lafayette, Louisiana, recently rerouted its Mardi Gras parade. The goal was to improve public safety, bu...
How To Fix Washington DC's New Rules for Outdoor Dining
26 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, we heard how DC's outdoor dining regulations threaten local businesses. Today, urban designers Abby Newsham and Edward Erfurt explore how D...
DC Is Charging Thousands for Outdoor Dining. Is This a Good Idea?
19 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Washington DC is charging restaurants thousands of dollars to keep their streateries — outdoor dining areas built during Covid-19. Are these fees fa...
5 Ways Ordinary People Are Making Their Places Stronger
12 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Abby is joined by Carlee Alm-LaBar, the chief of staff for Strong Towns, and John Reuter, advisory board member for Strong Towns. They discuss several...
Will Elon Musk's Data Centers Actually Help Memphis?
05 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Elon Musk's company xAI is building massive data centers in Memphis, promising economic transformation. But at what cost? Abby is joined by Strong Tow...
Historic Bridge Battle: Will 1 Town Profit While the Other Pays?
29 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Two towns, two states, and two historic bridges that nobody wants to pay for. Brattleboro, Vermont, wants to reactivate two historic bridges with a pe...
When a Town's Biggest Taxpayer Becomes Its Biggest Problem
22 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What do you do with 720,000 square feet of dead mall? Towns across America are struggling to find the answer as their malls shut down, leaving budget ...
2 Towns, 2 Responses to the Housing Crisis. Which Will Succeed?
15 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Littleton, Colorado, wants to ban everything other than single-family homes. The neighboring town of Lakewood wants to allow more housing variety. Nor...
Public Transit Will Collapse in a Year. Should We Save It?
08 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
By the end of 2026, many U.S. cities could see large parts of their public transit systems crumble under a lack of federal funding and a development p...
LA Just Avoided 1600 Layoffs. Is That a Good Thing?
01 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The city of Los Angeles recently announced that it saved 1,600 jobs that were at risk of being cut to balance its $1 billion budget deficit. But did i...
Tulsa Offers Remote Workers $10K To Move. Is It Paying Off?
24 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Tulsa Remote program pays remote workers $10,000 to relocate to Tulsa for a year. A study found that, for every dollar spent, Tulsa sees $4.31 in ...
Housing Supply Is About to Exceed Demand. Now What?
17 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As baby boomers downsize, relocate, or pass away, millions of homes are projected to rejoin the housing market by 2030, potentially exceeding housing ...
Can a Tax on House Flipping Stop Canada's Housing Crisis?
10 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For years, investors and speculators shaped Canada's housing market. But now, people who actually live in those homes are beginning to have more influ...
How Mortgage Fraud Makes the Housing Market More Expensive
03 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Several high-profile members of the government have been accused of committing mortgage fraud recently, including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton an...
Are Sponge Cities the Flood Control Fix We Need?
27 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Join Abby and guest John Pattison as they dive into the benefits and drawbacks of "sponge cities," cities that incorporate natural features like wetla...
Why Data Center Electricity Use "Scares Me to the Bone"
20 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Data centers power everything from cloud computing to artificial intelligence, and they use a massive amount of electricity, sometimes even rivaling m...
Why Colorado Is Facing a Senior Housing Crisis
13 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Colorado's population is rapidly aging. Soon, one in five people in the state will be be over 65 years old. Limited housing stock means seniors are st...
Why LA Is Struggling To Rebuild 6 Months After Wildfires
06 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In January 2025, wildfires swept across Los Angeles with record-breaking destruction. To encourage swift rebuilding, Governor Newsom suspended environ...
Want To Use This Rural Road? That’ll Be $50K
30 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 com...
Suburbs Broke the American Sunbelt. Now What?
16 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sunbelt cities like Phoenix, Dallas, and Atlanta have long prided themselves on having affordable and abundant housing. However, they’re now seeing ...
How To Stop Slumlords and Protect Urban Spaces
02 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today, Abby is joined by Bernice Radle, a small-scale developer and historic building preservationist from Buffalo, New York. They cover two developin...
A Strong Towns View of the New SpaceX Company Town
14 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Residents of Boca Chica, Texas, have voted to turn their community into a new official city called Starbase. This new municipality is tightly controll...
California Universities Face a $17 Billion Growth Ponzi Scheme
07 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Will Privatizing Mortgages Fix the Housing Market?
09 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 b...
Can We Take Community Wealth Back From Walmart and Kroger?
19 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 S...
What Does the Future Look Like for Tiny Towns?
05 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 re...
