Austin's New City Plan

"If the rules work, city planners say, they will not only beautify big chain stores but also gradually change Austin's feel by adding sidewalks and shade and by better linking stores to compel more people to walk and bike.

...The plan requires all stores to have basic features such as more native plants for landscaping, more shade and less-conspicuous parking. But it is flexible, too, letting developers choose from ideas thought to create smarter design.

...The crux of the rules is a modern urban-planning idea that Austin has not embraced: that the road on which a store sits should determine how it looks. Currently, a store's look is based mostly on the zoning of its individual plot of land.

...Mixed-use buildings jibe with Envision Central Texas, the 2004 planning study embraced by city leaders that calls for denser development in some areas in an effort to curb suburban sprawl."