Why San Francisco isn’t bigger

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Environmental laws target federal action, but private projects face them when they need federal land, funding, or permits.
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Monaco’s Mareterra project expanded the country by 3% from water 164 feet deep.
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More than a quarter of Manhattan’s land was reclaimed before 1979, even with dry land available.
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Since 2000, Chinese cities with over one million residents have reclaimed an area equal to 39 Manhattans.
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American land reclamation stopped virtually simultaneously nationwide in the 1970s, not gradually or region by region.
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San Francisco’s reclamation cost was $330,000 per acre in 2025 dollars, versus $24 million for single-family-zoned land.
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Army Corps reclamation-permit impact statements take six years on average, while mitigation often costs hundreds of millions of dollars.
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China reclaimed over 5,000 square kilometers since 2000, including a 500,000-person city near Shanghai. Singapore expanded its territory by more than a quarter since 1975.
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In 1992, the Markerwaard became a protected area, blocking development on one of Europe’s most valuable bodies of water.
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The Netherlands stopped short of completing the Markerwaard, even as Amsterdam’s housing costs climbed.
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Real housing prices are at least five times 1970 levels in New York, San Francisco, Boston, and Los Angeles.
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Reclaimed land can strengthen coastal resilience, but it also destroys aquatic habitat.
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Land reclamation doubled the land area of both Boston and Charleston.
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Cars, trains, and buses opened enormous space, yet America’s largest cities now face severe shortages of centrally located land.
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Transportation expanded urban reach, yet America’s biggest cities still face a massive shortage of land.
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Urban land costs far more than in 1950, while high-tide flooding happens several times more often.
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The Clean Water Act requires permits for dredged material in waterways or wetlands, forcing every reclamation project through NEPA.

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