How a Popular Development Practice Backfires on Homeowners
26 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Residents of a neighborhood in Colorado are confronting a $434 million debt incurred by their community’s special taxing district, which was set up ...
How To Handle the Looming Shortage of Senior Housing
19 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
How To Reform Chicago Zoning: The Western Avenue Project
12 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ambi...
Why Massachusetts Might Sue Its Cities Over Zoning Codes
29 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In 2021, Massachusetts signed a law requiring communities that are served by the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) to legalize multifamily ho...
How Homeowner’s Insurance May Change in the Wake of California Wildfires
22 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In California, many major insurers have recently dropped homeowners in high risk areas from their plans, forcing them to seek alternate coverage with ...
Is Life More Difficult for Younger Generations?
08 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Upzoned, host Abby Newsham is joined by Kevin Klinkenberg, an urban designer, planner and executive director of a place management ...
Motivated Reasoning: The Psychology Behind Big Municipal Projects
04 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Upzoned, co-hosts Abby Newsham and Chuck Marohn talk about satellite communities — towns that are developed a distance away from ...
Urban Forests Are the Stroads of Urban Environmental Policy
27 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Canada needs an additional 3.5 million housing units by 2030, and that means Canadian cities — as well as many others throughout North America — a...
The Goldilocks Option: Why Townhouses Might Be Just Right for Housing Development
20 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Upzoned, host Abby Newsham is joined by Andrew Ganahl, managing partner of a real estate development company that specializes in ur...
Here’s Why You May See More Corner Stores in the Future
13 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 neighb...
Deferred Maintenance Dilemma: Why Florida’s Condo Market Is Floundering
06 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 upd...
Can “Urban Homesteading” Help Cities Fight the Housing Crisis?
23 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 “u...
What Is the Strong Towns Response to Natural Disasters?
16 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Editor's Note: We are deeply saddened to see the damage Hurricane Helene has done to Western North Carolina. Please see the additional notes for ways...
Can Vehicle to Everything (V2X) Technology Make Streets Safer?
09 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The U.S. Department of Transportation has announced a national deployment plan of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology, a wireless communication too...
From Silos to Success: How To Make City Building More Collaborative
02 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Upzoned, co-hosts Abby Newsham and Chuck Marohn discuss the article “Toward a New Way of Educating City Builders” by Seth Zeren...
Incremental Development: Ladies Power Hour
25 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Upzoned, host Abby Newsham is joined by small-scale developers Alli Quinlan and Bernice Radle. They discuss their experiences in th...
Is the American Dream out of Reach for Most People?
18 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Upzoned, co-hosts Abby Newsham and Chuck Marohn discuss a Wall Street Journal article titled “The American Dream Feels Out of Rea...
How To Build Better Places Through Small-Scale Development
11 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Upzoned host Abby Newsham and The Messy City Podcast host Kevin Klinkenberg are working together in a special collaborative episode. They a...
Fire Departments Can Help Make Streets Safer, and Here’s How
04 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Upzoned, co-hosts Abby Newsham and Chuck Marohn discuss the article “Huge Fire Trucks Are Making Us All Less Safe” by Collin...
Why Cities Need To Become More Family Friendly
28 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Upzoned, co-hosts Abby Newsham and Chuck Marohn talk about the rapid population decline of children under five years old in large u...
What Los Angeles Can Learn From Paris’ Olympic Village
21 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Upzoned, co-hosts Abby Newsham and Chuck Marohn talk about the Olympic Village that was built in Paris and what the city plans to d...
Indianapolis Empowers People and Drives Change Through Tactical Urbanism
14 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Indianapolis officials are encouraging residents to be involved in improving the city, both through fund-matching programs and by opening a lending li...
How To Handle Small-Scale Development Finance: Insights From Kansas City
07 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Upzoned, host Abby Newsham is joined by Jason Carter-Solomon, an incremental developer and commercial lender in Kansas City, to tal...
You Don’t Actually Want To Abolish Property Taxes, and Here’s Why
31 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This fall, seven states will have the opportunity to cut — or abolish, in some cases — property taxes, according to an article by Governing. In th...
Why New York City’s Traffic Congestion Plan Crashed and Burned
24 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The governor of New York recently announced the dissolution of the city’s congestion pricing program after years of planning and hundreds of million...
Faith in Action: How Religious Institutions Can Help Solve the Housing Crisis
17 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You’ve heard of YIMBYs and NIMBYs, but have you heard of YIGBYs? YIGBY stands for “Yes In God’s Backyard,” and it’s a movement focused on le...
