#DotheMath / Public Finance, Case Studies and Examples

"The Numbers Don't Lie"

An exploration of tax value per acre in Kansas City, Missouri, shows just how foolish some of our biggest local investments have been—and how powerful some of our smallest can be.

"This Is Why We Need to #DoTheMath, Even on 'Small' Projects."

A Strong Towns member digs into street improvement costs in his city of McKinney, Texas, and finds out the long-term implications of these spiraling expenses.

"I Did the Math on My Town’s Cul-de-Sacs. Here's What I Found."

Inspired by Strong Towns, one advocate decided to investigate the math behind culs-de-sac in his town of Gallatin, Tennessee.

"The Little Law Office That Could"

In Peoria, Illinois, one tiny building is punching way above its weight when it comes to tax value per acre, and it offers important lessons for the way we should be developing in our cities.

"Lafayette Pipes and Hydrants"

This simple but damning graphic shows how cities like Lafayette, Louisiana, have built way beyond their means.

"What If You Built Hundreds of Miles of Roads and Nobody Came?"

In Palm Bay, Florida, city officials asked geoaccounting firm Urban3 to perform an in-depth analysis of the mismatch between the city’s tax revenue and liabilities, and show how their city might be able to recover from the ramifications of an extreme embrace of auto-oriented development.