Raised and fortified homes in Beachtown, a community in Galveston, Texas, took a direct hit from Hurricane Ike, and survived, intact.
"Beachtown, planned by Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company and employing architects who participated in the Mississippi Renewal Forum, withstood a bull's-eye hit from the winds and nearly 20-foot storm surge of Hurricane Ike in early September. By all accounts, the engineering performed brilliantly and the living spaces survived with barely any damage - while neighborhoods not far away suffered near-total destruction.
Only about 20 houses are occupied or under construction in Beachtown, so the quality of the urbanism has yet to be fully proven. However, developer Tofigh Shirazi and the architects are using ideas that enhance the human scale of buildings that are raised and fortified to survive a massive flood.
Beachtown has been the subject of positive local news coverage, with reporters using words like 'amazing' and 'a contrast to all of the devastation.' Over shots of destroyed neighborhoods and the strikingly different intact buildings at Beachtown, TV reporter Deborah Wrigley intoned: 'On the Bolivar Peninsula the devastation is near complete ... . Yet across the channel on the eastern point of Galveston Island is a stunning example of engineering against disaster. There's the old saying, they don't build 'em like they used to. Here [at Beachtown], homes are built better...'"
FULL STORY: Beachtown shrugs off Hurricane Ike
A Better Understanding of Smart Growth Benefits
Smart Growth creates compact, multimodal communities where residents consume less land, drive less, and rely more on non-auto modes. Planners have important stories to tell about the benefits of Smart Growth.
200-Acre Traditional Neighborhood Development Coming to Northwest Arkansas
A local group recently completed the purchase of 200 acres near Rogers, in Benton County, Arkansas, that will become a master-planned, mixed-use neighborhood called Warren Park.
A Primer on Suburban Urbanism
How one master-planned development used lower-density urbanism principles to build a community focused on affordability, sustainability, and conservation.
Depopulation Patterns Get Weird
A recent ranking of “declining” cities heavily features some of the most expensive cities in the country — including New York City and a half-dozen in the San Francisco Bay Area.
California Exodus: Population Drops Below 39 Million
Never mind the 40 million that demographers predicted the Golden State would reach by 2018. The state's population dipped below 39 million to 38.965 million last July, according to Census data released in March, the lowest since 2015.
Chicago to Turn High-Rise Offices into Housing
Four commercial buildings in the Chicago Loop have been approved for redevelopment into housing in a bid to revitalize the city’s downtown post-pandemic.
How Financing Restricts the Rental Housing Market
The way apartment buildings are financed has a major impact on supply and costs.
Houston Mayor Pauses Complete Streets Projects
The move raises concerns among road safety advocates who point out that traffic deaths continue to rise.
Twin Cities Trains Move to Fewer Cars, Higher Frequency
Headways will drop from 15 minutes to 12 minutes.
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
City of Cleburne
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
City of Laramie, Wyoming
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
