How Cities Cities Can Pay for the Next Stage in American Urbanism

Submission Statement:

In the coming era of federal fiscal pullback, American cities need a new business model. That model ought to focus on monetizing the value city governments help create, value that manifests in the price of urban land.

Whether through taxation of private land or leasing out public holdings, the impact would be not just to raise additional revenue, but to also realign the incentives of city government with broad based economic growth (instead of trading away tax abatements for things like sports stadiums in the hopes that they generate taxable economic activity).