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Austin has surprisingly very dense nodes for a city its size. Downtown & UTA areas as well as Domain and the gentrifying eastern areas are pretty decently dense. What hurts it is Austin proper has a large city limit which also encompasses suburban areas outside of the vicinity of the CBD as well as land preserves and hills to the west.
Downtown Austin is pretty walkable however. 4th and 6th streets are highly walkable and very sought after nodes, this along with the parks and trails on Town Lake in downtown.
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Originally Posted by cranberrysaus
By adjacent, you mean across a series of highway overpasses?
They capped the freeway that separated the two and IIRC there was controversy of removing it altogether.
Last edited by Need4Camaro; 01-11-2020 at 09:19 PM..
Austin has surprisingly very dense nodes for a city its size. Downtown & UTA areas as well as Domain and the gentrifying eastern areas are pretty decently dense. What hurts it is Austin proper has a large city limit which also encompasses suburban areas outside of the vicinity of the CBD as well as land preserves and hills to the west.
Downtown Austin is pretty walkable however. 4th and 6th streets are highly walkable and very sought after nodes, this along with the parks and trails on Town Lake in downtown.
They capped the freeway that separated the two and IIRC there was controversy of removing it altogether.
The way all theses cities are made ,its not really a good measure of which is more urban.As another poster made a good point that these numbers within 1,000-2,00 density isnt going to show a huge difference. The walkscore are a better indicator of whats actually walkbale and urban with each city having a greater number of walkable areas with high numbers and it that case according to Walkscore,Atlanta is ahead of Austin as well but I just realized Austin is not even in this discussion
I think in Texas the highest density areas are generally not hip walkable neighborhoods but instead lower income areas that tend to have large extended families sharing a house. (The neighborhoods with 5 cars in every driveway).
I believe that the single highest density neighborhood in Texas is West Campus in Austin, which is an awesome walkable urban neighborhood if you happen to be in the 18-22 age range.
The way all theses cities are made ,its not really a good measure of which is more urban.As another poster made a good point that these numbers within 1,000-2,00 density isnt going to show a huge difference. The walkscore are a better indicator of whats actually walkbale and urban with each city having a greater number of walkable areas with high numbers and it that case according to Walkscore,Atlanta is ahead of Austin as well but I just realized Austin is not even in this discussion
Walkscore Atlanta vs Austin is not very fair, as Austin has way bigger city limits and is also a lesser populated area in general. Central Austin vs Atlanta is pretty similar.
Downtown FortWorth seemed pretty walkable as well ... much more so than Dallas... ...after you drive to it that is.
Atlanta will definitely carry a higher walkability score than even Austin (which I personally believe is probably the most walkable core area in Texas) because the presence of MARTA rail which is a pretty effective Heavy Rail System.
The demographics between Texas and Georgia are just too different IMO. Atlanta attracts alot of residents from transit orientated cities thus demand its use more and are more willing to walk where as DFW, Houston, Austin, ect draw alot of residents from car dependent metros who dont really care one way or the other about walkability. Also Texan cities have nigh infinite land to sprawl and would prefer to do so than watch rents and mortgages soar within the core areas... so corporations and businesses have many more options than just the core which also hurts walkability in the core (less jobs = less people living in the core than it can support = less need to improve walkability). Texas cities mainly sprawl in medium density.
Downtown FortWorth seemed pretty walkable as well ... much more so than Dallas... ...after you drive to it that is.
Atlanta will definitely carry a higher walkability score than even Austin (which I personally believe is probably the most walkable core area in Texas) because the presence of MARTA rail which is a pretty effective Heavy Rail System.
The demographics between Texas and Georgia are just too different IMO. Atlanta attracts alot of residents from transit orientated cities thus demand its use more and are more willing to walk where as DFW, Houston, Austin, ect draw alot of residents from car dependent metros who dont really care one way or the other about walkability. Also Texan cities have nigh infinite land to sprawl and would prefer to do so than watch rents and mortgages soar within the core areas... so corporations and businesses have many more options than just the core which also hurts walkability in the core (less jobs = less people living in the core than it can support = less need to improve walkability). Texas cities mainly sprawl in medium density.
I don’t know how accurate that is. DFW and Atlanta pretty much receives the same demographic from the Midwest. The difference between the two is Atlanta gets more from the NE and DFW gets more from the West. But it isn’t like DFW doesn’t receive it’s fair share from transit oriented Northeast areas either. Houston is mainly Southern and Western but as the polls from urban kinder points out, most Houstonians today want walkable dense urban environments where they can live work and play.
What separates Houston is the lack of zoning. That increases population density, because developers are free to build townhomes, fourplexes, etc as the market demands, but it hurts walkabality, as there is nothing encouraging community benefiting things like street facing retail, sidewalks, etc.
Austin is kind of the opposite. Draconian zoning prevents high density housing, but initiatives like the Great Streets Program encourage and require walkable friendly development.
The demographics between Texas and Georgia are just too different IMO. Atlanta attracts alot of residents from transit orientated cities thus demand its use more and are more willing to walk where as DFW, Houston, Austin, ect draw alot of residents from car dependent metros who dont really care one way or the other about walkability.
In the case of Atlanta, the transit demand has a wealth of experience, statistics, data, etc to draw from, since the MARTA rapid transit infrastructure has been in place since the 80s. Much less of an uphill climb than having to build an entire heavy transit system from scratch - Dallas has less work in this department than the other large Texas cities, though the system largely is based around light-rail.
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Also Texan cities have nigh infinite land to sprawl and would prefer to do so than watch rents and mortgages soar within the core areas... so corporations and businesses have many more options than just the core which also hurts walkability in the core (less jobs = less people living in the core than it can support = less need to improve walkability). Texas cities mainly sprawl in medium density.
There's definitely ample land to spread in Texas. But it may not all be available for use, depending on any disputes as it regards private land ownership across the state. Dallas, in particular, is actually land-locked, since it's surrounding suburbs all incorporated as their own municipalities. Houston has more freedom due to it's ETJ, but the land may not be suitable for development depending on any risks as it regards flooding threats.
Land availability seems more to affect density rather than walkability, at least on a fundamental basis. Cities with smaller areas have more chance of going vertical, whereas areas with lots of land will have more low-rise, continuous urban build.
Last edited by kemahkami; 01-12-2020 at 12:40 PM..
What separates Houston is the lack of zoning. That increases population density, because developers are free to build townhomes, fourplexes, etc as the market demands, but it hurts walkabality, as there is nothing encouraging community benefiting things like street facing retail, sidewalks, etc.
Those walkability elements in Houston are controlled by specific regulations incorporated into city code, which are separate from the city's lack of zoning. In particular, the minimum set-back requirements diminish street-level retail by forcing buildings to be built separate from the sidewalk with swaths of parking and/or lawns in-between.
So in other words, the lack of walkability in Houston actually trends in opposition to market principles.
Walkscore Atlanta vs Austin is not very fair, as Austin has way bigger city limits and is also a lesser populated area in general. Central Austin vs Atlanta is pretty similar.
Thats why I said look at the walkscore of its top neighborhoods.Atlanta top neighborhood downtown are rated higher than any Texas city neighborhood
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