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> Hence campuses that are 85% parking lot.

Yeah and that is nuts. We lose ridiculous amounts of valuable land for barely any productive use - every day Germany loses 39 ha for buildings and 8 ha for transportation infrastructure [1], which means streets and parking lots.

Loss of land is an externality that doesn't get priced in anywhere.

[1] https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/themen/boden-flaeche/bodenbel...

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Loss of land does get priced in as prices rise with a lower supply and higher demand. It just takes a while to really feel it.

I mean, they have to buy the land for the parking lot, so it does get priced in.

But we should also have a Land Value Tax to push people toward using it more productively.

The Land Value Tax on that site would still have been incredibly low and probably still justify paving a parking lot. It is a toxic superfund site way out in the boonies. You're not going to develop some kind of dense mixed use town center in that space anytime soon.

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