Principles of StrongTowns.org
Financial solvency is a prerequisite for long-term prosperity.
A transportation system is a means of creating prosperity in a community, not an end in itself.
Land is the base resource from which community prosperity is built and sustained.
Our community’s goal is to endure. We must generate enough revenue to cover expenses.
Local government budgeting is ongoing. When revenues do not exceed expenses, we do not close our doors or sell assets, we continue operating, often with reduced service quality.
Land is the base resource from which community prosperity is built and sustained.
A transportation system is a means of creating prosperity in a community, not an end in itself.
Land is the base resource from which community prosperity is built and sustained.
Farmers understand this. Open land is not simply future development.
Land must remain productive. We should not waste it, and we need to be intentional with the land within our municipal limits.
A transportation system is a means of creating prosperity in a community, not an end in itself.
A transportation system is a means of creating prosperity in a community, not an end in itself.
Job creation and economic growth are results of a healthy local economy, not substitutes for one.
Infrastructure should support wealth creation.
If it does not generate enough value to justify its cost, it is not a productive investment, it is consumptive spending.
Job creation and economic growth are results of a healthy local economy, not substitutes for one.
Job creation and economic growth are results of a healthy local economy, not substitutes for one.
Job creation and economic growth are results of a healthy local economy, not substitutes for one.
Pursuing growth or jobs at any cost can lead to insolvency.
When we focus on financial productivity, growth may be slower, but it will be stable and lasting. Small, steady improvements add up over time.
Strong cities, towns, and neighborhoods cannot happen without strong citizens (people who care).
Job creation and economic growth are results of a healthy local economy, not substitutes for one.
Strong cities, towns, and neighborhoods cannot happen without strong citizens (people who care).
A strong community depends on local government serving its residents and working with them to shape the place we share.
Residents may not design infrastructure, but they understand how their environment affects them and how they want their community to feel.
Local government is a platform for Strong Citizens to collaboratively build a prosperous place.
Job creation and economic growth are results of a healthy local economy, not substitutes for one.
Strong cities, towns, and neighborhoods cannot happen without strong citizens (people who care).
Local government works best when it moves beyond serving customers and actively engages residents, bringing decision making closer to the people.
By focusing on those who care and participate, we shape Bellevue intentionally and create a community by our own design.
The Strong Towns Approach
Core Insights
- Stop valuing efficiency and start valuing resilience.
- Stop betting our futures on huge, irreversible projects, and start taking small, incremental steps and iterating based on what we learn.
- Stop fearing change and start embracing a process of continuous adaptation.
- Stop building our world based on abstract theories, and start building it based on how our places actually work and what our neighbors actually need today.
- Stop obsessing about future growth and start obsessing about our current finances.
Strong Towns is a member-powered movement for change. Be an advocate for change with a new way of thinking about the way we build our world.
Not Just Bikes, a popular YouTube channel on urban planning and walkable cities.
