Cities have only ever built wealth incrementally, by many small improvements over a long time, not by big projects.

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• The break in how cities are built is that places used to be improved continuously and are now built once, at scale, to a finished state. CMCharles Marohn12 Jun 2017
• Once invested wealth grows faster than one's spending, all further spending becomes effectively costless. JCJL Collins2 Feb 2026
• The American suburban pattern of development does not pay for itself: a city takes the cash from new growth and, with it, a maintenance bill it can never cover. CMCharles Marohn17 Jun 2011
• American cities built roughly two dollars of public infrastructure for every dollar of private investment, and that ratio is what bankrupts them. CMCharles Marohn10 Jan 2017
• Rich people will have self-driving cars and the city will not be built around them. JWJarrett Walker7 Jun 2010

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