Urban Planning

How bikes paved the way for car dependency in America

And why there needs to be more investment in bicycle infrastructure in Houston and other cities.

In Houston and everywhere else, (lot) size matters

The development of townhomes in Houston predominantly has taken place in high-amenity neighborhoods where gentrification has already occurred. The latest report from the Kinder Institute also shows new townhome construction is growing in at-risk neighborhoods, a trend that appears to be speeding gentrification in those communities.

Texas Metropolitan Blueprint: A Policy Agenda to Secure the Competitiveness and Prosperity of Texas

The Texas Metropolitan Blueprint lays out recommendations for policies that address the most important economic development, land use, housing, infrastructure, and transportation challenges of the state’s metropolitan areas.

No, Houston isn’t a walkable city, but you have to start somewhere

When a west Houston intersection was retrofitted with infrastructure to protect pedestrians, City Observatory’s Joe Cortright called the redesign hollow and ‘performative.’ But it’s not that simple.

The new BikeHouston boss has a vision for safer streets for all

Whether you ride a bike full time or part time, just for fun or for transportation, BikeHouston’s new executive director wants to make it safer to ride a bike in Houston. It’s why he left New York to come here.

Do you have the ‘place gene’?

Urban planners and designers sometimes think they have an exclusive “lock” on an understanding of place. But in fact everybody can develop their own “place gene.”

Unflashy but effective ways to slow traffic and save lives

Pedestrians and bicyclists accounted for 38% of all roadway deaths in Houston in 2019 — a 3% increase from 2018. Overall, 647 people were killed in fatal crashes in the Houston area in 2019, according to NHTSA data released in December. Prioritizing speed on local roads is the dangerous status quo in the U.S., but many cities are taking action to try and make safety the priority.

Big-city planners shouldn’t overlook the lessons of small-town design

Influenced by the Garden City movement, Badin, North Carolina, is a small gem of urban planning whose design called for green space, residential areas and commercial development in proportionate amounts. The planning of small towns like Badin can serve as an example for larger cities as they continue to grow.

Finding the small-scale urbanism his hometown lost to urban renewal

After a car-centric urban renewal plan irrevocably changed the town where he grew up, a young urbanist found the essence of Auburn, New York, in Southern California.

Urban renewal was supposed to save my hometown, instead it ripped it apart

A failed plan to breathe life back into the economy of the beautiful, walkable city where I grew up left it half the place it once was, broke my father’s heart and shaped me as an urbanist.

The rapid urbanization of Houston: How it happened and why it matters

From 1997 to 2016, almost 187,000 football fields of impervious surfaces such as concrete were added in the Houston metro area. A sociologist and an ecologist examined what drove growth during the period, which has had critical implications for humans and the environment.

To tackle pandemic racism, we need to take action, not just take to social media

Our public transportation systems were built on a foundation of racism, and the only way to truly fix them may be to raze them and rebuild from the ground up.

For more and more Houstonians, dreams of homeownership remain just that

In the past decade, as home prices and rents have increased faster than incomes for many residents of Houston and Harris County, buying a home has become increasingly difficult, according to Kinder Institute research.   

Less space for parking is a crucial step toward walkability in Houston

By design, Houston is car-dependent. Yet, Kinder Surveys have shown that half of Houstonians want to live where they can walk more and drive less. Recently approved ordinances that promote walkability in neighborhoods should help. Importantly, in certain areas, the new regulations will eliminate and reduce minimum parking requirements, which are considered costly, unfair and inefficient by many experts.

Racism has shaped public transit, and it’s riddled with inequities

From funding, planning and infrastructure, to design and policing, many transit agencies essentially have built two systems with different standards for “choice” and “dependent” riders (that is to say white and Black).