3 ms·

I get the idea but I don't feel like "stroad" is really compelling jargon. These guys need a Frank Luntz-like figure to come up with a better name.

karmakaze 3y ago
Similarly the 'strongtowns' naming doesn't elicit anything positive/meaningful to me. And if a stroad is the flavor of them, then I'm not interested.
- jimbob45 3y ago
  Their subreddit activity agrees with you. Posts get little to no traction on a regular basis. That said, their model of change is murky. On one hand, they seem to want to be governmental consultants and on the other hand, they want to educate the citizenry on how to advocate for more robust city design. The middle road they’ve taken between those two doesn’t really fit anyone.
  - martijnvds 3y ago
    So it's more like a .. middle stroad?
- vortegne 3y ago
  Perhaps if branding and terminology nitpicks are scaring you away, then maybe you never cared about the issue in the first place. Is suboptimal branding really something that should keep you from being engaged with important things? What does it say about us that this is normal behavior now?
  - karmakaze 3y ago
    I'm interested in the problems--what turned me off was the stroads proposal. The bad naming of strongtowns is just a passing comment on the jargon.
  - emodendroket 3y ago
    I imagined the object of writing this article and sharing it was convincing people who, indeed, don’t yet “care about the issue.” If the point is just preaching to the choir, sure, don’t worry about it.
- 15457345234 3y ago
  The jargon bothers me as well, though I figured they picked the weird word so they could use analytics to see how well their concepts are spreading and being repeated. Sometimes something just has a weird... vibe... for want of a better word, and this gives that in a big way.
NoMoreNicksLeft 3y ago
It's ok. They'll make up a new word next year when this one flounders. There will also be one that's a mashup of "garage" and "funroom", to try to make you feel like a fool for wasting square footage on the garage.
- vortegne 3y ago
  "Stroad" has been in use for more than a decade by now.
n8cpdx 3y ago
On the contrary, the term has been effective in raising awareness of terrible street design, and has exploded in interest (as far as these things go) in recent years. Trending awareness: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=Stroad https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=... It has come up in a few places including successful articles in Vox (e.g. https://www.vox.com/23178764/florida-us19-deadliest-pedestrian-fatality-crisis https://www.vox.com/23178764/florida-us19-deadliest-pedestri... - I heard about this from a podcast episode completely unrelated to this subject area). It has a Wikipedia page - this concept did not have a Wikipedia page before this concept was coined. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroad https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroad
- cyberax 3y ago
  The term is pure propaganda, nothing more. I propose we call high-rises "human anthills" and bike lanes in most cities as "emplanes" ("for empty space lanes").
- emodendroket 3y ago
  But you’ll notice the Vox article highlights in the headline and early on that the routes are deadly, something not really conveyed here.
masklinn 3y ago
I think it works: a stroad is not compelling, and the word does elicit a dissonance which matches the physical structure.
- stephen_g 3y ago
  Exactly, it’s supposed to be an ugly word to mirror the ugly thing it describes.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
lamontcg 3y ago
The problem I've got is that colloquially in my brain street and road are pretty interchangeable. The thing they're calling a "road" I would call a highway or a freeway, I'd happily call either a street or a highway a "road". So my brain gets stuck on the pam "they're the same picture" meme. And it doesn't matter how wikipedia defines them or whatever, nobody needs to bother pointing out their definitions, my point is that colloquially I certainly grew up using them completely interchangeably. So now you're stuck both re-educating me on words that I've used incorrectly for decades while introducing a brand new mashup word. Then you have to start teaching why the mashup word is useful. I'm perfectly fine to accept it and move on myself, but I think in the larger scheme of things this argument is going to land on some obstinate fucks who will just drag people into arguing that "streets are just roads, so the term stroad is stupid". And generally we're stuck in this country between people who enjoy precision and exactness and fairness in language and think its the foundation on which everything is built, and other people who don't see the importance. Since we both speak English we miss the fact that we're not talking the same language and attempts at persuasion aren't working at all.

