10 – Chuck Marohn of Strong Towns

Kevin sits down with (fellow engineer) Chuck Marohn from Strong Towns to talk about recognizing our delusions, admitting failure, and embracing the "chaos" of bottom-up action at the local level.

Here are some highlights from the discussion:

• When optimism becomes delusion for city administrators.


• The ways that many engineers and other professionals have built up natural defense mechanisms to avoid acknowledging failure and fallibility.


• The common myth in Texas and other high growth areas that "fast growth will continue indefinitely and it will solve all our problems"—and the two possible ways it could end.


• Not learning lessons from major events: droughts and near-bankruptcies.


• The social and economic results of "slash-and-burn city development."


• Why city leaders should be more supportive of the short-term "chaos" of bottom-up action—and more wary of the long-term chaos of rigid order.


• How affluence makes people and cities less adaptive—and how small, early failures can build resilience.

Links:

• Chuck's Strong Towns podcast episode on the peak delusion of the long emergency


• Kevin's post for Strong Towns last year: How Strong Towns changed the way I view development


• Reflections on the Strong Towns North Texas Regional Gathering - Ivy Vann

The Go Cultivate! podcast is a project of VERDUNITY. Learn more at verdunity.com. Find our other episodes and blog posts at GoCultivate.org.

(The music in this episode is from Custodian of Records.)