ÜBER DIESE EPISODE
For generations, cities were built by the people who lived in them. That's why so many of our most beloved neighborhoods feel like quilted fabrics of architectural styles, mixed uses, interwoven public spaces, and human-scale details. These vibrant neighborhoods weren't delivered all at once through a single master plan — they emerged gradually through incremental urban development, one building, one block, one local investment at a time.
But somewhere along the way, building small became harder. Harder for local developers and entrepreneurs to shape the places they live. Harder for neighborhoods to evolve incrementally. And easier for growth to be defined only by scale.
Today, many communities say they want more housing, more walkable neighborhoods, more local character, and more vibrant main streets. But too often, the systems shaping urban development and city projects only make room for the biggest players and the largest deals — leaving small-scale, sustainable development on the sidelines.
So what would it look like to reopen the door to small-scale urban development?
In this episode, host Kate Gasparro sits down with Jim Heid — founder of Building Small, developer, strategist, and author of Building Small. Jim has spent years championing a different approach to growth: human-scale projects, adaptive reuse, local ownership, and the idea that smaller developments can create outsized impact on neighborhoods and local economies.
Together, Kate and Jim explore what "building small" actually means, why today's development system favors scale, the barriers small builders and lenders face, and what developers, planners, urbanists, real estate professionals, and everyday city lovers can do to help create more vibrant, sustainable neighborhoods in their own communities.
Resources:
Building Small: Tools for Doing Development Different (Jim Heid)
Where did all the small developers go? (Strong Towns)
Why small developers are getting squeezewd out of the housing market (Coby Lefkowitz)
The lost art of small-scale development (Jim Kumon, Incremental Development Alliance)
How 'Developer' became such a dirty word (NY Times)
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