Urbanism ROI

Two names absolutely essential to any discussion of urbanism's Return On Investment (ROI) are Charles Marohn and Joe Minicozzi. Charles (or "Chuck" to his friends) founded Strong Towns and Joe is a founder of Urban 3. They are considered prophets of doom by conventional planners and developers because they have done the math, and the numbers show that any city built primarily on the patterns of sprawl has an expiration date when it will go bankrupt because the infrastructure of sprawl always has a negative ROI. The only question is how quickly a city's doomsday will arrive. Places built on the compact, mixed-use, and walkable patterns of traditional urbanism, on the other hand, will likely thrive long into the future of our distant descendants. So there is no question more important to a municipality than which pattern of development to choose for its yet-undeveloped land.

Strong Towns is a burgeoning media empire unlike any other of its focus with reams of content and a network of local communities exposing the Ponzi Scheme of Sprawl and its countless repercussions. Urban 3 is tightly focused on urban analysis, capable of creating mind-blowing graphic representations of exactly how and why your municipality is losing money and which patterns it should emulate to turn the tide. These two organizations are as strongly complementary in their products and content as any you are likely to find.