The Strong Towns Podcast Playing the Long Game With New Zealand Infrastructure
Jul 28, 2025
Graham Campbell, Director of Economics & Research for the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, sheds light on the challenges of long-term infrastructure planning. He discusses how New Zealand and North America share financial struggles in sustaining existing assets. The conversation reveals that infrastructure should support communities rather than drive them, and emphasizes the need for prioritizing maintenance over new projects. They also explore intergenerational financing and lessons from older cities on sustaining infrastructure efficiently.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Strong Towns Are Self-Sustaining
- A strong town can reliably maintain its own critical infrastructure without unsustainable grants or debt.
- Local governments must act as coordinators to create financially resilient, livable places.
Infrastructure Should Serve Community Goals
- Infrastructure often becomes an end in itself when built upfront rather than to meet evolving community needs.
- Treating infrastructure as prerequisite for growth turns taxpayers into de facto developers and gamblers.
Renewal Doesn’t Create New Value
- Building new infrastructure once generated clear growth and tax revenues that covered costs.
- That finance model no longer works in mature systems where renewal doesn't increase property values.