Incrementalism is a sure bet. It can’t fail. That’s the beauty of the Strongtowns message. Make lots of small bets with low risk. Friday Chuck Marohn was at the Renew LV Summit for Smart Growth with the message.
Chaotic but smart / orderly but dumb
There was a healthy exchange between the Mayor of Allentown and Chuck. Marohn advocates for incrementalism and is generally against tax subsidies for catalytic “game changer” projects. (Big gambles as opposed to small bets) “Chaotic but smart” is always better than “orderly but dumb”. In the suburban context the presentation is basically a blow by blow critique of “ponzi scheme” sprawl. That is use of subsidies direct or indirect to expand infrastructure to build financially low yielding but high liability development. And then counting on future growth to sustain the bad bets of the past. The talk is a warning bell relating to long term solvency. Sprawl is expensive. How do we afford to pay for it. Sprawl is orderly but dumb.
Strong towns: Orderly but dumb.