Texas
Revisions Looming, Austin’s Project Connect Reveals the Obstacles of Transit Planning in 2023
A once sprawling and singularly ambitious capital investment plan for the Capital Metro system will soon be reduced in size and scope. The episode is more evidence of an emerging era of transit planning austerity.
Tensions Rise Between Dallas and Rapid Transit Agency
The city is accusing DART of mismanagement of tax revenue that the agency had pledged to return to the city for infrastructure investments.
Houston Leaders Debate Merits of ‘Conservation Districts’ Proposal
A proposal by the city’s mayor would create a new type of preservation district designed to protect historic structures and slow gentrification.
Amtrak To Study New York-to-Dallas Service
A proposal to extend the Crescent line would bring rail service through Mississippi and Louisiana to the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
How Houston’s Highways Impact Neighborhoods
A chapter in a new book highlights how highway construction forced changes and caused displacement in communities that included public housing developments.
Austin Debates Parking Reforms Near TOD Projects
City officials are deciding how to change parking requirements for transit-oriented developments that are meant to discourage private car ownership.
What Led to Austin’s Housing Crisis?
How the Texas capital quickly became one of the country’s hottest—and least affordable—housing markets.
Austin Scores Highest on Pandemic Recovery; Bay Area and Baltimore Lowest
The Bay Area Council and CBRE created an economic tracker to measure how well the nation's 25 largest metropolitan areas have recovered from the public health restrictions imposed on their regions at the onset of the pandemic.
Austin City Council Calls for Changes to Interstate Widening Plan
Legally powerless to stop TxDOT’s plans for freeway expansion, Austin city leaders hope to influence the agency to take some mitigation measures as it widens I-35.
Houston Co-Housing Project to Use Geothermal Heating and Cooling
The development will also include communal kitchens, community gardens, and other shared spaces aimed at bringing neighbors together.
Mr. Musk’s Neighborhood
With all apologies to the late great Fred Rogers.
Opinion: Hit the Brakes on Dallas Freeway Plan
A proposal to bury a Dallas freeway may not be the best way forward for the area’s residents.
In Houston, Housing Loses Out to Freeways
TxDOT plans to demolish hundreds of apartments for its interstate widening project despite local calls to preserve the buildings as affordable housing.
Development Proposed Under Austin’s New Vertical Mixed-Use Law
A seven-story building will be exempt from local height regulations in exchange for providing affordable housing.
Houston is Building a Record Numbers of Homes, but Housing Costs Still Rising
Despite a banner year in construction permitting, Houston area rents and home prices continue to grow.
Op-Ed: Houston’s Memorial Park Centers Nature, Connectivity
The Houston Chronicle editorial board calls the newly redesigned park a “transformative” project, urging state transportation officials to take note.
Houston Mayor Halts Affordable Housing Deals
The mayor wants to examine the true benefits and impacts of a state law meant to boost affordable housing production that allows developers to exempt their projects from property taxes.
Property Appraisal Caps Unlikely to Pass in Texas
Critics of a proposal to limit property value increases to reduce homeowners’ property tax burden say the measure would destabilize the housing market and cause cities to raise other taxes to compensate.
Exxon’s Former Houston Headquarters Could Become a Residential High Rise
The former headquarters of Humble Oil, a predecessor to Exxon, will be converted to apartments in Houston, after New York-based developers CMI Developers purchased the building with a plan for adaptive reuse.
A Mixed-Use Vision for Houston Landfill Site
A local nonprofit is urging the city to consider adding mixed-use development to the site, which city officials plan to turn into a stormwater detention facility.
Pagination
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.
Greater Baltimore Committee
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association