One thing that's rarely taken into account is that the town planning departments of many other cities are run by absolute mental cases as are the accounting dep

One thing that's rarely taken into account is that the town planning departments of many other cities are run by absolute mental cases as are the accounting departments. London has, for as long as I can remember, had fairly decent town planners and it generates enough money that over time even excessively expensive solutions end up being largely worthwhile in the end (Millenium Bridge for example). All other cities of any size need to have town planners that are top quality.