Ep.15 - Building Towns for People, Not Cars: How Casey Roloff Made New Urbanism Real at Seabrook
What if the real fix for America’s housing challenges isn’t just more supply, but better-designed towns?
In this episode, Nadine and Ryan sit down with Casey Roloff, the visionary behind Seabrook, Washington, a walkable coastal town built from scratch on the principles of New Urbanism. From starting with a $500 land option and a cold-calling hustle, Casey shares how his early experiences shaped a mission to build places that prioritize people over cars.
They explore why free “third places” are the social infrastructure we overlook, how zoning and capital markets make human-scale communities harder to replicate, and what developers often miss when trying to foster authentic connection. Casey also shares lessons from studying towns abroad, what he’d do differently if he built Seabrook today, and why the future of housing may look a lot more like the past.
This episode is for anyone rethinking what livability actually means and how to build communities that feel like home from day one.
Show Notes:
1:30: Best practices for the conference circuit
6:20: The birth of cars and the death of town building
9:17: Why we need a different kind of town
11:02: How growing up with limited resources inspired Casey to build a new kind of town
19:20: From painting houses for college tuition to designing and building houses
25:35: Let’s build a town! New Urbanism and Seaside, FL 2
29:35: From vision to reality; designing the town Casey wanted to live in
37:05: The biggest misstep in modern day American developments
42:15: What policy updates are needed to bring back the art of town building?
48:26: Striking the balance between effective town building and technology
55:00: Drawing inspiration from international travels for domestic town building
59:39: A preview of Casey’s Blueprint talk
1:00:46 How does Casey unplug?
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