Municipalities preserved floodplains as parks because flood damage there would be cheap

Evidence

For a fraction of the cost of protective works, a community could turn potential disaster areas into points of pride. In Milwaukee, for example, the county was buying 5,000 acres along rivers and streams to create a system of nature trails, wildlife refuges, and recreation areas. If a flood someday submerged the land, the damage would be slight – a small price to pay for the everyday pleasures of living with water. — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 696

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Insurance availability can incentivize municipal zoning and state flood-loss reduction — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 1912