On July 4, fireworks will light up the National Mall, the grandest display in American history, or so the plan goes. Two hundred and fifty years of the American experiment, compressed into a single night of light and noise. A new poll, however, finds that only one in four Americans still believes their country stands above all others. The fireworks are being planned anyway.
I have spent years studying American cities, their bones, cracks and grand ambitions. As an urban engineer based in Chicago, what I see heading into this 250th anniversary is not a nation at its peak. It is a nation choosing spectacle over pavement.
Promises made, forgotten
On March 3, 2023, Donald Trump unveiled his vision in a campaign video: ten new "Freedom Cities" to be built on federal land by privately selected developers chosen through a national contest. Cities the size of Washington D.C., offering young Americans "a new shot at homeownership," new manufacturing hubs built from scratch, and, yes, flying cars. Trump said these cities would "reignite American imagination." The proposal rested on deregulation zones free from bureaucracy, rapid construction and private-sector-led urban renewal.
So where does the project stand today? According to PolitiFact's tracking report from February 2026, Trump has not mentioned "Freedom Cities" since 2023, when he first made the promise as a candidate. There is no legislation mentioning freedom cities anywhere in Congress.gov. The White House did not respond to questions about whether any progress had been made. Some think tanks continue drawing up conceptual blueprints, but no concrete steps have been taken.
Beyond that, Trump had promised a comprehensive urban policy to rebuild existing American cities. Two years on, what exists? According to a May 2026 analysis in Dame Magazine, the economic policies in place have created a "K-shaped" divergence in cities: tax cuts and corporate incentives pull incomes upward for the wealthy while the middle and working classes lose ground. Millions of city dwellers are still waiting for any tangible change.
Housing is not for everyone
Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies published its "America's Rental Housing 2026" report in March 2026, and the numbers need no commentary. As of 2024, 22.7 million renter households spend more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities, roughly 49% of all renters in the country. This is the highest level ever recorded. Of those 22.7 million, some 12.1 million fall into the "severe burden" category: they pay more than half their income just to keep a roof over their heads.
Beyond that, home prices have risen 60% since 2019. The median home price has reached $412,500, exactly five times the median household income. Harvard researchers describe this ratio as nearly double the price-to-income ratio of three, which has historically been considered affordable.
So why is the market not correcting itself? Because construction is also stuck. The "Build America, Buy America" law requires that every material used in affordable housing projects receiving federal funding carry a "Made in USA" label, from heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems to ceiling fans. But the majority of these materials are simply not manufactured domestically. The result: projects freeze while waiting for approvals, and some are cancelled entirely.
Moreover, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Princeton historian whose work on housing policy and racial inequality has reshaped how scholars and policymakers understand federal urban programs, documents a striking paradox in her landmark study "Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership": government-backed housing programs, built across decades of federal investment, have consistently protected not those most in need of shelter, but those positioned to profit from that need.
What we are seeing today is not a new crisis. It is the same paradox, still running.
History's C grade: infrastructure
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) assesses the country's infrastructure every four years using a school-style grading system, A through F. The report released in March 2025 announced a first: the overall grade reached "C," up from the previous "C-." ASCE presented this as an achievement. It is, technically. But is it enough?
As an engineer, I read this as follows: the country is standing right at the edge of the threshold where bridges reach the end of their design life. According to ASCE, the rehabilitation needs for the bridge system alone total $191 billion. Some 4.9 billion vehicle trips cross these bridges every single day.
Just at this moment, a promising step came from Congress: the BUILD America 250 Act proposes a $580 billion, five-year infrastructure renewal package with bipartisan support. But the bill has not yet reached the Senate. The number of working days left in the Congressional…
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