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There are lots of great places to build cities in America. Mostly, they are the places where older cities are languishing. Probably the best-sited city in the c

There are lots of great places to build cities in America. Mostly, they are the places where older cities are languishing. Probably the best-sited city in the country is Chicago: abundant fresh water, massive untapped wind energy resources, inland navigation, moderate risk of natural disasters. Same for Cleveland, Detroit, etc. Most of the places we've been building for the last 50 years are the places with the worst disaster risks and the fewest natural advantages, like Houston and Miami.

cozzyd 3y ago
Well, Chicago does have flooding problems due to it being so flat and the legacy combined sewage - stormwater overflow system that can get overwhelmed. This is why we now have this awesome thing: https://mwrd.org/what-we-do/tunnel-and-reservoir-plan-tarp https://mwrd.org/what-we-do/tunnel-and-reservoir-plan-tarp. But it's not the same time of existential flooding that can happen in Miami or Houston...
nradov 3y ago
Unfortunately some of the best sites to build cities have been wrecked by politics. Why would any rational person choose to build in Chicago, or Illinois in general, after the damage caused by corruption and failed progressive policies? From a pure geographic perspective we ought to have a huge, thriving city at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. But instead there are only a few struggling small towns like Cairo, IL. This is almost entirely a political problem.
- jeffbee 3y ago
  Cairo Illinois has been routinely destroyed. I can think of no worse place to build a city than a confluence of the two of the biggest rivers on earth.
  - nradov 3y ago
    Some of our largest, most prosperous cities throughout the world have been built at river confluences: Chongqing, Pittsburgh, Montreal, Sacramento, New York City (Manhattan), Allahabad, Belgrade, Buenos Aires, Cincinnati, Geneva, and the list goes on. Those locations have tremendous latent economic value as transportation hubs. Flooding risks can be managed. This type of civil engineering is one of the most ancient aspects of large-scale human civilization.

cozzyd 3y ago

Well, Chicago does have flooding problems due to it being so flat and the legacy combined sewage - stormwater overflow system that can get overwhelmed. This is why we now have this awesome thing: https://mwrd.org/what-we-do/tunnel-and-reservoir-plan-tarp https://mwrd.org/what-we-do/tunnel-and-reservoir-plan-tarp. But it's not the same time of existential flooding that can happen in Miami or Houston...

nradov 3y ago

Unfortunately some of the best sites to build cities have been wrecked by politics. Why would any rational person choose to build in Chicago, or Illinois in general, after the damage caused by corruption and failed progressive policies? From a pure geographic perspective we ought to have a huge, thriving city at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. But instead there are only a few struggling small towns like Cairo, IL. This is almost entirely a political problem.

jeffbee 3y ago
Cairo Illinois has been routinely destroyed. I can think of no worse place to build a city than a confluence of the two of the biggest rivers on earth.
- nradov 3y ago
  Some of our largest, most prosperous cities throughout the world have been built at river confluences: Chongqing, Pittsburgh, Montreal, Sacramento, New York City (Manhattan), Allahabad, Belgrade, Buenos Aires, Cincinnati, Geneva, and the list goes on. Those locations have tremendous latent economic value as transportation hubs. Flooding risks can be managed. This type of civil engineering is one of the most ancient aspects of large-scale human civilization.