Austin American-Statesman

With more than 750,00 people expected to add on to the city's population over the next 30 years, officials and locals in Austin are trying to map out how the city should grow and change to handle the influx.

In 2006, Austin, Texas established rules limiting the size of homes in the central city for reasons of historic character. Residents of South Austin may soon face similar restrictions.

Parks officials in Austin, Texas are considering a plan that would allow cell phone companies to lease space within the city's parks where they could build cellular communication towers.

City officials in Austin are considering a new incentive for builders willing to include public spaces in new projects.

In Austin, TX, a planned transit-oriented development went bust. The new developer is taking the density down from 1,200 homes to "plus or minus 700."

Austin joins cities across the U.S. and elsewhere in shifting away from individually-metered spaces and towards pay stations in an effort to increase revenue and efficiencies.

A suburban city near Austin tried to beautify with a parking ordinance, but city leaders are rethinking it.

The city of San Marcos, Texas, near Austin, plans harsher measures to crack down on graffiti, including holding a minor's parents responsible and banning certain graffiti-making tools.

The City of Austin is set to take in a record amount of solar power to advance towards a goal of deriving 30% of local energy from renewable sources by 2020.

Officials in Austin, Texas, are drafting what's believed to be the nation's most substantive sustainability policy for special events--including measures to reduce waste and conserve water and energy.

The Austin City Limits music festival, held at the city's major public park, has inspired other cities to invite festivals to their parks, despite the inherent challenges.

Champion cyclist Lance Armstrong tops a list of heavy water users in a city trying hard to conserve while meeting rising demand during a drought and steady or rapid population growth.

The city of Austin considers a multi-billion dollar investment in a "biomass" power plant, burning wood waste in East Texas as a carbon-neutral, renewable energy source.

Residents of Austin, TX are risking violation of city ordinances forbidding loud animals to raise chickens in their central city neighborhood backyards. It's partly a way to cut out-of-pocket expenses.

Stakeholders in Austin debate the future of a public golf course in the center of town while the University of Texas, owner of the land, debates whether to seek greater profits off the land. Neighbors champion the course as vital open space.

Austin and a number of other cities are working to reduce the carbon footprint left by their fleets of city vehicles. Austin officials are looking for ways to offset their remaining emissions.

After initially supporting the city's new mixed-use ordinance, some residents of East Austin asking the city to apply the brakes on adoption of the measure due to concerns about gentrification.

While long solo car commutes are tough on the environment (and increasingly the pocketbook), new research shows they has a negative effect on a person's health as well.

An ambitious $1.5 billion mixed-use project announced recently in Austin, Texas, proposes to anchor a 681-acre development with sound stages and other media-focused infrastructure. Will this project die a slow death like similar efforts before it?

Developers, neighborhood leaders and all interested parties will be able to track project approvals at every stage of the process.