Looking at Houston from Vancouver

A Canadian's perspective on the "planner-free" city of Houston, America's fourth most populous city.

2 minute read

April 6, 2008, 1:00 PM PDT

By Nate Berg


"More than any American city save perhaps Orlando and Phoenix, Houston has cast its urban lot with the car-fired, no-deposit-down, suburban dream. I was surprised to learn this is the fourth largest conurbation in the entire U.S. - only New York, Los Angeles and Chicago have more residents."

"You would never know this from driving the Sam Houston Tollway - the freeway surrounding the city - because the lush magnolias and southern pines are only occasionally interrupted by shopping malls or oil field service towers. Everything else cowers under this green canopy, with most of the buildings being somewhere between the height of a Cadillac Escalade and two-storey executive rancher."

"Houston provides a useful contrast with Vancouver, home of superstar city planners. Our urban expertise is now jingling the bling of global attention and rich Emirati imitators - a Vancouver clone in the UAE is marketed as "Dubai Marina," but I prefer to call it "Very False Creek" (our former head planner Larry Beasley is now an urban consultant to the Emir of Abu Dhabi.)"

"To begin with, Houston has no city planners, at least not those all-powerful czars of condo-town we worship in Vancouver. What is more, Houston does not have land-use zoning as we and most other North American cities know it. What, a city without the civic leadership provided by edict-issuing urban planners? What, a metropolis without the framework of rigid classifications of what can, and what cannot, be built on each and every plot of land?"

Friday, April 4, 2008 in The Globe and Mail

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Cover CM Credits, Earn Certificates, Push Your Career Forward

Aerial view of town of Wailuku in Maui, Hawaii with mountains in background against cloudy sunset sky.

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly

Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

July 1, 2025 - Honolulu Civil Beat

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

July 2, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

White and purple sign for Slow Street in San Francisco, California with people crossing crosswalk.

San Francisco Suspends Traffic Calming Amidst Record Deaths

Citing “a challenging fiscal landscape,” the city will cease the program on the heels of 42 traffic deaths, including 24 pedestrians.

July 1, 2025 - KQED

Google street view image of strip mall in suburban Duncanville, Texas.

Adaptive Reuse Will Create Housing in a Suburban Texas Strip Mall

A developer is reimagining a strip mall property as a mixed-use complex with housing and retail.

2 hours ago - Parking Reform Network

Blue tarps covering tents set up by unhoused people along chain link fence on concrete sidewalk.

Study: Anti-Homelessness Laws Don’t Work

Research shows that punitive measures that criminalized unhoused people don’t help reduce homelessness.

4 hours ago - Next City

Aerial tram moving along cable in hilly area in Medellin, Colombia.

In U.S., Urban Gondolas Face Uphill Battle

Cities in Latin America and Europe have embraced aerial transitways — AKA gondolas — as sustainable, convenient urban transport, especially in tricky geographies. American cities have yet to catch up.

6 hours ago - InTransition Magazine