The Post-Harvey Houston Needs To Get Denser And More Urban (Dallas: how much, homes)

[Texyn]

Well, don't say I didn't tell you so:

According to Texas officials, Hurricane Harvey destroyed an estimated 800 homes in Houston alone and severely damaged another 119,000. However you cut it, the city will change over the coming years: If you’re a Bayou City urbanist, the wave of rebuilding could be good news, as the city’s new housing could encourage more dense building patterns and stoke greater interest in car-lite living.

The lack of zoning makes the process much easier than in the East and West Coast :

The city’s lack of zoning and pro-YIMBY (“Yes In My Backyard”) development culture should be a huge asset in this rebuilding process: Unlike in many coastal , it’s relatively easy to add more housing to existing urban neighborhoods in Houston. This could help keep the city affordable in the aftermath of Harvey without encouraging further development in flooding-prone and environmentally sensitive wetlands.

The three most important changes needed for this to be successful, according to the article:

• Eliminate parking requirements
• Scale back minimum lot sizes
• Get street design right

https://www.citylab.com/environment/...n-back/549605/

[oceangaia]

No, it doesn't.

[Texyn]

Originally Posted by oceangaia

No, it doesn't.

No matter how much you resist, the fact still remains: high density is the key to resolving these issues with flooding.

[WRM20]

Fortunately, our inner loop neighborhood has deed restrictions that prohibit lot splitting for more density.

[oceangaia]

Originally Posted by Texyn

No matter how much you resist, the fact still remains: high density is the key to resolving these issues with flooding.

Nonsense, our worst flooding occurs in our densest areas.

[Texyn]

Originally Posted by WRM20

Fortunately, our inner loop neighborhood has deed restrictions that prohibit lot splitting for more density.

You forgot to add the "Un" before the "F."

Originally Posted by oceangaia

Nonsense, our worst flooding occurs in our densest areas.

Let me emphasize again that we're talking about walkable urban high density. This must be distinguished from density consisting of a bunch of housing complexes packed together (i.e. Gulfton).

Fact of the matter is, these flood issues would be far less devastating if the city/metro were designed with high walkable density. Look at why and how the flood damages/deaths occured to see this.

Now let's get some architects/developers from Barcelona, London, and other European cities to show us how it's done.

[mrsb9494]

The fact of the matter is the more they keep building next to bayous, flood zones, and wetlands, the worse it's going to keep getting. Nature will always correct itself.

[oceangaia]

Originally Posted by Texyn

Now let's get some architects/developers from Barcelona, London, and other European cities to show us how it's done.

Better yet, just move to those cities if that is what you want.

[predatorprey]

Name a city that is dense and affordable.

Name a city that has survived 50 inches of rain without major flooding.

[NigerianNightmare]

Originally Posted by predatorprey

Name a city that is dense and affordable.

Name a city that has survived 50 inches of rain without major flooding.

Define dense.
190+ countries have denser cities than the U.S. Atlanta is literally the least dense urban area in the world and Houston and Dallas are generally pretty close. Any small Japanese city will be 5 times denser than Houston and affordable. Any third world city is h same, besides Luanda.