Charles Marohn (born 1973) is an American author, land-use planner, municipal engineer, and the founder and president of Strong Towns, an organization which advocates for the development of dense towns and the restructuring of suburbia.

Early life and education

Charles L. Marohn Jr grew up in

Baxter, Minnesota Baxter is a city in Crow Wing County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 7,610 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Brainerd Micropolitan Statistical Area. Minnesota State Highways 210 and 371 are two of the main routes in the ci ...

on a small farm. He graduated from Brainerd High School in 1991. Marohn received a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. In 2000 he became a licensed civil engineer in the state of

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, but he has since faced scrutiny by the state licensing board after an engineer from

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

reported Marohn after failing to renew his license, yet still titling himself as an engineer. Marohn viewed this action as a limitation upon his

first amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

rights because of his critical statements made about the practice of traffic engineering as well as his disapproval of

civil engineers This list of civil engineers is a list of notable people who have been trained in or have practiced civil engineering. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U ...

that he views as doing little to protect human life on roads.

Strong Towns

Marohn started Strong Towns as a blog in 2008. He was frustrated with projects he was working on which he believed were actively harming the places they were supposed to help. As he gained many readers, he realized there was a need for an organization that advocated the principles he espoused. Strong Towns became a non-profit organization to "support a model of growth that allows America’s towns to become financially strong and resilient." Marohn believes that post

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

suburban development has been a failure, due to it being inherently economically unsustainable. He posits that low-density communities do not produce the tax revenue necessary to cover either their current services, or the long-term costs of maintaining and replacing their services, and that suburbs are very difficult to adapt to an efficient, dense model because they were built as fully developed places. In 2011, he coined the word "

stroad A stroad is a type of thoroughfare that is a mix between a street and a road. The word ''stroad'' is a portmanteau of ''street'' and ''road'', coined by American civil engineer and urban planner Charles Marohn in 2011, as a commentary about p ...

," a street/road hybrid, which has become popular among urbanists and planners. According to Marohn, stroads are the "

futon A is a traditional Japanese style of bedding. A complete futon set consists of a and a . Both elements of a futon bedding set are pliable enough to be folded and stored away in a large during the day. This allows a room to serve as a bedro ...

" of transportation alternatives. "Where a futon is an uncomfortable couch that also serves as an uncomfortable bed, a STROAD is an auto corridor that does not move cars efficiently while simultaneously providing little in the way of value capture." In late 2015, Marohn participated in a

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

conference on rural placemaking.

Personal life

Marohn lives with his wife and two daughters in

Brainerd, Minnesota Brainerd is a city in Crow Wing County, Minnesota, United States. Its population was 14,395 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Crow Wing County. Brainerd straddles the Mississippi River several miles upstream from its confluence with ...

Publications

Books

*''Thoughts on Building Strong Towns, Volume I'' (2012) *''A World Class Transportation System: Transportation Finance for a New Economy'' (2014) *''Thoughts on Building Strong Towns, Volume II'' (2016) *''Thoughts on Building Strong Towns, Volume III'' (2017) *''Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity'' (2019) *''Confessions of a Recovering Engineer: Transportation for a Strong Town'' (2021)

References

External links

Strong Towns WebsiteWritings on Resilience
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marohn, Charles University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering alumni American writers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American urban planners Humphrey School of Public Affairs alumni