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Cool theory. I like it.

An interesting detail is that Houston took advantage of Texas's liberal annexation laws and aggressively annexed unincorporated suburbs, recapturing a couple of generations of white flight, with the last annexation happening in the mid-90s. This helps explain, I think, why Houston has enjoyed relative racial peace and consensus politics- there has not been the suburban-urban animus as is usually the norm.

Another thing you may be interested in is Strong Towns, which is focused on the financial sustainability of mostly small town America based on infrastructure costs. The suburbs were not intended to evolve. This fundamental fact has caused repeated cycles of hollowing out and inner ring suburbs failing to be replaced by new exurbs https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2022/9/20/the-suburbs-are-a-one-life-cycle-product

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