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I'll take having the developments look like the OC (btw, locals hate that reference) as opposed to nothing done like astroworld plot or astrodome.
Of course that's preferable but are the new spaces in these multi use development centres (intentionally spelled that way) too expensive for anyone other than chain stores? I mean two gaps, no three, within a mile or two of each other; Galleria, Highland and West Gray? Go a little further and find a fourth in the Rice Village.
I mean I'm finding the spaces for uniqueness less and less centered in the traditional hot spots in the loop and thinking I may live closer to downtown. How's the Heights?
^wtf. I dont even know what my thread is about anymore
Southern cities less urban and more car centric and city planners in north are better.
Awesome your have some high-rise ,mix used building, store-font, store at street level, grid system and homes on through street in some parts of your city. We are northerners we are better and better city planners more urban. That find every thread on city-data and spam!! I don't care what city planners say, texts books, history we are northerners and better!! We have better cities and better city planners.
Yep this what people doing with this thread.
This thread is pointless. It serves no purpose. We are on page 15 and tape is still stuck on repeat.
I predict in two or three days this thread will be locked.
Location: Baghdad by the Bay (San Francisco, California)
3,530 posts, read 5,132,725 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bubble99
Southern cities less urban and more car centric and city planners in north are better.
Awesome your have some high-rise ,mix used building, store-font, store at street level, grid system and homes on through street in some parts of your city. We are northerners we are better and better city planners more urban. That find every thread on city-data and spam!! I don't care what city planners say, texts books, history we are northerners and better!! We have better cities and better city planners.
Yep this what people doing with this thread.
This thread is pointless. It serves no purpose. We are on page 15 and tape is still stuck on repeat.
I predict in two or three days this thread will be locked.
I actually spent 20+ years in Houston and am now in San Francisco (north of there, but not technically "The North"). You're right, though. City planners and developers elsewhere seem to be better at building urban environments than their counterparts in Houston.
I would like to see a more urban Houston, not only because I believe its suburban-style sprawl is not sustainable, but because I think it would make Houston a more interesting place. I only visit once per year or so, so it's not really a big deal to me one way or the other, but I still call it home and want to see it improve.
Houston has been giving lip service to urbanization longer than I lived there. There's not much vision behind the action, though, and the result is the current hodgepodge. I'd like to see what this inventive city could do if it got its act together.
LA is overvalued but Houston has reached what level of development? The OC? Cus that's what this new Houston reminds me of with its modern, Towne center, master planned retail chain store developments that tend to cater to the middle-upper middle professional/managerial class that makes up the new chunk of the population.
I visited The Americana in Glendale a month ago. It blows CityCentre out of the water! Sadly can't do this in Houston's climate, but the parking garage lobby did not have a formal indoor/outdoor division. It seamlessly blurred the line between the indoor and outdoors. (Do that in Houston and the heat and humidity would overpower the A/C!)
The point is that architecture here does not play to the strengths of Houston, like the Americana example does to the L.A. climate. Plus the Americana is right across the street from the extant Glendale Galleria, creating a synergy between the two centers; it is like a single mall e.g. First Colony with the lifestyle centre addition.
Houston would be a good candidate to buck the trends by building indoor/climate-controlled mall (considering the triple digit heat that comes on around this time every year), while L.A. would do well to expound on the lifestyle center trend, especially in coastal L.A. Santa Monica Place is a very good example of a transformation from an indoor to an outdoor mall. Hopefully Verde Park (formerly The Grand) here in Katy would do well with an indoor version of Fashion Island; the Pacific Life building is a landmark for the O.C.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bubble99
Southern cities less urban and more car centric and city planners in north are better.
Awesome your have some high-rise ,mix used building, store-font, store at street level, grid system and homes on through street in some parts of your city. We are northerners we are better and better city planners more urban. That find every thread on city-data and spam!! I don't care what city planners say, texts books, history we are northerners and better!! We have better cities and better city planners.
Actually Houston is a very cohesive city compared to Chicago and DFW. Houston does not have (incorporated) suburbs, which is a rarity in the Western world. I can visit North Harris and it doesn't feel too different than West Houston (and lack of rivalry too--we're all Houstonians!!!). West Houston is an extension of the Inner Loop, similar to L.A.'s Westside. In fact, Houstonians are more likely to visit other parts of the city than other towns in America.
I actually spent 20+ years in Houston and am now in San Francisco (north of there, but not technically "The North"). You're right, though. City planners and developers elsewhere seem to be better at building urban environments than their counterparts in Houston.
I would like to see a more urban Houston, not only because I believe its suburban-style sprawl is not sustainable, but because I think it would make Houston a more interesting place. I only visit once per year or so, so it's not really a big deal to me one way or the other, but I still call it home and want to see it improve.
