# Strong Towns

8 Hacker News commenters recommended Strong Towns and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended for accessible arguments that towns should be built to look beyond cars and stay financially sustainable. Critics say its analysis is motivated and pushes a fixed vision.

## Why people recommend it

- Compelling critique of car-centric planning (2 comments): "I think strongtowns were very good advocates of what places in America could like if you look beyond cars." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47799438)) "I find the arguments of Strong Towns and Not Just Bikes quite compelling" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47172204))
- Accessible reading recommended for officials (2 comments): "There's plenty of material there that targets a popular audience that covers this subject." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47425045)) "should be prerequisite reading for any council member, mayor, or board member" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46827081))
- Pointed to as a go-to resource (2 comments): "I want to step in here and point to Strong Towns." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46829010)) "See Strong Towns the book." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49741230))

## What people warn about

- Seen as motivated or biased (3 comments): "they seem to clearly be pushing for a specific vision regardless of facts" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47160610)) "Strongtowns seems a bit motivated in their analysis, to put it mildly." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47159964)) "strong towns is not honest about it though" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46029954))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [LWN.net subscription](https://hackerapproved.com/p/lwn-net.md): 53 recommend
- [Quanta Magazine](https://hackerapproved.com/p/quanta-magazine.md): 36 recommend
- [Low-tech Magazine](https://hackerapproved.com/p/low-tech-magazine.md): 15 recommend
- [IEEE Spectrum](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ieee-spectrum.md): 6 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Strong Towns", https://hackerapproved.com/p/strong-towns/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).