INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING SUCKS.

You already know this. You’ve sat in traffic on a highway that cost $4 billion to widen and somehow got slower. You’ve watched a bike lane get built, then quietly unbuilt. You’ve read the press release about the transit project that will break ground, eventually, after further study.

Exasperated Infrastructures exists because someone has to say it plainly: the solutions to America’s infrastructure crisis aren’t complicated. We just keep choosing not to use them.

This is a publication and a podcast about how cities actually work, why they so often don’t, and who’s fighting to change that. I talk to urban historians, civic technologists, transportation planners, and policy thinkers who are trying to build something better inside a system designed to resist it.

What you’ll get: Long-form interviews with people doing interesting work. Short takes when something is too good (or too maddening) to wait. Analysis that doesn’t pretend the problem is technical when it’s political.

If you’re a planner, a policy nerd, a frustrated commuter, or just someone who thinks cities should work better, you’re in the right place.

Start here: A Conversation with Andrew Rasiej on Civic Tech, AI, and Cities · Why Nothing Works · Conflict vs. Mistake · I’m Sorry, I Don’t Speak MPO