Quote:
Originally Posted by jtown,man
I usually always defend Houston, as it has many many many haters. I will still defend its incredible urban growth, its overall economy, and its lack of urban planning.
However....
If you look at Houston from above on Googlemaps, you might think " wow, this place is pretty dense in areas, quite a few areas in fact." However, I have been to Houston and google Streetview it all the time. Once you look at the street level, that density seems to matter less and less. The city has in fact been building multitudes of density all around the city. But this density hasn't been, over the whole of the city, converted into an urban environment which we(since this is SSP) probably all would prefer over suburbia or suburban-like development.
So I'll still defend Houston and everything awesome about it, but I think the newer developments need more connectivity with the streets. Density for sake of density doesn't always equal *awesome*. It wouldn't take much to convert Houston to a more urban environment. The city could build sidewalks and improve street-appearances. Developers could simply add retail at the bottom, townhouses could be built with less focus on the garage etc etc.
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Hmm....I thought I had been seeing some new developments with retail at the bottom, but those who live there will have a better handle on that than I will. It certainly needs to take off and be the rule rather than exception. I know I've been seeing townhouses with no garages in front. Whether it's a trend or not, I don't know. Doesn't bother me one way or the other. Regarding street appearance, I've seen a lot of street landscaping in Houston. Lots of flowers, palms, other landscaping on the medians. I understand that some of the landscaping is financed by corporate dollars. I think Uptown's landscaping along Post Oak is a good example. Certainly not all streets by any means have been landscaped, but there's been excellent progress. Many U.S. cities have no landscaping at all along right of ways.
There was a well publicized initiative from the mayor last fall (it was discussed in SSP) regarding more "complete" streets that would not just be focused on automobiles. A great deal of work needs to be done in that regard, but it's another example where Houston leadership and citizens are getting on the stick and transforming the city in a positive way.
Hope you don't mind my asking, but I don't know where you're located. A lot of members don't show their location in their profiles (unless I missed yours). Thanks...appreciate it, and thanks for bringing up these important and very valid issues.