The Dollar Difference: Why Rural Poverty Benefits Dollar Stores More Than Urban
10 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Upzoned, hosts Abby Newsham and Chuck Marohn discuss a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, “The Dollar-Store Showdown Comes Down...
How To Successfully Navigate the World of Incremental Development
03 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Incremental development is the most resilient and financially responsible way for communities to grow and improve. As North America struggles thro...
Doug Barrick: Building a Strong Town as a Member of Local Government
26 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Upzoned, host Abby Newsham is joined by Doug Barrick, the town manager of Rutherfordton, North Carolina. Rutherfordton was one of t...
Is the Non Profit Sector a Mess of 'Misconduct, Greed and Corruption'?
19 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Nonprofit organizations straddle the line between the private and public sectors, receiving both private donations and funding from the government to ...
An Inside Look at the Strong Towns National Gathering
12 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Last month, Strong Towns hosted the National Gathering in Cincinnati. It was a two-day event packed with different speakers and sessions, with many ad...
From Bike Lovers to Zoning Experts: The Voices of Strong Towns
22 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This special edition of Upzoned was recorded last week at the 2024 National Gathering. Join host Abby Newsham as she talks to attendees about their ef...
Cincinnati Pledges $200K in Funding for Popular Bikeshare Service
01 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The city of Cincinnati has pledged $200k to keep the popular bikeshare program Red Bike alive for another year. Joining us to talk about bikeshare pro...
Department of Justice Opens Criminal Investigation Into “Housing Cartel”
24 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The U.S. Department of Justice is opening a criminal investigation into a major software company called RealPage, which is described in the lawsuit as...
Inside the Notorious Gridlock of Colorado's I-70
17 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Since the 1970s, the number of cars on I-70 between Denver and its surrounding resorts have jumped more than 500%. Coloradans and frequent visitors kn...
“Redesigning” Cincinnati With the Connected Communities Plan
03 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Cincinnati is currently undergoing a significant planning reformation effort, which involves unveiling what’s being called the Connected Communities...
Our Financial System Favors Large-Scale Development…but at What Cost?
20 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Upzoned, host Abby Newsham and co-host Chuck Marohn are joined by Coby Lefkowitz, who penned the article that’s up for d...
Traffic Deaths Now Exceed the Number of Homicides in LA. This Initiative Aims To Change That.
13 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Upzoned, host Abby Newsham is joined by Michael Schneider, founder of Streets for All and the campaign manager for Healthy Streets Los An...
$350 Million Mixed-Use Development Presents a "Huge Opportunity" for South Bend, IN
06 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Upzoned, host Abby Kinney is joined by Mike Keen, a retired professor and incremental developer in South Bend, Indiana, to discuss a rece...
Could this New Approach to Public Housing Actually Work?
21 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A suburb of Washington, DC is exploring a new approach to creating more affordable housing through public-private partnerships. And it’s seeing succ...
Parking Minimums Might Be on the Way Out in Dallas
14 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Local officials in Dallas are considering eliminating minimum parking requirements in the city. The zoning ordinance advisory committee just voted to ...
Coming Back Down to Earth After a “Next-Level” Downtown Revitalization
07 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s Upzoned episode covers a story that sounded promising at the start: “The Town That Took Downtown Renewal to the Next Level”? Sounds ...
Today’s Generation of Families Are “Disillusioned” by Suburbia
31 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Five families from Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Pittsburg move to the suburbs in search of the American dream, drawn by promises of bett...
Millennials Are Fleeing Cities in Favor of the Exurbs
24 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Millennials are officially getting old. They’re having children, buying houses, and getting replaced by Gen Z in urban areas. As one article from Bu...
Ryan Johnson: Builder of the First Car-Free Neighborhood Made From Scratch in the U.S.
22 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Upzoned has been on a bit of a hiatus for the past couple of months, but we wanted to have at least one final episode of 2023 (and rest assured that t...
Transportation Meltdown: Children on the School Bus Till 10 p.m.
23 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Kentucky’s largest school system recently had to cancel the second and third day of classes due to what they're calling a disastrous overhaul of the...
Is Affordable Housing Possible Under Current Zoning Laws?
16 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Durham, North Carolina, is experiencing a hot debate over changing its zoning code. The proposed “Simplifying Codes for Affordable Development” (o...
Arizona Pushes for Suburban and Rural Development, Despite Dwindling Water Supply
26 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
State-level officials in Arizona are getting more serious about water scarcity issues, despite the still-booming growth pressures that exist there. So...
Atlanta’s New Idea To Address Their Housing Crisis
19 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The United States is in the midst of a housing crisis. More and more cities are recognizing that part of the issue is due to restrictive zoning laws, ...
