Placemaking

Carol Coletta, president and CEO of the Memphis River Parks Partnership and a thought leader on urban issues, believes in the power of civic commons to benefit the common good.

My favorite street is closed to cars at the moment. But not to people. And that’s just fine with me.

Walkability. It’s hard to know what that means in a city built like Houston.

Punch in an address on the Walk Score website and it’ll spit out scores — from 0 to 100 — for how walkable and bikeable a location is, as well as a transit score based on public transportation options.

Earlier this summer, the Kinder Institute for Urban Research released its 2020 State of Housing in Harris County and Houston report, which set up a foundation of consistent and accessible information about housing-related issues that are relevant to all Houstonians and Harris County residents. It’s the first of what will be an annual report on the continued analysis of year-to-year data, with the goal of tracking trends in the region’s evolving housing system.

Since the death of George Floyd, the United States has been in nothing short of a reckoning with systemic racism — a reckoning that has, in part, focused on how we remember our past.

When President Donald Trump sent heavily armed federal law enforcement officers and unidentified officers in riot gear into Washington, D.C. during the height of protests recently, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser responded by painting “BLACK LIVES MATTER” directly on the street leading to the White House.

Houston was born from bold entrepreneurialism and big infrastructure.

The Allen Brothers put the city on the map as a hub of the transcontinental rail network. The Ship Channel connected Houston to the world, enabling it to become the capital of the oil and gas industry.

NASA made Houston famous around the world as Space City.

What’s the biggest problem facing people in the Houston area today?

If asked that question in the past month and a half, it seems like easy money to bet every response would involve the economy or health.

But back in late January and early March of this year, when interviews for the 2020 Kinder Houston Area Survey were conducted, congestion on the city’s streets and freeways was the most-common concern. (It was the top response in the previous three years as well.)

Houston has become as well-known for its food scene as it has for its sprawl and the whole no-zoning thing.