How to Speak Libertarians' Language for Planning

Many planning policies, like zoning rules and parking minimums, undermine traditional "Main Street"-style development and, in fact, make the Strong Towns ethos more palatable to Libertarians.

August 29, 2013, 8am PDT | Alek Miller

In this post from Strong Towns Blog, Andrew Burleson describes how he finds common ground with Libertarians when he is explaining the Strong Towns message. This is the second in a series of articles on understanding the political languages that different groups find compelling.

"Libertarians tend to have mixed reactions to the Strong Towns Message. On the one hand, true libertarians are naturally skeptical of big government and big business, and not terribly shocked by the financial data we're sharing. It isn't hard for them to imagine that unwise government spending and the big business that capitalizes on it have created an economic Ponzi scheme. The idea that towns should focus on local productivity tends to go over pretty easily as well."

"I find most Libertarians see the development pattern primarily as a lifestyle choice, which therefore means it represents the outcome of 'freedom', which would mean a different development pattern is a form of 'coercion.' Where I have found the biggest breakthrough is talking through the countless forms of coercion that have been used to bring about our current development pattern, much of which the public at large is not aware of."

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Strong Towns for Libertarians

Published on Tuesday, August 20, 2013 in Strong Towns Blog