[4] According to Strong Towns, the group seeks to end highway expansion; encourages localities to use transparent accounting practices in showing the financial impacts of infrastructure, especially suburban infrastructure; build incremental housing; build safe, productive, and human-oriented streets; and end parking mandates and subsidies.

[7][1] Marohn is a former professional engineer and city planner,[8] and the organization is headquartered in his home town of Brainerd, Minnesota.

[9] Prior to Strong Towns, Marohn started the Community Growth Institute, his own planning firm, in the early 2000s.

Frustrated at officials in these cities resisting change, and feeling the impacts of the 2007–2008 financial crisis, Marohn was spurred into starting a blog to bring attention to these concerns.

[12] Strong Towns members are primarily from the US and Canada as historically both nations adopted shared approaches to transportation engineering, city planning and zoning during the 20th century.