Urban Edge Stories by Andy Olin

More and more American cities are setting Vision Zero goals, but progress toward making streets safe for all users, particularly those using non-motorized transportation, is slow to come.

In 2015, METRO took its outdated bus network down to the studs and designed an entirely new regional transit system that made bus service less complicated and more frequent along the busiest routes. The results made transportation officials in cities across the country take notice.

Since the turn of the century, many neighborhoods in or near the heart of Houston and the state’s other large metropolitan areas — Dallas, San Antonio and Austin — have been transformed by the ongoing inflow of affluence. A change better known as gentrification.

It’s been a decade since the Kinder Institute for Urban Research was formed at Rice University. During that time, a lot has changed at the institute and in the Houston metropolitan area. In 2020, the Urban Edge will feature a number of stories related to the 10-year anniversary of the institute. To kick things off, let's compare the Houston area of 2010 with the city today.

The most-popular Urban Edge stories from the past year ranged in topic from dockless scooters and the growth rate of Dallas to the unequal distribution of trees in the city and the Opportunity Zone program. But the most popular topic of 2019 was TxDOT’s enormous I-45 expansion plan.

WalletHub calculated the cost and time it would take residents to pay off median card balances in cities across the country.

Last month, Metro announced it was studying the elimination of transit fares. Kansas City, whose city council recently approved a move to a universal free-fare system, could provide valuable insight into how such a system would work.

Despite month after month of strong jobs reports and an economy seen as robust by most analysts, many families in Houston are struggling to make ends meet and afford basic household necessities. 

In his Kinder Institute Forum talk, sociologist Eric Klinenberg discussed the amazing power of the public library system, as well as the biggest threats to this vital and sorely neglected part of America's social infrastructure.

Meet America's low-wage workforce: 53 million hard-working people struggling to keep their heads above water no matter what they do.