Friday, April 06, 2012

Urban density: “We really are kind of preachy, because we know it works.”

Thanks to council member John Gonder, who links to this article at his blog. Line to remember:

"Cities, (Joe) Minicozzi laments, are woefully ignorant about exactly which types of neighborhoods and development put the most financial strain on public coffers and which kick in the most money."

The Simple Math That Can Save Cities From Bankruptcy, by Emily Badger (The Atlantic Cities)

... We tend to think that broke cities have two options: raise taxes, or cut services. Minicozzi, though, is trying to point to the basic but long-buried math of our tax system that cities should be exploiting instead: Per-acre, our downtowns have the potential to generate so much more public wealth than low-density subdivisions or massive malls by the highway. And for all that revenue they bring in, downtowns cost considerably less to maintain in public services and infrastructure.

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