Texas

Austin To Consider New Fund To Save Downtown 'Mom and Pops'

With new development threatening quirky non-chain restaurants and other retail stores, the City of Austin wants to create a fund to support and attract certain types of downtown businesses.

December 24, 2006 - Austin American-Statesman

Austin, Texas OKs Stricter Guidelines For Big-Box Retail

New rules approved by the Austin City Council require that neighbors be notified of proposed big-box development and that a public hearing be held for the project.

December 18, 2006 - Austin American-Statesman

Converting A High School Into Housing

In a creative deal to save a historic structure and also add to the city's desperately needed stock of workforce housing, the school district in Waco, Texas, agreed to sell the old Waco High building to a private developer.

December 18, 2006 - Waco Tribune-Herald

The Battle Over Funding For Regional Rail In Texas

A regional rail system is being planned for the Dallas-Fort Worth area, but lawmakers can't agree on how the project will be funded.

December 15, 2006 - Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Recording of 1991 'San Antonio By Design' Seminar by Andres Duany

A YouTube video features a nine-part talk given by Andres Duany in 1991 in San Antonio, Texas, after visting downtown and RiverWalk.

November 28, 2006 - You Tube

Encouraging New Mixed-Use Development Without Sacrificing Affordable Housing

With Downtown Austin exploding with new mixed-use development, the redevelopment of a low-income apartment complex into a new mixed-use project has affordable-housing advocates worried that the city's supply of below-market-rate housing is vanishing.

November 16, 2006 - Austin American-Statesman

Does Lack Of Zoning Make Houston Housing More Affordable?

With Houston's housing market on the rise as once-hot U.S. markets head south, some economists argue the city's lax development controls allow housing supply to keep up with demand.

November 9, 2006 - The Wall Street Journal

Preserving the Weird

In a city known for the slogan "Keep Austin Weird," there rages a battle about historic preservation and gentrification, pitting neighbor against neighbor. Jeffrey Chusid shows us how one city tries to maintain its identity in the face of challenge.

October 31, 2006 - The Next American City

Historic Preservation Moves to the Suburbs

As post-war development reaches 50 years of age, preservationists and local officials in Arlington, Texas, grapple with the question of what to preserve.

October 20, 2006 - Governing

Texas Sets The Nation's Top Speed Limit

A 521-mile stretch of I-10 in Texas may be heaven for speed demons but hell for the volunteer ambulance service in Hudspeth County. In May, the speed limit was raised to 80 mph, the nation's highest.

October 17, 2006 - The New York Times

Downtown Waco Embraces New Urbanism

The long-dormant downtown in this central Texas city is poised for revitalization designed to take advantage of nearby Baylor University and other assets. New Urbanist designs are generating hope and excitement.

October 15, 2006 - Waco Tribune-Herald

California's Not As Green As It Thinks It Is

The state with the most wind-generated energy is not California but Texas. Notwithstanding all its headline-making, landmark laws, renewable energy has increased a mere 1% in 4 years. The obstacles appear to lay more in bureaucracy than technology.

September 27, 2006 - The San Francisco Chronicle

Creating A Walkable Neighborhood In Auto-Centric Houston

Developers and planners working on plans for Midtown are coming up against the city's own car-friendly regulations as they envision a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly urban village in the center of Houston.

September 13, 2006 - The Houston Chronicle

Austin's Newest Downtown District

Terrain.org offers a case study of Austin's new six block Second Street District.

September 13, 2006 - Terrain.org

States Sue Each Other Over Inter-State Water Pollution

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to act when pollution from one state affects a neighboring state. In the absence Of federal involvement, states have started to sue each other.

September 8, 2006 - The Washington Post

Houston's Growing Pains

Planners are using public participation to overcome past haphazard development and create a vision for the city's transit corridors.

August 29, 2006 - The Houston Chronicle

New Urbanism's Role in Rebuilding New Orleans

What New Orleans can learn from Denver.

August 25, 2006 - Slate

Austin, Texas Forming Affordable Housing Task Force

With its economy humming and housing prices rising, the city of Austin has joined other U.S. cities in looking for affordable housing solutions.

July 31, 2006 - Austin American-Statesman

Dallas' Comprehensive Plan Victory

A tough critic begrudgingly congratulates the Dallas City Council for its courage in approving the city's new comprehensive plan, part of a two-year effort aided by Fregonese Calthorpe Associates.

July 24, 2006 - D Magazine

Big Plans For The Houston Astrodome

Plans for redevelopment include a convention hotel and entertainment center with restaurants, bars and nightclubs, surrounded by an enormous parking garage.

July 20, 2006 - The Houston Chronicle

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.

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Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

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