In an endorsement of Charles Marohn's new book
Strong Towns, A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity, Jeff Speck, author of Walkable City and Walkable City Rules, writes, "Somewhere between Small is Beautiful and Cities and The Wealth of Nations can be found the gem of Strong Towns, our current moment's most cogent, practical, and necessary response to the problem of urban economics."
While I can't quote Schumacher's Small is Beautiful chapter and verse, I do know that Jane Jacobs thinking is baked-in to Strong Towns thinking. Speck's point is perceptive. Among the several ways Marohn’s book impresses, informs, and challenges one finds the influence of Jacobs’ thinking, particularly, and this is rare and timely, her insights into the economics of resilient city building, Cities and the Wealth of Nations certainly, also The Nature of Economies. ("...nature affords foundations for human life and sets its possibilities and limitations," Jane Jacobs, The Nature of Economies)
Ernest Hemingway is often quoted saying that
going broke happens gradually then all at once. Going broke gradually, so gradually you’re not quite aware of it is a central theme here and the alarm is raised that what Strong Towns has long called the Ponzi Scheme of post WWII development will bankrupt our cities if we don't take strong action now.
"There are city politicians who will justify the same thing [demolitions of old viable buildings and sprawling growth for profit’s sake] by saying it increases the tax base. This short run increase of a tax base is one of the most destructive ideas that ever hit a city. You can increase the tax base of a city and at the same time create so many problems that no amount of increased taxes is going to be able to contend with them.” Jane Jacobs, 1971, National Film Board, City Limits.
Marohn writes, "In the context of human history, the [post WWII] North American development pattern is the largest human experiment ever attempted. In the blink of an evolutionary eye, we have transformed everything about how we live, get around, interact with each other, make decisions, conduct commerce, fall in love, and countless other aspects of human existence." We've traded the stable wealth of the traditional incremental development model for new growth, growth without the revenue-generating potential to ever meet the long-term obligations incurred... "
Any community serious about their own financial stability is going to take the obvious first step and stop adding more liability."
If you ask City Councillors and City admin managers, they will almost without exception describe themselves as fiscal conservatives. And yet multiple tens of millions of dollars are spent by these folks on infrastructure without a credible analysis of return on investment. Every public investment must return not only its capital cost and future maintenance costs but also, and this is key, a contribution to the overall prosperity of the community. Where any infrastructure investment does not do this "other places in the system must produce excess wealth to make up the difference."
Can a sprawling city like Nanaimo with such a low population density (only 997 people per sq km, City of Victoria : 4400 people per sq km, White Rock : 3900 people per sq km—2016 Census) hear what Marohn is saying? Unlikely. "Most cities prioritize maintenance based on the incorrect assumption that they are going to maintain everything they have built, that it is all worth maintaining, and that any future shortfalls can be solved by future decision makers. Intentional or not, this mindset embraces a long decline. A different approach is needed."
