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Texas metros are the engines driving the state’s robust economy. To ensure things run smoothly in the future, metropolitan areas need to be at the center of state policy. The collaborative Texas Metropolitan Blueprint provides a plan for continuing and building on the metropolitan progress that benefits the entire state.

In the 10 months since the killing of George Floyd, has policing in America changed at all? We need to rethink what it means to protect and serve the well-being of citizens.

As the Buffalo Bayou Partnership looks east, some of the first improvements planned include mixed-income housing options, a Japhet Creek pocket park in the lower Fifth Ward, wharf and dock reconstruction in the Second Ward and filling gaps in existing trails. But it all started with connecting to communities.

With more extreme weather events and disasters in our future, we need to change how our city prepares for these shocks and their long-lasting impacts so that Houstonians will take disaster preparedness more seriously.

As access to the COVID-19 vaccination becomes increasingly widespread, it seems possible to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But what’s next for cities? Here are six ways cities will be different — from Zoomburbs and public transit to the fate of retail and housing — in the years to come.

As the housing demand continues to outpace supply, prices have risen to levels not seen since 2008. While industry analysts don’t see the current boom going bust like the one leading up to the Great Recession, they are nonetheless concerned. One fear is the market could put homeownership out of reach for a generation of Americans and be bad for everyone in the long run.

Women faced disadvantages in pay and promotions at work before COVID-19, and for many, the pandemic has only widened that deficit. How can we better address those gaps and improve equity in the years to come?

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.

In the past, the influx of Californians to Texas has fluctuated from year to year. However, since 2018, the West Coast migration has remained high. Why is that? (Hint: It’s not oil prices.)

In 2020, the City of Houston and regional stakeholders cemented a resilience strategy and a climate action plan, which were adapted to reflect COVID-19’s impact on urban life. The Kinder Institute has gathered information and updates on the progress made in the first year of these efforts in one place.

The stress of not being able to make rent or mortgage payments can negatively impact sleep quality and bring on other serious health problems like obesity and cardiovascular disease. There are a number of policy options that could make housing more affordable and stable for low-income adults and their families.

A new study shows large, small and midsize cities with the highest — and lowest — minority homeownership rates. The No. 1 city in the U.S. is a Houston suburb.

There’s no question the United States is living off past investments in infrastructure without building the new infrastructure we need — or even upgrading the old infrastructure we have. It’s time to invest heavily in quasi-public infrastructure and ramp up effective public oversight of that infrastructure so it will work for us in emergency situations.

How rebuilding freeways has helped heal mid-20th-century transportation scars in cities like San Francisco, Dallas, Syracuse and Washington, D.C., along with a cautionary tale from Houston.

Like many resources in Houston, access to the COVID-19 vaccine is concentrated on the west side of the city, while the greatest need and impact of the disease is concentrated among the residents on the east side. 

Shifts in travel habits because of the pandemic, including less driving and more active transportation, drove the metro’s improved ranking among the most climate-friendly areas in the U.S.

A major, federally led infrastructure strategy is vital to meeting the nation’s challenges. A new Kinder Institute report shows that to be truly responsive to the needs of America’s cities and regions, a bottom-up consultation process with regional and local leaders and a focus on three priorities will be necessary.

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.

Responses to an essay on music and place lead a writer to reconsider his musical relationship with the two big cities he knows best — Los Angeles and Houston.

In the past 10 years, the number of people who have died while walking in the United States has shot up by more than 50%. In Houston, pedestrian deaths have more than doubled in that time — spiking 125%. In “Right of Way,” Angie Schmitt examines the crisis of pedestrian injuries and fatalities across the U.S. — a crisis that disproportionately impacts low-income and minority communities.