karmakaze 3y ago

Similarly the 'strongtowns' naming doesn't elicit anything positive/meaningful to me. And if a stroad is the flavor of them, then I'm not interested.

jimbob45 3y ago
Their subreddit activity agrees with you. Posts get little to no traction on a regular basis. That said, their model of change is murky. On one hand, they seem to want to be governmental consultants and on the other hand, they want to educate the citizenry on how to advocate for more robust city design. The middle road they’ve taken between those two doesn’t really fit anyone.
- martijnvds 3y ago
  So it's more like a .. middle stroad?
vortegne 3y ago
Perhaps if branding and terminology nitpicks are scaring you away, then maybe you never cared about the issue in the first place. Is suboptimal branding really something that should keep you from being engaged with important things? What does it say about us that this is normal behavior now?
- karmakaze 3y ago
  I'm interested in the problems--what turned me off was the stroads proposal. The bad naming of strongtowns is just a passing comment on the jargon.
- emodendroket 3y ago
  I imagined the object of writing this article and sharing it was convincing people who, indeed, don’t yet “care about the issue.” If the point is just preaching to the choir, sure, don’t worry about it.
15457345234 3y ago
The jargon bothers me as well, though I figured they picked the weird word so they could use analytics to see how well their concepts are spreading and being repeated. Sometimes something just has a weird... vibe... for want of a better word, and this gives that in a big way.

NoMoreNicksLeft 3y ago

It's ok. They'll make up a new word next year when this one flounders. There will also be one that's a mashup of "garage" and "funroom", to try to make you feel like a fool for wasting square footage on the garage.

vortegne 3y ago
"Stroad" has been in use for more than a decade by now.

n8cpdx 3y ago

On the contrary, the term has been effective in raising awareness of terrible street design, and has exploded in interest (as far as these things go) in recent years. Trending awareness: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=Stroad https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=... It has come up in a few places including successful articles in Vox (e.g. https://www.vox.com/23178764/florida-us19-deadliest-pedestrian-fatality-crisis https://www.vox.com/23178764/florida-us19-deadliest-pedestri... - I heard about this from a podcast episode completely unrelated to this subject area). It has a Wikipedia page - this concept did not have a Wikipedia page before this concept was coined. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroad https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroad

cyberax 3y ago
The term is pure propaganda, nothing more. I propose we call high-rises "human anthills" and bike lanes in most cities as "emplanes" ("for empty space lanes").
emodendroket 3y ago
But you’ll notice the Vox article highlights in the headline and early on that the routes are deadly, something not really conveyed here.

masklinn 3y ago

I think it works: a stroad is not compelling, and the word does elicit a dissonance which matches the physical structure.

stephen_g 3y ago
Exactly, it’s supposed to be an ugly word to mirror the ugly thing it describes.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

lamontcg 3y ago

The problem I've got is that colloquially in my brain street and road are pretty interchangeable. The thing they're calling a "road" I would call a highway or a freeway, I'd happily call either a street or a highway a "road". So my brain gets stuck on the pam "they're the same picture" meme. And it doesn't matter how wikipedia defines them or whatever, nobody needs to bother pointing out their definitions, my point is that colloquially I certainly grew up using them completely interchangeably. So now you're stuck both re-educating me on words that I've used incorrectly for decades while introducing a brand new mashup word. Then you have to start teaching why the mashup word is useful. I'm perfectly fine to accept it and move on myself, but I think in the larger scheme of things this argument is going to land on some obstinate fucks who will just drag people into arguing that "streets are just roads, so the term stroad is stupid". And generally we're stuck in this country between people who enjoy precision and exactness and fairness in language and think its the foundation on which everything is built, and other people who don't see the importance. Since we both speak English we miss the fact that we're not talking the same language and attempts at persuasion aren't working at all.