Texas
Downtown Dallas Has 'Turned a Corner'
A new interest in urbanism and public transit is attracting businesses to downtown. One proponent says, 'I can't remember a time since the early 1980s that we had a bigger year for downtown Dallas.'
City Tries To Curb 'Spite Landscaping'
A city in the midst of a revitalization effort has targeted landscape designs allegedly aimed at spiting the neighbors.
Electronic Signs May Need Different Rules
Officials in Abilene, Texas, are trying to pass an electronic sign ordinance "proactively" but are facing great resistance, as has been the case for other cities.
Housing Crash Forgot Dallas
In this segment from NPR, a Dallas residential realtor talks about how his city -- where the average price has actually gone up about 2% over the last year -- has bucked the national downward housing trend.
'Wood Waste' Power Plant Raises Questions in Texas
The city of Austin considers a multi-billion dollar investment in a "biomass" power plant, burning wood waste in East Texas as a carbon-neutral, renewable energy source.
The Long, Long, Long Commute
The Houston Chronicle looks at the holes in Houston's transit grid, which force some riders into ridiculously long commutes.
Duany On High Gas Prices And Urban Revival
Andres Duany and other experts discuss how the convergence of high gas prices and the foreclosure crisis may reverse years of cheap gas and cheap exurban land. He's pushing mixed uses and reformed zoning in suburbia, and he's betting on Texas.
Hard to Change Houston's Rep as Nation's Worst Recycler
As the worst recycler amongst the 30 largest American cities, Houston has a lot of trash on its hands. But many obstacles stand in the way of the city closing the loop.
Natural Gas Boom Brings New Option to City Drivers
Officials in Fort Worth, Texas weigh regulations for natural gas compression stations arising from a boom in drilling shale for natural gas.
Cuckoo Clock Comes To City Square
A Dallas suburb considers whether to change its sign regulations to allow a massive cuckoo clock in a public space. European cities often have them, but American cities rarely do.
Sierra Club Opposes Use of HOV Lanes By Paying Customers
Houston's MTA is planning to allow drivers to pay a toll to use the High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane on their freeways, and the local Sierra Club chapter is speaking out against the plan.
Living the Slow Life in Marathon, Texas
The New York Times profiles Marathon, a tiny town in Texas with no jobs to speak of but a growing number of second-home buyers looking for the quiet life.
Is Houston A Better Place to Live Than New York?
The New York Sun looks west and finds a lot to love in Houston's cars, growth, and pro-development policies.
Chickens Aren't Just For Countrysides Anymore
Residents of Austin, TX are risking violation of city ordinances forbidding loud animals to raise chickens in their central city neighborhood backyards. It's partly a way to cut out-of-pocket expenses.
Where Do Child Care Centers Belong?
A Houston bedroom community decides against allowing childcare centers to mix with other businesses in strip centers.
Study Says That Highways Don't Pay for Themselves
How often does one hear that transit is somehow a less respectable form of transportation than driving because of the "massive subsidies" transit receives? Well, a new study by Texas DOT says that highways don't pay for themselves either.
Do Cities Have Room For Golf Courses?
Stakeholders in Austin debate the future of a public golf course in the center of town while the University of Texas, owner of the land, debates whether to seek greater profits off the land. Neighbors champion the course as vital open space.
Corner Store Signs: Are They Blight?
Dallas's city council passed an ordinance restricting the percentage of window space a storefront can use for advertisements. Council members say the signs are creating or adding to blight.
Gas Prices Beget Golf Carts
City officials in Lockhart, near Austin, consider allowing golf carts on arterial streets.
It's Not That Easy Greening Your Fleet
Austin and a number of other cities are working to reduce the carbon footprint left by their fleets of city vehicles. Austin officials are looking for ways to offset their remaining emissions.
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
