Join ASCE Minnesota and the Legislative Committee for a lunch presentation by the non-profit advocacy organization, Strong Towns on Dec. 12th! Strong Towns produces content that analyzes the failures of the post-war North American development pattern while giving citizens the knowledge and tools to start making our places better today. This meeting will be held at Barr Engineering's office located in Minneapolis and lunch will be provided. This event qualifies for 1.0 PDH credit!
Topic: "Infrastructure Crisis"
For more than six decades, local governments have been accustomed to building infrastructure and expanding existing systems. While liabilities have grown, transportation funding has not kept up. Now there is a desperate need for local governments to change their approach. We need to shift our strategy from an emphasis on continuous expansion to a more mature focus on maintenance and maximization of existing infrastructure. In difficult economic times, this is a scary, but necessary, realignment.
There are trillions of dollars of unproductive infrastructure already in the ground today waiting for us to make better use of. At Strong Towns, we see that our cities, towns and neighborhoods are dripping with opportunity. These opportunities are not of the mega-project variety. They are small -- seemingly beneath us, perhaps -- but they can positively transform everything about how we live our lives.
Speaker Bio: Charles L. Marohn, Jr.
Charles Marohn, known as “Chuck” to friends and colleagues, is the founder and president of
Strong Towns. He is a civil engineer and a land use planner with decades of experience. He
holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning,
both from the University of Minnesota. He has presented Strong Towns concepts in hundreds of cities and towns across North America. Planetizen named him one of the 10 Most Influential Urbanists of all time.
Marohn is the author of:
- Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity
(Wiley, 2019)
- Confessions of a Recovering Engineer: Transportation for a Strong Town
(Wiley, 2021)