Verdunity’s Felix Landry joins the show to discuss the importance of understanding the fiscal consequences of our development patterns, as well as the ways that cities can use map-based fiscal analysis to make more holistic land use decisions.

3:29 – Beginning of interview

5:00 – How Felix stumbled into looking at the economics of cities

7:00 – Pro formas—why don't city planning departments have them? (And more questions Felix had during his time in a his city's planning department)

12:00 – Confusion on how to go about applying fiscal analysis in planning work

17:53 – Insolvency issues and how fiscal analysis can be a common language for analyzing cities holistically

20:20 – How your city isn't like a hamburger joint

22:30 – What exactly do we mean by fiscal analysis?

25:25 – The backwards way most cities decide what gets built

26:50 – What would fiscal analysis actually look like for cities?

31:56 – How fiscal analysis maps can show us otherwise unseen trends

33:25 – Which development types are loss leaders for cities, and what it means if those areas make up too much of a city

37:32 – The gym analogy: treadmills vs. swimming pools

39:42 – Other analogies Felix likes to use for understanding development types and fiscal consequences: personal heath and grocery stores

50:05 – What happens when citizens insist on both an unproductive development pattern and a lower tax rate?

53:50 – Differences between modern-day suburbs and pre-war suburbs

1:17:00 – How cities can apply fiscal analysis to decision making? We discuss applications to zoning ordinances, comprehensive plans, economic development, and more.

1:20:20 – What Felix is reading these days

1:22:19 – Wrap-up with Kevin and Jordan

(This episode features music from Custodian of Records)