I am writing a five-part miniseries about cities to consolidate and record my learning about urban planning and economic development. These thoughts represent a synthesis from books, talks, podcasts, conversations, documentaries, and our work at Subcity. Part III is The Role Of The Military In City Planning
“Underneath the city, there are programs and infrastructure designed to support the buildings, equipment, people, and jobs - the very things that have always made cities engines of upward mobility for humanity.”
-Everywhere Ventures (Subcity investor)
Dall-E Prompt: geometric big cityscape aerial shot colorful circle
Who hasn’t sat in their stationary car and wished for another lane so they could get home to be with family? For a city visitor or resident, there is a lot that can be intuited about how to improve things. And many of these ideas have been implemented over the years precisely because they seem so straightforward. But what we’ve learned is that many of these plans have unintended or disastrous consequences that we’ve had to re-learn many times, often in the same city!
Traffic Begets More Traffic
Study after study shows that building additional lanes does not increase traffic flow. Instead, additional lanes induce people to purchase more cars and use them instead of other modes of transportation. The Power Broker details story after story of Robert Moses expanding highways, building additional bridges, and within a few years causing more traffic, slower travel times, and more cars on the road than would have been predicted just with population growth and migration.
A recent study of 100 US cities found that – between 1993 and 2017 – billions were spent to expand highway systems’ capacities by 42%, far faster than the cities were growing population-wise. But instead of reducing congestion, traffic delays actually went up by 144%.
Separation of Functions Leads to Dead Zones
Fast food chains, new car lots, and other types of businesses can cluster together and increase sales by being “destinations” rather than spreading out throughout a city. One might think that cultural institutions like operas, concert halls, and art museums would follow the same principal.
Places like Lincoln Center in New York City or the Civic Center in San Francisco become vibrant hubs during showtimes or public hearings, but they often languish in off-hours, becoming magnets for crime and danger. The heartbeat of a city thrives on diversity—office workers, residents, retailers, and visitors all play their part in sustaining the urban ecosystem. The separation of functions, like an ecological imbalance, can lead to lifelessness in the very heart of a city.
Light Rail, Subway, and Metro Isn’t Egalitarian or the Best Use of Municipal Funds
A common belief is that subway and rail service allowed people of all income levels to live further away from centralized business districts. While streetcar suburbs and the growth of the flat-fair metro system in NYC and other municipalities has been an opportunity equalizer, it comes at a gigantic cost. As with roads, each dollar invested in one transportation method means it is not invested elsewhere. The strongest case for economical, sustainable, flexible, and equal opportunity transport? The good ol’ bus.
There is No “Organic” Development of Cities
When we think of settlements, there is the romanticized wild west notion of setting out with your family and settling down in the open country. The last Homestead Act claim was in 1979 Alaska. There really hadn’t been any “organic” city development for the last 100 years. Even before then the position of railroads throughout the country dictated the towns and junctions. Nowadays, there needs to be transportation (which means roads). Water, sewer, electric lines need to be defined, and a whole host of city services need to be available. So, the next time you find yourself gazing at the endless lanes of traffic or pondering the separation of functions, remember that the intricate web of city planning often conceals hidden, counter-intuitive truths.