The Invisible Reason for High Housing Prices: Restrictive Land-Use Regulations
05 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It is extremely difficult to build housing in Rhode Island. It’s also expensive to buy homes, with prices having increased by 34% since the summer o...
Why Can’t We Have the “Perfect” Neighborhood?
28 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“Who Can Afford America’s Perfect Neighborhood?” asks The Guardian. Longmont, Colorado, holds many elements of the American dream: tree-lined st...
Behind the Scenes at the Strong Towns National Gathering
22 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
At the end of May, Strong Towns hosted its inaugural National Gathering in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was a two-day event packed with different spe...
Live From the National Gathering
14 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A few weeks ago, the first Strong Towns National Gathering took place in Charlotte, NC. While people buzzed back and forth between sessions, Upzoned h...
Parking Regulations Threaten to Demolish Coffee Shop
17 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In Kansas City, Kansas, parking regulations have threatened to demolish a local coffee shop for a parking lot. An out-of-state developer is trying to ...
An Abandoned Downtown Equals a Pot of Gold?
03 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Not everyone who left the office for remote work returned after the pandemic lockdown ended. Many employees stayed remote, and, in doing so, they left...
One Reason American Architecture Is Considered Boring: Stairs
12 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever wondered why multifamily housing has the same, copied look in most places? Part of the reason is due to the way regulations require arch...
Cowboy Hotels for Housing Shortages
05 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Like all major cities in America, Seattle is facing a housing shortage. And 100 years ago, Seattle faced a housing shortage bigger than the one it has...
Homelessness in Rural America
29 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Homelessness in rural areas can look different than in bigger cities: as noted in a recent article by The Daily Yonder, rural homelessness is more “...
High-Income Earners Are Renting Instead of Buying Homes
22 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
High-earning Americans are renting instead of buying homes. Some even say they plan to rent indefinitely. Why is that? In this week’s Upzoned episod...
When a Building Is Demolished, What Should Happen to the Materials?
15 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“What happens when old buildings have reached the end of their life, either their useful life in terms of safety or their desirable life in terms of...
The 15 Minute City - A Good Life or an Infringement on Freedoms?
08 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The 15 Minute City: a term to describe mixed use neighborhoods, has become a political concept where critics believe the idea could result in an infri...
Whose Responsibility Is It To Ensure That Buildings Interact With the Public Realm in a Delightful Way?
01 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s important to build safe and productive streets, but how do we ensure those streets are a place people want to be and live in? Whose responsibil...
We’re Getting Worse at Construction Despite Technology Advances
15 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Despite global advantages and new technologies, we are getting worse at construction. At least, that’s the case that Ezra Klein makes in his New Yor...
Portland’s Cully Neighborhood To Use “The One Ring” for Good
01 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Portland’s Cully neighborhood is about to embark on a big urban renewal experiment with the intention of maintaining that area's current affordabili...
The Governor of Missouri Wants to Spend $859 Million on Highway Expansion
25 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The state of Missouri has a $6 billion budget surplus due to an increase in tax revenue and unspent federal aid. Governor Parson wants to use $859 mil...
The U.S. Is Running Out of Skilled Labor. Is It Gen-Z’s Fault?
18 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The U.S. is crying out, saying we NEED more carpenters, plumbers, and other people in skilled trades and technical industries—but the generation abo...
People Move to Places with Zoning Laws, Ergo Zoning Is Good?
11 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In a recent Planetizen article titled, “Is Exclusionary Zoning a Good Thing?” author Michael Lewyn examines a theoretical argument presented by Ju...
Thanks for a Great Year
19 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It's been a great year here on Upzoned; thanks for listening. We wanted to close out 2022 with one last message, and to wish you Happy Holidays and a ...
Homeowners Struggling to Get Insurance in Wildfire-Prone Colorado
07 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
An increasing risk of wildfires has made insurance carriers wary of certain areas in Colorado—according to a recent Denver Post article—raising th...
These 3 Cities Are Eliminating Parking Minimums. Are They Going About It the Right Way?
23 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It's #BlackFridayParking week at Strong Towns, which means we've got a special parking-related episode of the Upzoned podcast today. Host Abby Kinney,...
Why Is It So Expensive To Build Public Transit in the U.S.?
16 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A recent VICE article shares the conclusions of a report published by an NYU research group. The research, led by Alon Levy, spans some 15 years and d...
This Man Overcame Homelessness by Building His Own Tiny Home…on Hollywood Boulevard!
09 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
An army veteran who was homeless in Los Angeles got tired of having his tent cleared out by the city's sanitation teams...so he decided to build his o...