Houston
Houston, A Model City for the U.S.
Houston is often the butt of many urban planners' jokes. With no formal zoning, wide roads and huge houses, it's often what urban planners are trying to move American cities away from. Joel Kotkin argues Houston is a model city for the U.S.
Explaining Houston's Lack of Effective Public Transit
Despite being one of the largest cities in the U.S., public transit in Houston has not kept up with its population growth. Kristie Lewis offers five reasons why.
Challenges Face Ambitious New Metro Officials in Houston
When five new board members will join the Houston Metropolitan Transit Authority next month, they'll inherit a host of systemic problems and one of the toughest economic climates in decades.
Houston's Light Rail Funding Woes
Too much, too fast, is the analysis from The Transport Politic. Based on a voter-approved, Nov, 2003 plan funded by a one-cent sales tax, the transit plus HOV/HOT conversion plan has run into funding problems. This article focuses on LRT expansion.
Houston Looks At Reshaping Transit
Houston Mayor Annise Parker is considering a big shake-up of the city's public transportation, including the option of transitioning to a fare-free system.
The Slow Evolution From Surface Parking to Garages
Lisa Gray paints a picture of downtown Houston's inexorable evolution from a city full of ground level parking lots to a denser metropolis where multi-level garages are commonplace.
How Do You Define Success?
When it comes to Houston's light rail, Randal O'Toole says you're doing it wrong. Planners are trumpeting high ridership numbers, but O'Toole says the numbers show an overall decline in Houston's transit ridership.
Houstonians Ready for Regulation
A survey shows that 2/3rds of Houston residents are ready for stricter land use regulations. This follows a number of high-profile clashes between neighborhoods and developers who want to build in them.
An Un-Planned Neighborhood Gets APA Award for Planning
The Houston neighborhood of Montrose was recently named one of the APA's 'Great Neighborhoods' for 2009, but as this editorial suggests, planners had nothing to do with it.
A Look at Houston and its Environmental Impact
This report from NPR looks at Houston's growth pattern, and the evolution of a city that at once provides a high quality of life but also creates a big environmental impact.
Houston To Require Better Walkability Around Transit Stations
City officials in Houston have unanimously approved zoning and policy changes that will encourage walkable development around the city's expanding light rail network.
Fear of Density in Houston
As Houston considers extending its urban boundaries, planners and locals struggle with the proper techniques for ensuring good development without zoning.
Incentivizing Pedestrian Areas Near Houston's Light Rail
City officials in Houston are set to consider plans to incentivize broad pedestrian walkways near existing and planned light rail stations within the city.
More Nature in the City? Maybe, Via Public Art
San Francisco, Houston, and Indianapolis are featuring public art installations that mimic and highlight nature in urban areas.
Houston's Housing Lessons
The planning profession’s ambivalence toward Houston has always been a little frustrating. In part, the profession’s attitude is understandable. Houston hasn’t embraced planning’s conventions, so why should the profession embrace Houston? Fair enough. But the downside is losing the opportunity to look at core issues and problems from a completely different lens. This is especially true when it comes to housing development where Houston performs remarkably better than its peers.
The Best Housing Markets for 2009... and the Worst
Builder Magazine selects 15 picks for the best housing markets to be in in the U.S. in 2009. Houston, Texas comes out on top, and, predictably, Detroit scrapes the bottom.
Light Rail Talks Nearing an Agreement
Houston may be able to anticipate four new rail lines before 2012, if a deal two years in the making can be worked out through negotiations.
Houston Plaza Faces Re-Redesign
Jones Plaza in Central Houston was redesigned in 2001 to accommodate large concerts and events, but locals objected to the lack of green space. So planners are going back to the drawing board.
Houston Lights go LED
The city of Houston moves to convert all the bulbs at its traffic stops to LEDs, aiming to save energy and money.
Is Houston Really Unplanned?
Stephen Smith at Market Urbanism looks at the truth behind the cliché, and finds that while Houston does not have Euclidean zoning, it does have more unconventional means of controlling land use beyond the invisible hand of the free market.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority
