Houston
Energy Fuels Growth in Zoning-Free Houston
The oil and gas companies clustered south of the central business district and in the Woodlands account for 3.4 percent of the city's employment, but the concentrated energy sector helps spread the wealth to other sectors in zoning-free Houston.
Tracking the Transportation Initiatives to be Decided Today
While the federal government balks at increasing money for transportation projects, local officials across America are turning to their constituents to get the go ahead for significant transportation investment. What projects are at stake today?
Art and Empowerment Define a Community Development Success Story in Houston
Decaying and disused buildings litter many American inner-city neighborhoods. In Houston, one imaginative project turns potential into pride and empowerment by creating unique, new uses for old homes.
Do Commute Times Create an Inherent Limit to Sprawl?
Charlie Gardner parses the data on mean commuting times recently released as part of the 2010 ACS estimates for metropolitan statistical areas, and wonders what the maximum mean travel time suggests for the urban form of America's cities.
Economic Segregation Spreads Across America's Cities
Emily Badger looks at new data from the Pew Research Center that shows, "As Americans are growing farther apart on the income scale, we are also effectively moving apart from each other within cities, into our own economic enclaves."
Houston: America's Coolest City?
Topping a new list of America's coolest cities is Portland? New York? Austin? Nope, it's Houston.
Is America's Oil Capital Going Green?
The Economist takes notice of Houston's efforts to create a more sustainable and attractive city, a not uncomplicated task in the capital of America's energy industry.
Houston Embraces Saddle of a Different Sort
Launched this week, Houston's first bike share program is seen as a significant step in helping to dispel "Houston's national reputation as an uncongenial, sprawling metropolis," reports Allan Turner.
Surprising Support for More Mass Transit in Houston
A survey tracking Houstonian opinions for three decades has found that the most striking change in the car-centric city is an embrace of an urban lifestyle led by support for more mass transit options and less reliance on cars, reports Jeannie Kever.
America's Expanding Cities
Nate Berg explains why recent headlines about the rise of the country's urban population shouldn't have smart growth advocates claiming victory just yet.
HOV-to-HOT Conversion Seen as Key to Easing Congestion
Robert Poole reports on efforts across the country to reduce freeway congestion through HOV-to-HOT conversion and public-private partnerships.
Choosing a Grid, or Not
With new research in hand, Fanis Grammenos revisits his analysis of the efficiency of the Simple Grid, and asks what, in fact, should be the preferred layout for a new neighbourhood.
An Injection of Urbanism in the Land of Sprawl
Anthony Flint reports on the Buffalo Bayou restoration project in Houston, where a remarkably green sensibility has infused the capital of fossil fuels.
Houston Densifies and Diversifies Housing
It's been over 12 years since Houston last planned for denser development patterns, but an updated code is on the way to lure an ever growing population away from the suburbs.
Making Places in Houston
Houston is leading the way in creating new public spaces. This article from The Project for Public Spaces looks at a few of the city's efforts.
Placemaking Capital of the U.S.: Houston?
The Project for Public Spaces says that despite its reputation as a sprawling, planning-free city, Houston is turning the lack of city planning to its advantage by inspiring a bottom-up approach.
Houston: City of the Year?
Fast Company chooses Houston as its 2011 City of the Year, citing its sense of opportunity and general affordability as the major reasons for its selection.
"You Can Call It Sprawl, Or You Can Call it Quality of Life"
That's Billy Burge of the Grand Parkway Association, referring to a plan in Houston, Texas to expand the city out into greenfields on the outskirts of the city.
The Hottest Cities for Multifamily Development
Builder Magazine says the construction numbers have been all over the map from month to month, but a pattern is emerging that reveals several markets to be reliable hotbeds for the development of multifamily buildings.
Rethinking the Houston Suburbs
Suburban areas are increasingly in the sights of planners and designers who are thinking of new ways to reform the sprawled out land use patterns. This interview looks at how those efforts relate to Houston.
Pagination
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
EMC Planning Group, Inc.
Planetizen
Planetizen
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service