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Why American Cities Are Broke - The Growth Ponzi Scheme [ST03]

Not Just Bikes · explainer · Watch on YouTube

Transit, cities & urban planningMacroeconomics & financial crises

What it is

Not Just Bikes explains the Strong Towns argument that car-dependent American suburbs cost more to maintain than they generate in taxes. It describes the growth Ponzi scheme that props up municipal finances.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN keeps pointing to it as the clearest explanation of how low-density infrastructure is financed and why it is unsustainable.

  • 14 people recommended it
  • 10 different months
  • 2 strong recommendations
  • first 2021, last 2024

What HN commenters said

  1. “Not Just Bikes did an excellent series on this specific problem.”

    Explains cost of maintaining infrastructure to your house.

    kd913, 2022-03 · Strong recommendation · in “We can do better than “same, but electric””

  2. “I can't recommend this video [1] by Not Just Bikes enough.”

    Hidden costs of low density development.

    ARandumGuy, 2022-08 · Strong recommendation · in “Too many Americans live in places built for cars – not for human connection”

  3. “Here's a good overview of that”

    Overview of why low-density infrastructure costs exceed tax revenue.

    flaque, 2021-08 · Recommendation · in “To save California, sacrifice single-family zoning”

  4. “More info, and a very interesting video series here”

    Series on sparse areas' infrastructure costs.

    noahtallen, 2021-11 · Recommendation · in “Will real estate ever be normal again?”

  5. “In particular this one describes the financing of suburban infrastructure”

    Describes how suburban infrastructure is financed.

    jabl, 2022-02 · Recommendation · in “The End of Uber with Cory Doctorow”

  6. “You could also just watch this smug video”

    Sprawl drains finances of small cities.

    thethethethe, 2022-03 · Recommendation · in “US schools can subscribe to an electric bus fleet at lower prices than diesel”

  7. “There is a whole playlist about this”

    Playlist on services not charged at full cost.

    diebeforei485, 2022-04 · Recommendation · in “Tax the Land”

  8. “I feel like this video on city growth is relevant, and was pretty interesting”

    City design flaws drive construction and repair needs.

    Night_Thastus, 2022-06 · Recommendation · in “Construction is life”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: strong towns, urban planning, suburbs, infrastructure costs, car dependence

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