# Do our communities need better hardware or better software?

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-messy-city-podcast-6070040/do-our-communities-need-better-hardware-or-better-software
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-messy-city-podcast-6070040/do-our-communities-need-better-hardware-or-better-software.md
Podcast: [The Messy City Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-messy-city-podcast-6070040)
Published: 2026-03-03T14:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://kevinklinkenberg.substack.com/p/do-our-communities-need-better-hardware
Audio file: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/189673273/cc00f0180fc41ed2e788a007ccfcb2a1.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-messy-city-podcast-6070040/episodes/do-our-communities-need-better-hardware-or-better-software
Duration seconds: 4057

## Resource

Longtime friend-of-the-pod Abby Newsham returns, on her hiatus from the popular Upzoned podcast. Abby is a practicing planner in Kansas City with Olsson Associates . Abby is very active working with communities leading planning charrettes, and we talk at length about what a charrette actually is, the value of it, and why doing charrettes can actually give you hope that people can solve problems together. Then we talk about Billy Cooney’s article that was republished in Southern Urbanism , called, “Zoning Won’t Save Us, ” which is basically on piece on why we over-rely on technocratic solutions to problems that are actually very human. I might say, you can’t solve a culture problem with a technical manual. Find more content on The Messy City on Kevin’s Substack page . Music notes: all songs by low standards, ca. 2010. Videos here . If you’d like a CD for low standards, message me and you can have one for only $5. Intro: “ Why Be Friends ” Outro: “ Fairweather Friend ” Get full access to The Messy City at kevinklinkenberg.substack.com/subscribe

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## Transcript

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