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Idk about that. Dallas does a lot of adaptive reuse too.
Houston has been tepid about adaptive reuse but the ones they have done have been nice. I like the Texaco building conversion and can't wait to see what they do with the Esperson Buildings.
SA's historic preservation may rival Galveston in Texas but doesn't hold a candle to other cities around the country. No where as stringent as New Orleans got example.
Houston and Commerce Streets look a lot livelier than I remember them. And what they have done with the Pearl District is applaudable.
You make me miss San Antonio. I thought that was impossible when I left.
Parking lots interrupt vibrancy but they are now a huge part of Urban life. You are more likely to find an excess of parking in urban areas than in rural areas.
Freeways too.
Nonsense! You say that Austin is blown out of the water by other Texas Cities maintaining higher density longer, but Austin Rainey Street makes up for it because of proposed residents? Does not compute!
Proposed numbers of residents in New buildings does not make an urban street scape.
All 4 Texas cities mentioned have more downtown residents than downtown New Orleans but don't think any would be considered more urban.
And it's not like the other cities are not building residential units. All the other Texas cities are doing the same. Difference is Houston and Dallas already had the more urban street scape so with existing building conversion and new builds combined with maintaining more people for miles out, simply building up Rainey Street isn't going to make Austin the most urban. Rainey Street is just Rainey Street. It's not the city.
San Antonio doesn't get talked about much but their new urban developments seem to be very successful. Simply planning and building doesn't always translate into an urban urban streetscape. San Antonio seem to do very well in both building and attracting activity around them. To me more so than other Texas cities.
Those Monstrosities with huge parking podiums will house lots of residents, but what about the point at hand? The street scape? I think San Antonio gets better results in terms of feet on the ground but visually Austin has done well integrating their developments with the natural surroundings.
I said Austin does nodes better than Houston, Dallas and San Antonio from my viewpoint. Rainey Street is a node that has 1,000+ people on it almost every night, mostly non-residents. Parts of Downtown Austin have really high street-level population. Same with West Campus and even portions of the Domain.
I can only fully speak on Austin and Houston. But as far as strips/street density all times of the day. East 6th (East of I-35), South Congress, Dirty 6th, Buford's, The Domain, Zilker Park all seem to have an absurd amount of people and often outright more compared to Houston equivalents like Washington Corridor, Hermann Park, Discovery Green, Downtown and Midtown (specifically the clubbing scene).
I even have to routinely argue that Houston is more urban than Austin amongst Inner Looper Houstonians (who went to MS/HS in the loop) who are now going to or went to UT Austin. Because to many of them Central Austin feel's far more navigable and accessible than Inner Loop Houston with more people. Not to mention the people outside in these nodes make it feel more urban (to them). Even though Density numbers and reality is completely different from perception. Part of it is also the age, because you just have more freedom as an adult than a minor, as well as more disposable income, but the fact it isn't a rare misconception is a testament to what i'm saying.
Anyone who's been here knows. Even visitors from outside the country Austin rank this district highly, with a lot of European student's telling me to them this place is impressive, also the general craziness of Americans.
I said Austin does nodes better than Houston, Dallas and San Antonio from my viewpoint. Rainey Street is a node that has 1,000+ people on it almost every night, mostly non-residents. Parts of Downtown Austin have really high street-level population. Same with West Campus and even portions of the Domain.
I can only fully speak on Austin and Houston. But as far as strips/street density all times of the day. East 6th (East of I-35), South Congress, Dirty 6th, Buford's, The Domain, Zilker Park all seem to have an absurd amount of people and often outright more compared to Houston equivalents like Washington Corridor, Hermann Park, Discovery Green, Downtown and Midtown (specifically the clubbing scene).
I even have to routinely argue that Houston is more urban than Austin amongst Inner Looper Houstonians (who went to MS/HS in the loop) who are now going to or went to UT Austin. Because to many of them Central Austin feel's far more navigable and accessible than Inner Loop Houston with more people. Not to mention the people outside in these nodes make it feel more urban (to them). Even though Density numbers and reality is completely different from perception. Part of it is also the age, because you just have more freedom as an adult than a minor, as well as more disposable income, but the fact it isn't a rare misconception is a testament to what i'm saying.
I would say central Austin is more vibrant than central Houston but its definitely not more urban nor are the nodes more urban. For example a city like Nashville or Vegas are substantially more vibrant than Atlanta but Atlanta crushes them in urbanity. Austin has vibrancy but Houston has a substantially larger core with more urban development across a much larger area, not to mention the transit connections between these nodes are substantially better than what Austin offers, not that its a high bar. I think its pretty fair to say the red line is the most urban transit corridor in all of Texas, as it connects the heart of downtown, midtown, the museum district, hermann park and rice, and the TMC on one rail line.
Anyone who's been here knows. Even visitors from outside the country Austin rank this district highly, with a lot of European student's telling me to them this place is impressive, also the general craziness of Americans.
Overall nothing crazy. But they offer some decent urban amenities and their all growing pretty quickly.
