Strong Towns : A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity

Intro -- Strong Towns -- Contents -- Foreword -- Chapter 1: Human Habitat -- Complex, Adaptive Systems -- Spooky Wisdom -- Systems That Are Merely Complicated -- Notes -- Chapter 2: Incremental Growth -- Complex versus Complicated Buildings -- Neighborhood Renewal -- The Stifling Nature of High Land Values -- Private and Public Investment -- The Party Analogy -- Note -- Chapter 3: An Infinite Game -- An Infinite Game -- Revenues and Expenses -- Infrastructure Not as a Means, but as an End -- The Municipal Ponzi Scheme -- The Illusion of Wealth -- Understanding Detroit -- Notes -- Chapter 4: The Infrastructure Cult -- The American Society of Civil Engineers -- Real Investment, Paper Returns -- Accounting for Infrastructure -- Assuming Secondary Effects -- A Real Return on Investment -- The Data Doesn't Lie -- Notes -- Chapter 5: Growth or Stability -- Where Does Strength Come From? -- Depression Economics -- The Last Country Standing -- The Post-War Boom -- Struggling with Constraints -- Going All In on Debt -- Does Growth Serve Us? -- The Difference Between Growth and Wealth -- A Paradox of Thrift or Avarice? -- Notes -- Chapter 6: Rational Responses -- A Long Decline -- Restoration of Normal -- Making Difficult Decisions within a Complex, Adaptive System -- Notes -- Chapter 7: Productive Places -- A Simple Math Problem -- The Financial Strength of the Old and Blighted -- Downtown versus the Edge -- Value per Acre -- Lafayette's Return on Investment -- Personal Preferences -- Notes -- Chapter 8: Making Strong Investments -- The Barbell Investment Approach -- Low-Risk Investments with Steady Returns -- Little Bets -- Filling in the Gaps -- Prudent Constraints -- Suburban Retrofit -- Notes -- Chapter 9: Place-Oriented Government -- The Local Government Response to Hardship -- Designed for Efficiency -- A Focus on Broad Wealth Creation.