The Paris of the Plains Can’t Afford Its Fountains Anymore

Kansas City is known for its beautiful fountains, but Parks and Rec says the city doesn’t have the funds to maintain this source of civic pride.

Upzoned, Podcast, Maintenance, Top Story, Transparent AccountingStrong TownsSeptember 28, 2022Podcast, podcast, Upzoned, Maintenance, Parks, Parks and Recreation, parks, Kansas City, Kansas

Sowing Our Roads with Salt Is No Way to Grow Stronger Towns

Because we depend so heavily on cars, what happens when roads become too icy to drive on? The answer: road salt. But there are serious consequences to relying on salt for road-clearing.

Alaska and New Infrastructure Funds: We Promise Not to Waste It!

As of November 15, Alaska is flush with federal infrastructure money. How should it be spent?

A Community Forced to Play the Infrastructure Squid Game

Residents of this Houston neighborhood thought they were winning the lottery with a government-sponsored infrastructure project. Instead, they endured a seven-month-long nightmare.

Infrastructure, Local Government, Neighborhoods, Roads and Streets, Maintenance, Top StoryJuan Antonio SortoNovember 30, 2021Infrastructure, streets, neighborhood, Neighborhoods, neighborhood change, Houston, infrastructure maintenance, Hurricanes, hurricane harvey, race, Race

U.S. History Shows Spending on Infrastructure Doesn’t Always End Well

The past proves that people tend to disregard the long-term costs of the plans they make, particularly if they reap the benefits and others pay the costs. We must become more sophisticated than this.

#InfrastructureCrisis, Growth Ponzi Scheme, Infrastructure, Maintenance, Top StoryRichard WhiteAugust 27, 2021maintenance, Infrastructure, history, infrastructure, infrastructure cost, Maintenance, infrastructure maintenance

When the Company Leaves the Company Town

A Studebaker factory once brought jobs to South Bend, IN, but what’s happened to the city (and its infrastructure) now that the factory has closed its doors?

#DotheMath, Infrastructure, Davis, Maintenance, Urban3, Top StorySarah DavisAugust 19, 2021Indiana, South Bend, maintenance, infrastructure maintenance, Urban3, #DoTheMath, auto-oriented

Living Like Perennials

The instrumentalizing of our relationship with place has left us only practicing stewardship when we benefit from it. But it's our responsibility to live with an attitude of longevity.

Maintenance, Neighborhoods, Top StoryGrace OlmsteadAugust 6, 2021gardening, Gracy Olmstead, neighborliness, maintenance

The Coming Tsunami of Park Infrastructure Needs

Rather than building new parks, it’s time we #DoTheMath on the ones we’ve already got.

#DotheMath, #InfrastructureCrisis, Maintenance, Public Space, Top StoryDoug BatailleJuly 27, 2021#DoTheMath, Parks and Recreation, Parks, parks, public space, maintenance

Condos: American Local Governance in a Nutshell

The recent tragedy in Surfside, Florida, is both a harbinger of things to come and emblematic of the nation’s larger problem with maintaining our built environment.

Upzoned, Podcast, #DotheMath, Growth Ponzi Scheme, Maintenance, Top StoryStrong TownsJuly 14, 2021Podcast, Upzoned, Florida, second life cycle, maintenance, Growth Ponzi Scheme, housing

The Suburbs Will Thrive or Fail on Their Own Terms

The society that built Main Street is long gone. Is it time to move on to Plan B?

Maintenance, Sanphillippo, Suburban Experiment, Member Post, Top StoryJohnny SanphillippoJuly 12, 2021real estate, suburbs, homeowners, Homeownership, Granola Shotgun, Wisconsin, Madison

45,000 Bridges in the U.S. Are 50+ Years Old. And They Are Beginning to Fail.

The recent failure of a Memphis bridge is costing millions every day. And there are 45,000 others like it in the U.S. that could suffer the same fate.

Podcast, Upzoned, Transportation, Infrastructure, #InfrastructureCrisis, Maintenance, Top StoryStrong TownsJune 30, 2021Podcast, Upzoned, Infrastructure, infrastructure maintenance, maintenance, memphis

Build Community Wealth with Incremental Investment

We must stop building more infrastructure in our cities and switch instead to a model of intensive maintenance, combined with making better use of what has already been built.