Quote:
Originally Posted by mhays
Cheap land and the free market also conspire to make most of this Houston infill not terribly urban.
The townhouse trend is good, but marginally urban in density and form.
Every time I dig into a new Houston highrise it has an "entry drive". Most infill seems to have parking garages above grade, with huge amounts of parking. Outside the core many have surface parking. Between form and density, it's better than what was there, but not terribly urban.
Above-grade garages aren't the worst thing in the world but even if well done the result is less density than the same parking underground. To say nothing of mode splits.
Long story short...it's good, but my local suburban downtowns are far more urban than most of what gets built in Houston.
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Houston's "free-market" philosophy certainly follows the sun belt model of development. I think what holds Houston back is also what makes it's positive; this "libertarian" type ideal of planning and development. In hindsight, Houston should have had a more cohesive regional transportation plan to accommodate the million people per decade growth the past 3 decades and future growth. Houston has the large employment centers surrounding downtown but needs to focus on them being more cohesive in terms of form and connectivity.