Houston has been giving lip service to urbanization longer than I lived there. There's not much vision behind the action, though, and the result is the current hodgepodge. I'd like to see what this inventive city could do if it got its act together.
I think one reason city planners in Houston are not as successful in creating these urban environments is that people in Houston are less appreciative of those efforts , its a bit like herding cats. Populations in other parts of the country are much more cooperative and appreciative of the efforts of urban planning...
You seem a little too focused on the supply side of urban planning, when it may just be a demand side issue.
Last edited by Jack Lance; 07-26-2015 at 09:26 PM..
I think one reason city planners in Houston are not as successful in creating these urban environments is that people in Houston are less appreciative of those efforts , its a bit like herding cats. Populations in other parts of the country are much more cooperative and appreciative of the efforts of urban planning...
You seem a little too focused on the supply side of urban planning, when it may just be a demand side issue.
More like apathy and homeostasis. Most Houstonians are transplants, no loyalty since they are here for a job. They could care less about the city's legacy, they just want to make enough money so they can go back to their hometowns or the final destination in a "destination" city (NYC, L.A., Chicago, S.F.). Chicago was the same way in its early days until the City Beautiful movement took off in the aftermath of the Great Fire.
If living in Houston was more like surviving, just like in California, we would see more outmigration than L.A. is experiencing right now. L.A. has the pull of the "California Dream" created by the city's P.R. industry. Houston and the rest of Texas doesn't have any other value proposition besides "it's cheap!"; which can be easily outdone by newly emerging boom states (e.g. Oklahoma, North Carolina).
Actually Houston is a very cohesive city compared to Chicago and DFW. Houston does not have (incorporated) suburbs, which is a rarity in the Western world. I can visit North Harris and it doesn't feel too different than West Houston (and lack of rivalry too--we're all Houstonians!!!). West Houston is an extension of the Inner Loop, similar to L.A.'s Westside. In fact, Houstonians are more likely to visit other parts of the city than other towns in America.
Houston is cohesive city compared to Chicago? Explain.
More like apathy and homeostasis. Most Houstonians are transplants, no loyalty since they are here for a job. They could care less about the city's legacy, they just want to make enough money so they can go back to their hometowns or the final destination in a "destination" city (NYC, L.A., Chicago, S.F.). Chicago was the same way in its early days until the City Beautiful movement took off in the aftermath of the Great Fire.
If living in Houston was more like surviving, just like in California, we would see more outmigration than L.A. is experiencing right now. L.A. has the pull of the "California Dream" created by the city's P.R. industry. Houston and the rest of Texas doesn't have any other value proposition besides "it's cheap!"; which can be easily outdone by newly emerging boom states (e.g. Oklahoma, North Carolina).
Actually Houston is a very cohesive city compared to Chicago and DFW. Houston does not have (incorporated) suburbs, which is a rarity in the Western world. I can visit North Harris and it doesn't feel too different than West Houston (and lack of rivalry too--we're all Houstonians!!!). West Houston is an extension of the Inner Loop, similar to L.A.'s Westside. In fact, Houstonians are more likely to visit other parts of the city than other towns in America.
These two post seem to contradict each other. In one you talk about Houston being "cohesive" and in the other you talk about Houston being "apathetic" to its own development , can you reconcile these two post for us?
Quote:
Originally Posted by KerrTown
More like apathy and homeostasis. Most Houstonians are transplants, no loyalty since they are here for a job. They could care less about the city's legacy, they just want to make enough money so they can go back to their hometowns or the final destination in a "destination" city (NYC, L.A., Chicago, S.F.). Chicago was the same way in its early days until the City Beautiful movement took off in the aftermath of the Great Fire.
If living in Houston was more like surviving, just like in California, we would see more outmigration than L.A. is experiencing right now. L.A. has the pull of the "California Dream" created by the city's P.R. industry. Houston and the rest of Texas doesn't have any other value proposition besides "it's cheap!"; which can be easily outdone by newly emerging boom states (e.g. Oklahoma, North Carolina).
Most cities that are booming or recently have boomed will have a good number of those types (people here only for jobs) in their makeup. I disagree that Houston or Texas is in any danger of losing mass numbers of its population to a place like Oklahoma if there was a equilibrium of jobs and prices. Of course there would be outmigration if other locations offered lower prices and more jobs. That is the way the economy has always worked as evidenced by the migration into Texas from so-called aspirational destinations.
As far as attitudes toward city planning go and the differences between northern attitudes and "the Houston way" I think this is more philosophical in nature being that people in Houston have thought that the private actions and efforts of the economy will produce a result locally that is more adaptive to local conditions, where as city planners would just copy and produce a knock-off version of what has already been done elsewhere.
Concerning the arrogance of northern city planners, are they arrogant because they just think the north is superior, or do they act arrogant to compensate for feelings of being rejected by the politics of Texas and Houston in particular?
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