Posts Tagged ‘design’
About the new web site design
Returning readers will notice that our web site looks somewhat different today. I’ve made a bunch of changes on the surface. You’ll notice that things look a little crisper, more polished, and overall more readable. Some redundant content has been trimmed out, and the important stuff has been made more prominent.
There have been vastly bigger [...]
Discovery Green Thrives while Boston’s Greenway Struggles
A coworker forwarded me this very interesting article comparing Houston’s Discovery Green with Boston’s RFK Greenway.
…since Discovery Green opened in spring 2008, people have flocked to the 12-acre park, especially on weekends, when downtown streets feel empty enough for tumbleweeds. It boasts a signature restaurant, a café, an express branch of the public library, and [...]
Solving the Ashby Paradox
The Ashby Hi-Rise situation has put the problems with Houston’s development regulations in the spotlight. The way the city does business today offers neither the protections that residents desire, nor the predictability that developers need to do business. If we’re not careful, the backlash from this event could make things even worse. Fortunately, there’s a win-win alternative that can solve this problem and make Houston a better place to live and do business.
A tiny step in the right direction
I was pretty excited to be quoted in the Chronicle two days ago. With regards to the passage of the Transit Corridor Streets ordinance, Mike Snyder reported the following:
The changes drew support from real estate organizations including Houstonians for Responsible Growth, which generally resists new development regulation. But others who have followed Houston’s efforts to [...]
Peter Brown’s Traffic Plan
I had a chance to look over Peter Brown’s traffic plan this weekend. It’s a pretty good document, and while it doesn’t go into tremendous detail it does clearly spell out his approach to traffic management. Kuffner wrote a great summary last week, so for the general idea take a look at his post.
I just [...]
Comparing Interfaces: Real Urbanism versus Immitation Urbanism
Today we’re going to take a look at some of the residential infill development that has taken place in Midtown, and see what a difference good interface can make.
If you haven’t read the background material on this one, here’s a quick summary. Interface is the connection between public and private space. It’s the street, the [...]
Houston Tomorrow Form-Based Codes Presentation
This was an interesting presentation, though somewhat limited in its applicability to Houston. While form-based code is extremely relevant for Houston, most of the panel presenters were focused on understanding the difference between conventional zoning and form-based code, and they spent most of their time talking about the processes and challenges involved in transitioning from conventional [...]
Context-Sensitive Streets
Continuing in our discussion of some of the basic ideas behind good urbanism, today we’re going to look at Context-Sensitive Streets (or CSS). This idea came about after many years of study on the neighborhood impacts of very wide suburban thoroughfares, and the design requirements that mandated them. The definitive source of information on Context-Sensitive [...]
The Urban Corridors Debate
Yesterday I attended the Livable Houston lunch meeting put together by the Houston Tomorrow foundation. The topic was Houston’s Urban Corridors program, and the discussion was pretty good.
Here’s an overview:
The city’s current development codes make truly urban, pedestrian-oriented development extremely difficult outside of the CBD. Meanwhile, METRO is building a massive new light-rail system(PDF) which [...]
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