What does it mean to be a part of a bottom-up revolution? It's a fair question, especially if you’re new to Strong Towns. (Even Strong Towns president and founder Chuck Marohn recently pondered the question himself.)

Flashback eleven years when Chuck founded Strong Towns. At the time, the concept of a bottom-up revolution may have felt a bit abstract. He knew the top-down planning that embraced auto-oriented development and rejected effective public engagement bankrupted communities. But as more communities chose the status quo, Strong Towns had fewer opportunities to point and shout from the rooftops of a missing-middle home “Now that’s a bottom-up revolution!”

That all changed, however, when we created Local Conversations: groups of readers and members who share a geography and meet—either online or in-person—to discuss how the Strong Towns movement can make their community stronger. Today, we have 90 Local Conversations across North America leading bottom-up revolutions in their communities. And I’m telling you: take a moment to listen to how York XL founder Sal Galdamez engages his community, or how Bothellites for People-Oriented Places advocates for financial resiliency, and you’ll quickly learn why this movement prides itself on inspiring bottom-up revolutions.

That’s why, in the Strong Towns Facebook group, I interviewed Jordan Deffenbaugh, a Strong Towns member, and Julian Beaudion, member of Local Conversation Strong Towns - Sioux Falls, state trooper, and prospective council person. Like most communities across North America, Sioux Falls struggles to build community wealth. As Jordan laments in the interview below, city leaders see the 85% of tax revenue they spent maintaining and constructing roads as the means to create assets (when, in reality, we know they’re liabilities). And the city likely has a few stroads to address.

Yet Strong Towns - Sioux Falls responds in a way that, no matter your familiarity with the Strong Towns movement, reflects what it truly means to be a part of a bottom-up revolution: fostering a group of residents—from citizens to leaders, professionals to neighbors, and everyone in between—who inspire each other to do what they can to make their place stronger.

Enjoy the interview below with Jordan Deffenbaugh and Julian Beaudion. And, if you like what you hear, consider joining the Strong Towns movement today.