Reading List 08/22/26

Welcome to the reading list, a weekly roundup of news and links surrounding buildings, infrastructure, and industrial technology. This week, we delve into Los Angeles' accessory dwelling units (ADUs), electrical transformer manufacturing, gas turbine power plants, Colorado River water usage, and more.

Nearly two-thirds of this week's content is behind a paywall, requiring a subscription for full access. However, I do have a lengthy piece in American Affairs on the high construction costs of U.S. transit systems, which you can read here.

In Los Angeles, over 10,000 ADUs were built in 2025, accounting for 37% of all housing units constructed in the county. Meanwhile, 511 state bills were introduced across 40 states in 2025, with 27% of them passing. These bills often aim to preempt county land use authority, as local authorities tend to restrict development due to the concentration of development costs and the diffuse nature of benefits.

On the environmental front, Mexico intends to make it more difficult to develop illicitly along its coast and demolish any existing illegal structures. According to Tamborrel, wealthy developers have previously viewed environmental fines as a minor inconvenience. However, they expect this mindset to change, with Profepa having already closed four real estate developments in Puerto Vallarta and promising similar actions along all of Mexico's coastal states.

In the world of manufacturing, Raytheon received a $23 billion contract from the Navy to supply Tomahawk missiles. The New York Times published a photo essay on the labor-intensive process of electrical transformer manufacturing, questioning whether increased automation could improve efficiency. Additionally, a startup called 1872, co-founded by former SpaceX employees, aims to create highly automated factories for manufacturing steel parts.

Their initial focus is on producing steel skids for AI data centers and small modular nuclear reactors.