As I understand it, the challenge in building is in adapting the plan to site specifics, or adapting the site to the plan. In China and other top-down planning regimes, they will adapt the site to the plan. If the station or school plan requires that a historic neighborhood be impacted to use the plan unchanged, farewell to historic buildings. Here we adapt the plan to fit within the space, or whatever, but that quickly eliminates the cost savings, as now each station or school is slightly unique.
This also shows up in residential and other smaller projects. Look at the historic aerial photos of Levittown, NY and PA, which created the notion of the suburb:
The original landscape is completely eliminated, all original trees are gone, it's been scraped clean. Most developments near major cities are infill or replacement, and they adapt their plans to the site. There are still greenfield builds happening in exurban areas, but in existing metro areas, everything is bespoke.
This also shows up in residential and other smaller projects. Look at the historic aerial photos of Levittown, NY and PA, which created the notion of the suburb:
https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=levitown&iax=images&ia=imag...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levittown
The original landscape is completely eliminated, all original trees are gone, it's been scraped clean. Most developments near major cities are infill or replacement, and they adapt their plans to the site. There are still greenfield builds happening in exurban areas, but in existing metro areas, everything is bespoke.