With suburban sprawl a long-standing issue in Texas, one San Antonio-based architecture firm is aiming to strengthen and revitalize its city's downtown core.
In this booming Sunbelt city, downtown revitalization is a particularly challenging goal. While the United States as a whole has experienced something of an urban renaissance in recent years — between 2010 and 2014, downtown populations grew faster than those of the surrounding districts in most American cities — San Antonio has remained overwhelmingly suburban. Within the last decade, more new housing has been built in the sprawl zone than within the city limits, and the number of jobs in the downtown core has actually fallen. Most of the new residential and commercial development continues to take place on the outskirts of the metropolitan area, pushing the boundaries ever outward.
FULL STORY: Design activism, Texas-style
Resilience Planning for Suburban Growth
Whether or not the suburban shift accelerated by the pandemic continues, policymakers can implement climate resilience strategies and guide sustainable growth in both cities and exurbs.
COVID-19 and Big, Dense Cities That Aren't New York
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Study: There's a Lot of Vacant Land in Texas Cities
All that empty acreage means that these big, rapidly developing cities don’t really have to sprawl.
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Bigger is not always better.
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Looking Back on 60 Years of Land Development in the Twin Cities
In 1960, about 12 percent of the Twin Cities metro's land was already developed. By 2020, about 34 percent had been developed. Many factors influenced how the region has changed since 1960.
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.
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Caltrans - District 7
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
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