The following recap was provided by Beth Warren.
The Strong Towns National Gathering was held May 14-15 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Over 500 attendees met to discuss ways to make our places more resilient, productive, and vibrant. There were so many interesting topics and engaging speakers on the agenda, it was hard to choose which sessions to attend. Some key takeaways for me were:
- The importance of blending the tactical and the practical when building a stronger place
- Remembering the importance of authenticity
- Advocacy is a marathon, not a sprint
- A good litmus test for creating more walkable, connected communities is to ask whether a proposed design change rewards the short trip and active transportation
- Meaningful, permanent improvements can begin as temporary projects completed with materials that are inexpensive and readily available
It was a fun gathering of friendly, optimistic, committed advocates, and Cincinnati is a delightful city. Congratulations to the City of Maumee, Ohio, for being named the winner of the 2024 Strongest Town competition! Be sure to follow Strong Towns for information on next year’s National Gathering in Providence, Rhode Island.
