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A review by maxblackmore
Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity by Charles L. Marohn Jr.
4.0
As I went through the book, my impressions of it vacillated between good and mediocre. On one hand, I was disappointed about the depth of ideas and the rigor of supporting materials. On the other hand, I did enjoy its conversational style - and at times I did have a vivid sense of a dialogue with the author. But at the end of the day, Charles Marohn probably did not set out to write a Teutonic treatise. He probably intended something simple and more relatable. And that was exactly how the book turned out to be.
In essence, Marohn argues for viewing infrastructure as a liability - they require increasingly large amounts of maintenance each year. They always start as something nice and shiny but begin to fall apart in two to three decades. Since the suburb extension facilitated by infrastructure almost always fails to bring in sufficient tax revenues, local governments will find it financially challenging to repair stuff. The residents move on to new neighborhoods, and the old ones doomed to demise.
Marohn argues for a simple tax revenue per acre to assess the value of a development. Under this metric, older town centers almost always outperform the suburbs. It is surprising that the neighborhoods with the best financial performance are actually the shabby ones - the ones that 1) produce more tax dollars per acre as they are more densely developed; and 2) do not come with a big maintenance bill (simply because the local governments ignore them). It is the tax revenues from the poor neighborhoods that subsidize the maintenance of rich neighborhoods - something very counterintuitive.
Marohn has an enlightening way of defining his politics. He describes himself a libetarian at national level, and then becomes incrementally more progressive/socialist when it comes to the local/community levels. I am not saying this is the correct/only template for the political right to start a dialogue in today’s environment - but it sets clear boundaries in our discourse and could help bring back some civility.
The book ended with a strong touch of nostalgia. Connections with neighbors, walk-centric lifestyles - all quintessential in oldtime city centers. The almost emotional digression was not necessary in my view - but it did strengthen the conversational style and increased the text’s connection with the readers.
All in all, I would say I enjoyed the book. Read it like a blog post rather than a more buttoned-up analysis - and you will enjoy it as well.
In essence, Marohn argues for viewing infrastructure as a liability - they require increasingly large amounts of maintenance each year. They always start as something nice and shiny but begin to fall apart in two to three decades. Since the suburb extension facilitated by infrastructure almost always fails to bring in sufficient tax revenues, local governments will find it financially challenging to repair stuff. The residents move on to new neighborhoods, and the old ones doomed to demise.
Marohn argues for a simple tax revenue per acre to assess the value of a development. Under this metric, older town centers almost always outperform the suburbs. It is surprising that the neighborhoods with the best financial performance are actually the shabby ones - the ones that 1) produce more tax dollars per acre as they are more densely developed; and 2) do not come with a big maintenance bill (simply because the local governments ignore them). It is the tax revenues from the poor neighborhoods that subsidize the maintenance of rich neighborhoods - something very counterintuitive.
Marohn has an enlightening way of defining his politics. He describes himself a libetarian at national level, and then becomes incrementally more progressive/socialist when it comes to the local/community levels. I am not saying this is the correct/only template for the political right to start a dialogue in today’s environment - but it sets clear boundaries in our discourse and could help bring back some civility.
The book ended with a strong touch of nostalgia. Connections with neighbors, walk-centric lifestyles - all quintessential in oldtime city centers. The almost emotional digression was not necessary in my view - but it did strengthen the conversational style and increased the text’s connection with the readers.
All in all, I would say I enjoyed the book. Read it like a blog post rather than a more buttoned-up analysis - and you will enjoy it as well.