Students Who Got a Sidewalk Built in 14 Days

Students Who Got a Sidewalk Built in 14 Days

Author: Strong Towns June 2, 2026 Duration: 22:09
Evan Clark and Natalie Eger are college students studying sociology in Lexington, Virginia, and they came back from the 2025 National Gathering in Providence, RI fired up to do something. In the past year they've built a thriving local conversation group, turned a city council member into a regular at their monthly meetings, and had a broken sidewalk fixed fourteen days after they flagged it. They walk through how they started from scratch, made real change at the local level, and kept people showing up month after month. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Strong Towns Lexington Introduces Community Planning Initiative to City Council (Article) Strong Towns Lexington (Site, Instagram) Evan Clark (LinkedIn) Natalie Eger (LinkedIn) Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn) Do you know someone who would make for a great Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here.   This podcast is made possible by Strong Towns members. Thank you! Join fellow members discussing this episode in The Commons.

There’s a quiet shift happening in neighborhoods and city halls across the continent, a push to rethink what makes a place thrive. The Bottom-Up Revolution, from the team at Strong Towns and hosted by Tiffany Owens Reed, dives into that shift by sharing real stories from within the movement. Instead of grand top-down plans, this podcast focuses on the tangible, often overlooked work of everyday people who are rolling up their sleeves to foster economic resilience right where they live. Each conversation explores the practicalities-how someone identified a small, solvable problem in their community, the steps they took to rally their neighbors, and the challenges they faced turning an idea into reality. You’ll hear about the messiness of local advocacy, the importance of building connections to create lasting influence, and the personal lessons learned along the path to a stronger town. It’s a resource for anyone who believes change starts on their own street, offering not just inspiration but a sense of shared struggle and possibility. Tune in for a candid look at the grassroots work that’s quietly reshaping our cities and towns, one concrete action at a time.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

The Bottom-Up Revolution
Podcast Episodes
The New Brutally Honest City Simulator [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 16:57
Most city-building games let players draw roads, place buildings, and watch a convincing skyline appear. Cristian Gonzalez kept noticing what was missing: homelessness, discrimination, parking, disconnected jobs, and the…
Who Pays When the Highway Gets Bigger? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:28
A wider highway promises faster trips, new investment, and billions of dollars flowing into Houston. Susan Graham and Ally Smither have spent years asking who receives those benefits and who is asked to move, breathe mor…
Why City Hall Is So Hard to Navigate [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 17:57
Residents are often told to get involved at City Hall, but first they have to figure out where to go, who has authority, and which committee will actually hear them. Jacob Hyman learned that firsthand when his attempt to…
Can a Front Yard Bring the Village Back? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:43
In most suburban neighborhoods, a corner store or small commercial space can feel years away, even when residents want places to gather and local businesses need somewhere to begin. Rather than wait for a zoning change,…
Car Ownership Versus the Promise of Convenience [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 16:16
Andrew Price spent nine years living without a car in Hoboken, New Jersey, where most daily trips could be handled on foot or by transit. Once he bought a car, even routine outings came with a new calculation: where he w…
Where Did the Village Go? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:43
Modern family life offers mothers an endless supply of services meant to make isolation more manageable, but Lauren Penn began wondering why so much support had to be purchased in the first place. After a violent crash n…
Your City Said It Wants Public Input, Now What? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:01
Cities regularly ask residents for feedback, especially when budgets tighten or difficult tradeoffs approach. Norm and Mary Kate Norton look at what changes when people respond as an organized group instead of a collecti…
The Vacancy Problem Artists Can Help Solve [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:43
Vacant commercial space can drag down a street, but Evan Snow sees something else: a chance to make room for local artists, small businesses, and community life. As co-founder of Zero Empty Spaces, Snow helps transform e…
Can Your City Answer This Sidewalk Question? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 18:42
When Washington state asked which residents had access to frequent transit, it ran into a surprisingly basic problem: that question is hard to answer without knowing where sidewalks, crossings and curb ramps actually are…
Could These Parking Spaces Be Homes? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:18
Fayetteville, Arkansas, is growing fast, and housing is getting harder to build. Clark Eckels and Nathan McCloskey of Fayetteville Strong talk about Rethink the Lot, a tactical urbanism pop-up that turned downtown parkin…