Suburbia is Subsidized: Here's the Math [ST07]

Car-dependent suburbia is subsidized by productive urban places. That's why American cities are broke. But how bad is it, and who is subsidizing who?

Urban3 is a consulting company that helps cities better understand the economic impact of development. They have worked with many American cities to better understand and visualize the costs of development, and uncover which properties are productive, and which are not. Some municipalities have been willing to share that information, and it has provided a fascinating glimpse into the financial problems caused by sprawling car-centric suburban development.

This video explores some of the cities analyzed by Urban3, and provides some lessons that cities should learn about how to build Strong Towns.

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NJB Live (my bicycle livestream channel):

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Additional Reading & References:

The Real Reason Your City Has No Money
Strong Towns

Poor Neighborhoods Make the Best Investments
Strong Towns

About Urban3
Urban3 takes a different approach to land value economics, property and retail tax analysis, and community design. They empower communities with new insights into their own data. Their work makes a quantifiable case for better city planning, urban design, and smarter growth whiling backing up their stories with facts and figures. Urban3 demystify tax codes, government jargon, and municipal finance data, allowing communities to clearly understand the economic impact of development.

About Strong Towns
Strong Towns is a non-profit organization and an international movement dedicated to making communities across the United States and Canada financially strong and resilient.

Eugene, Oregon Zoning Map

Photo Credits:
Chase Bank tower, downtown Lafayette

20190224 19 Lafayette, Louisiana
David Wilson (Flickr)

Congress & Jefferson Streets, Lafayette, Louisiana. Science Museum at right.

This video contains video licensed from Geddy Images

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Chapters
0:00 Intro
0:05 Introduction to Lafayette
0:49 Traditional Development and Tax Revenue
1:38 An ROI for Cities
2:17 You Need a Per-Acre Analysis
3:23 Mix-use Walkable vs. Car-dependent Suburbs
4:18 The Strong Towns Analysis
4:48 The Poor Subsidize the Wealthy
5:24 It's Not Just Lafayette
6:32 Exactly Who Subsizes Who?
7:31 It's Everywhere
8:25 What Should We Do?
9:17 Conclusion
9:37 Patreon Shout-out
9:55 Outtro

#urban3

[NotJustBikes]

There is so much more to say about the investigations done by Urban3. This video really just scratches the surface.

If you'd like to know more, there are many long-form presentations by Joe and the Urban3 team available on YouTube, such as:


Ask Strong Towns, with Joe Minicozzi

Your Questions: Our Data-Driven Answers Part I - April 30, 2020 LAB

Bad Math and the Panther's Path: A Cautionary Tale from Southwest Florida

Exploring the Economics of Infill

Really, there's just SO much good information, if you're into data and mapping. Check out their YouTube channel for more:

If anybody ever tells you that car-dependent suburbia isn’t subsidized, they’re just flat-out factually wrong. Urban3 has proven this over, and over, and over. Now we need to decide what to do about it.

[Basta]

I use to play Sim city. It was obvious that in order to not be bankrupt, you had to build density right away so you had a strong tax base.

[jedics]

Seeing a development that is 1/3 building and 2/3 car park that is also often 2/3 empty really illustrates the insanity of our society....

[commenter]

I have to say, this episode is a dramatic shift in the presentability of his case. While his other videos were clearly interesting and had a lot to say, this video was short, sweet, and punchy. It got the point across clearly and concisely, and got out.

Very good job.

[kim]

It would be interesting to have a map like this for a European city

[lovelyprocrastinator]

After watching the whole serie I feel that there is one thing missing. Most people want to OWN their property/condo/apartment, so that they don't feel that they are endlessly wasting their money on a rent that ultimately won't benefit them. However, nearly all of the old and new developpement in my city are rentable only. So knowing that the rent will inevitably keep going up, as oppose of going down eventually with a mortgage, a lot of people opt to owning a house. And surprise-surprise, the only affordable home to OWN are in these horrible new developpement outside of the city.

Cities need to make those construction developers give option to actually own a property. I personally have nothing against small landlords (6 or less units), however the big corporation are absolutely horrible with rent spikes. And since it's an endless cash cows those units will always be rentable and never be able to be own.

