Posts Tagged ‘Urbanism’
$2.50
I was browsing through some data about historical gas prices, when I found some an interesting graph from the Energy Information Administration. Immediately something jumped off the page at me: when looking at historical inflation-adjusted gas prices, every time the price goes above $2.50 we’ve had a major economic meltdown.
CNU-Houston Meeting Tommorrow
CNU-Houston will be meeting tomorrow to discuss the Transect. The Transect is one of the key elements of New Urbanism – it’s the idea that human environments form a spectrum from natural countryside to agricultural lands to small towns to the neighborhoods and centers of large cities. The Transect is an attempt to classify the [...]
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 [...]
Transit Corridor Streets
There’s been a lot of chatter about the Urban Corridors effort this week. Mike Snyder started things off by providing us an update on the ordinance, and several other bloggers have chimed in about it. Most notably, Cory Crow wrote a pretty scathing rebuke of the idea, though I think he was reacting more to [...]
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 [...]
Property Value Theory, Part 3: Places that Attract People
My Property Value Theory
In urban settings the root value of all property is its attractiveness to human use, which I call “people-productivity“. This is different from resource-productivity, which is the basis for rural land values. There are two major things that attract people in a macro level: natural conditions (good weather, beautiful scenery, etc) and [...]
Three Interesting Reads
Houston Transit in an Alternate Universe
Christof Imagines what it would be like if Houston’s plans from 1983 had come to fruition.
China Vies to be a Leader in Electric Vehicles
It’s scary how far behind the curve we’re getting.
20/20 Segment on Private Roads
From Market Urbanism, a look at the difference between public and private roads. Must read, [...]
De Lange Conference: Day One
Well that was fun! I just got back from day one of the De Lange Conference. This week I’ll be looking at the conference and the speakers, giving some recaps of what they had to say, and in many cases adding some additional background and commentary. Later in the week I’ll try and really dig [...]
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