America’s development pattern looks like growth, but often doesn’t pay for itself. Urban planner and civil engineer Chuck Marohn of Strong Towns explains the growth Ponzi scheme, why places like Buffalo and Jackson, Mississippi have more infrastructure than wealth, and why he favors thickening neighborhoods over endless outward expansion. Also: how his view differs from the abundance movement, the limits of local government on big industrial projects, and what a successful Strong Town would a...

Civility is not politeness, compromise, or “finding common ground.” In a polarized country—where fights over immigration, gender, public meetings, and online pile-ons feel existential—Aaron Renn talks with Carmel, Indiana city councilor and civic leader Jeff Worrell about what it actually takes to disagree hard without destroying the relationship. Worrell, founder of Project Civility, argues that it's possible to "bring the heat," but not burn the house down. They cover internal posture (goo...

Aaron Renn talks with technology and media writer James Poulos about Human Forever — and why the real digital disaster is not a future AI apocalypse, but a transformation that has already happened. Poulos argues that the print-and-television age ran on imagination (“if you can dream it, you can do it”). Computational technology flipped that. Machine memory now dominates: infinite archives, permanent records, surveillance, and a culture of searching and scrolling instead of dreaming. Tha...

Is local leadership declining, even in America’s fastest-growing cities? Aaron Renn sits down with Mark Barbash, a longtime economic development professional in Columbus, Ohio, to examine the quiet crisis of civic and corporate leadership. They discuss how generational change, corporate consolidation, shifting philanthropy, and a K-shaped economy are weakening the institutions that once held cities together—while headline growth continues. Using Columbus, Ohio as a case study, they ...

In this week's episode, I'm sharing an appearance I made on Faithful Discourse with Chris Henry, the senior pastor of Second Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis. For more about this church and our conversation, you can see the write up I did on my web site: https://www.aaronrenn.com/p/the-reckoning-is-here

Economist Arpit Gupta joins Aaron to break down the future of American cities after remote work, office real estate collapse, and the rise of AI. From the “Urban Doom Loop” — where falling commercial property values crush city tax revenue and trigger a vicious spiral — to surging suburban housing prices, office-to-residential conversions, and the transformative potential of autonomous vehicles, this conversation covers the biggest forces reshaping urban America. Will AI supercharge white-co...

In this powerful conversation, Delano Squires, Director of the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Human Flourishing at The Heritage Foundation and author of The Vanishing Black Family, breaks down the dramatic collapse of the Black family — from stable two-parent homes in the 1940s-1950s to today’s 70% out-of-wedlock birth rate. Delano explains how slavery deformed but did not destroy the Black family, but how the combination of 1960s welfare policies and new ideologies worked to undermine it...

How did “disinformation” become the all-purpose explanation for American politics? In this eye-opening conversation, journalist Jacob Siegel reveals how a century-old progressive vision of expert rule evolved into today’s censorship-industrial complex — from Woodrow Wilson’s propaganda machine to the Hunter Biden laptop suppression and beyond. Siegel, author of the new book The Information State, traces the hidden history of information control and explains how governments and tech platforms ...

Is AI the next great labor shock — and are we about to repeat the mistakes of NAFTA? Aaron Renn talks with Brent Orrell, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, about what AI is already doing to the workforce, why this time the disruption is hitting knowledge workers first, and why human formation may be the most valuable asset in an AI-infused world. Brent Orrell studies the future of work and AI at AEI and previously served for years at the U.S. Department of Labor. He is launc...

Aaron Renn sits down with Seth Barron, Associate Editorial Page Editor at the New York Post and author of Weaponized: The Left's Capture and Destruction of America's Sacred Institutions. They discuss how cherished American myths have been twisted to weaponize key institutions — policing, borders, public safety, housing, education, and civic life itself. From “defund the police” and anarcho-tyranny in New York City to open borders, the erosion of assimilation, and the battle over American ide...