I'm not sure there's is actual disagreement here?

Strong towns I'm pretty sure intentionally chooses it's rhetoric to try to be more Republican compatible. (Strength, budgets, irresponsibility, etc.) But ultimately they are asking for a big pile of federal dollars, to rebuild cities/towns to be more compact and efficient, just like most everyone left of center.

I think it's good to point out we shouldn't just densify everything --- we already use too much land area. Some places need to densified, and others need to de-densified (remove housing and use for other purpose).