> I'm increasingly convinced that solving this category of problem is one of the most important unsolved political questions, and it's tragically under-explored

> I'm increasingly convinced that solving this category of problem is one of the most important unsolved political questions, and it's tragically under-explored. Not necessarily. Bruges lost its dominant economic place in the Low Countries because they failed to invest in maintenance and the canal to Zeebrugge silted over. Much the same happened in Saint Louis and explains how Chicago became the capital of the Midwest despite a couple hundred years' late start. I doubt New York will go the way of Detroit, but that is an object lesson of what happens when cities don't stay on top of things.