[josepholdani]

I have started to pay attention to this situation the more I have become an "adult". There's a place by my friend's apartment that is like this. It's a mixed-use place with shops and food and nice fountains. It is well shaded thanks to being narrow for walking and the buildings being tall. The concept makes total sense. Just hop on the transit train and then arrive where everything you need is within walking distance. No cars, no traffic lights, no honking and is so easy to utilize. There are even apartments/duplex style homes on top of the commercial buildings. At first I thought about who would want to live in a busy area like this, but it actually is pretty quiet since most noise is from music and talking. Neither of which carry very far.

[SwiWasTaken]

I would love to see this series go more into how to help convert car-centric cities towards traditional, walkable developments. I think this video, as well as the other videos in the series, have made a rock-solid case for why this style of development is terrible for cities, and I think it's only natural to go into how to promote this to local authorites, and in particular in-between solutions towards getting cities on the right track, especially for the concerned citizens of these cities (such as myself). Love the video and I'm excited for future episodes!

[alexjenner]

8:11 my city of Auckland got a mention, so proud I guess. Auckland has a huge group of lobbyists and nimbys fighting every zoning change and every public transport initiative. In the 1950s the city removed the tram lines and started building "modern" motorways and the city started sprawling across some of the most fertile farm land in the country. In the 1960s, Sir Dove-Myer Robinson (Auckland mayor), announced his vision for "Rapid Rail" with a mix of underground and surface level electric trains. He never lived to see the modern electrified suburban rail network. We are so backwards, it took until 2014 for our first suburban electric train service in Auckland. Now we are facing a similar fight for light-rail which was originally planned for Dominion road and other routes. The nimbys are complaining that light rail will destroy the traditional character of these suburbs, the same suburbs that had the tram lines in the 1950s.

[ClimateTown]

Amazing video as always, and thank you for the shout out @2:44

[raycrou]

I hope this channel gets to the size and influence of The B1M. Who knew we'd all be interested in construction engineering now we are interested in urban planning. And I'm a biologist. This is good work.

[Fanw]

Britain has a huge problem with urban sprawl - in particular it builds far too many car-dependent suburbs. The situation is not as bad as in North America, but it is worse than in our continental European neighbors. Our politicians, led by Boris Johnson, seem to think that if we all rode bikes Britain would suddenly become just like the Netherlands. But our politicians completely overlook the fact that Bikes are only one element in the Dutch paradise. The other elements are well-planned compact towns and superlative public transport planned by National and Regional governments.

[richardbug]

Wow so glad you brought up NZ, this country has dived head first with the USA suburbia car centric model which made it a literal nightmare if you didnt or couldnt own a car.

[TheHavnmonkey]

The way you break down these "complex" issues is amazing. I wish this could be a curriculum in public schools. We really need the next generation to adopt this city planning philosophy, unfortunately too many in my generation and older are too stubborn to realize we are doing it the wrong way.

[akmedman]

Having lived and currently living in Lafayette all my life, I nearly shit myself when you said "Lafayatte, Louisiana" lol. I love your channel and this series, so I was ready for my city to get put on blast.

It's cool because I've always ranted to people how River Ranch could be a great start to urban growth, and it's location is great. It still has a long ways to go, because they recently just spent months adding turning lanes down the main street that runs through that area. So two steps forward one step back?

Can't wait to share this with people I know

[Casperski]

You're doing Gods work, please dont stop exposing this mess.

[GeorgeP-ujxc]

The last 5 seconds is probably the most powerful way to convey to the average American how much better their communities could look if they got behind the whole "walkable neighborhoods" thing.

[crazwizardlizard]

Holy shit I would have never thought you’d use my town as an example. Oregon cities other than portland almost never get mentioned in anything and I’m always thinking when I watch your videos, “I wonder how this applies to Eugene?” And then you actually said “let’s look at Eugene, Oregon”.

[NLuck-ehcd]

Was not expecting to see the Guelph call-out! We're still not perfect - decades of suburb centered urban planning doesn't disappear with a few infill projects - but things seem to be moving in a positive direction. Zoning is still a mess, though, which really limits the kind of mixed-use, walkable neighborhoods mentioned here.

[SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

These types of arguments are awesome because of how “profit obsessed” our capitalism culture is! It’s literally in our best financial interest to densify…it just happens to be better for the environment as well! 😀