Texas
Houston and San Francisco: Urban Development Patterns Gone Awry
With the media rightfully pointing to Houston's sprawling urban development patterns that exacerbated the epic flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey, Paul Krugman also finds fault with cities where urban development is too tightly regulated.
EPA's Scott Pruitt Dismisses Global Warming Connection to Houston Flooding
While any one event can not be attributed to global warming, climate scientists have long acknowledged a connection to extreme weather. Pruitt, a climate denier, dismisses any such connection with the amount of rainfall from Hurricane Harvey.
The Culprit of Houston Flooding: Sprawl, Not Lack of Zoning
As Houston's flood waters recede and attention turns from rescue to recovery and soon rebuilding, critics have pointed to the city's lack of zoning as the cause of the devastation. But are they looking in the right direction?
AP: 13 Texas Superfund Sites Threatened by Post-Harvey Flooding
The Associated Press broke big news yesterday about the scale of the environmental threat facing neighborhoods and communities located near toxic waste sites in Texas.
Rebuilding Houston After Harvey: 'Bigger and Better'
Those were the words President Trump expressed before his first trip to Texas while Hurricane Harvey was ravaging Houston. But experts worry that the rebuilding won't be better due to the recision of an Obama-era environmental regulation.
After Hurricane, Houston's High Number of Vacant Apartments Looks Like a Good Thing
Houston's apartment vacancy rate was among the highest in the nation before Hurricane Harvey, after the storm's destruction many of those homes will likely be put to good use.
Houston's Drainage Problem
Houston received over 50 inches of rain from Hurricane Harvey in five days. While no city could survive that drenching unscathed, Houston was not prepared to handle the floods due to decades of neglect of stormwater management planning.
Hurricane Effect: Rising Gas Prices
One need not be on the Gulf Coast to experience some of the effects of Hurricane Harvey, a category 4 storm that landed near Corpus Christi on Friday night. Gas prices are expected to rise five to ten cents per gallon in some regions, then recede.
Raising the Alarms as Hurricane Harvey Heads for Houston and the Gulf Coast
Hurricane Harvey was expected to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday. If the damage in human and economic terms is terrible, a lack of infrastructure maintenance and development responsibility will be to blame.
Houston Metro May Now Share Lanes With Traffic After All
When the Houston Metro debuted they had planned to keep parts of the route open to cars. After recent crashes that might change.
Making Sense of San Antonio's Infill Development Plans
San Antonio is changing, and the city's land use regulations aren't living up to the desires of the city's communities, according to one local architect and planner.
Could Public Art on Utility Boxes Displace Communication?
There will be important functions in public space that are not always “art” whose value is not in proportion to their prettiness.
High-Speed Rail Takes Steps Forward in Houston, Though Challenges Remain
The city of Houston and Texas Central Partners signed an MOU this week that details how some of the work on the high-speed rail project will proceed.
Lax Regulation of Texas Air Polluters
Regular "emissions events" at Texas heavy industrial facilities cause a lot of unauthorized pollution. But few consequences mean the companies responsible don't have to crack down.
Study Sheds Light on the Effect of Streetlights on Crime
A study of the neighborhood and streets in the city of Houston finds that streetlights aren't always an effective crime deterrent.
Texas-Sized Lessons in Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Sequel'
A review of Al Gore's new documentary film, "An Incovenient Sequel: Truth to Power" focuses on the lessons that can be gleaned from the film's representations of Texas.
Six States Considered Laws to Make it Legal to Run Over Protestors This Year
A day of reckoning has come for state lawmakers who proposed protections for motorists who attack protestors from behind the wheels of their car. A tragedy at protests in Charlotte has cast new light on the dangerous potential of such laws.
Breaking: Controversial Trinity Toll Road Officially a No-Go
Dallas has ended decades of debate about a highway project proposed to run along the Trinity River.
Houston Commercial Vacancies Outpace All Large U.S. Cities
Commercial vacancies have "ballooned" in Houston, according to the Houston Chronicle, as the energy slump takes hold of the real estate market. The last time vacancies were this high: the oil bust of the 1980s.
Hints of a North Texas Freeway Rebellion
At the helm of a movement to think beyond concrete solutions to transportation challenges in North Texas are the mayors of Fort Worth, Grapevine, and Arlington.
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