Yes these Austin nodes are very nice and definitely more vibrant than Houston but I dont think they are really better/more urban in built form than Houston's.
Downtown (I don't think there is a street this urban in Austin in terms of built form)
Yes these Austin nodes are very nice and definitely more vibrant than Houston but I dont think they are really better/more urban in built form than Houston's.
Downtown (I don't think there is a street this urban in Austin in terms of built form)
And then there is still the museum district, eado, and the heights in the urban core too.
If only they ever built a line towards Galleria passing through Montrose and parts of Upper Kirby. Alas of course they're only going to do useless BRT.
That being said comparing Austin to Houston is literally apples to oranges - of course Houston will be have larger urban areas. The metro area is almost 3x the size...
That being said one of the thing Austin inner neighborhood seems to lack is micro-business districts within a neighborhood. Most of the businesses are on major arterial which looks like suburban strip malls. Looking at you, areas like Hyde Park or even that stretch of North Lamar near Central Market.
Even areas like this stretch of South Lamar can use a lot more urbanization...
For Mueller District and The Domain - my only gripes, of course, is that ultimately people still just drive there, park in the garage...there's zero transit access (Ok there is bus...). At the end a places like The Domain can be a glorified outdoor mall.
Former Town & Country Mall which was rebuilt into a "Live/Work/Play" district. Of course, being Houston, transit access is basically zero and you drive there...
If only they ever built a line towards Galleria passing through Montrose and parts of Upper Kirby. Alas of course they're only going to do useless BRT.
That being said comparing Austin to Houston is literally apples to oranges - of course Houston will be have larger urban areas. The metro area is almost 3x the size...
That being said one of the thing Austin inner neighborhood seems to lack is micro-business districts within a neighborhood. Most of the businesses are on major arterial which looks like suburban strip malls. Looking at you, areas like Hyde Park or even that stretch of North Lamar near Central Market.
Even areas like this stretch of South Lamar can use a lot more urbanization...
For Mueller District and The Domain - my only gripes, of course, is that ultimately people still just drive there, park in the garage...there's zero transit access (Ok bus...). Their problems are not too different from many urban microdistrict (i.e. Pike & Rose in North Bethesda) where as much as they want people to just use transit to get there, most people don't...they park their car, walked around the few blocks, get back into their car...
I think the BRT will still be very helpful for the area and will definitely do a good job connecting those neighborhoods to the rapid transit system even though rail is more ideal.
I feel Austin will be very successful at continuing to density the neighborhoods that are already urban but will have a very difficult time expanding its urban core unless there are changes in zoning laws. There are way too many areas in Austin zoned to single family housing with standard 5000 sqft minimum lot sizes. This prevents those micro-business districts you talk about from forming.
I agree with your take on the Mueller District and the Domain. These districts are not connected to the urban core at all and have lots of low density sprawl in between them and the core. The best bet would be to try to increase transit connectivity to these areas and I would see it as a win if it could materialize to something like Bethesda and Silver Spring.
I think the BRT will still be very helpful for the area and will definitely do a good job connecting those neighborhoods to the rapid transit system even though rail is more ideal.
I feel Austin will be very successful at continuing to density the neighborhoods that are already urban but will have a very difficult time expanding its urban core unless there are changes in zoning laws. There are way too many areas in Austin zoned to single family housing with standard 5000 sqft minimum lot sizes. This prevents those micro-business districts you talk about from forming.
I agree with your take on the Mueller District and the Domain. These districts are not connected to the urban core at all and have lots of low density sprawl in between them and the core. The best bet would be to try to increase transit connectivity to these areas and I would see it as a win if it could materialize to something like Bethesda and Silver Spring.
TBH Bethesda and SS are MUCH older. The areas which is now Downtown Silver Springs was around before WWII, actually declined in 1960s thanks to indoor mall (Wheaton Mall aka Westfield Wheaton), got revitalized, and is changing again.
It's why if I have to use an example from DMV, I use newer developments like Pike & Rose in North Bethesda or even Mosaic District in Merrifield VA. Those are your newer archetypical mixed neo-urban "Work-Live-Play" neighborhoods that are more similar to The Domain, located an area that's consider suburban but master planned to have density closer to urban core. You do have quite a bit of foot traffic within those few blocks, but I would say 90% of those foot traffic are people that doesn't live within that microdistrict and simply drive their POV there, park in the garage, walk around, eat a meal, shop...then leave in their POV.
TBH Bethesda and SS are MUCH older. The areas which is now Downtown Silver Springs was around before WWII, actually declined in 1960s thanks to indoor mall (Wheaton Mall aka Westfield Wheaton), got revitalized, and is changing again.
It's why if I have to use an example from DMV, I use newer developments like Pike & Rose in North Bethesda or even Mosaic District in Merrifield VA. Those are your newer archetypical mixed neo-urban "Work-Live-Play" neighborhoods that are more similar to The Domain, located an area that's consider suburban but master planned to have density closer to urban core. You do have quite a bit of foot traffic within those few blocks, but I would say 90% of those foot traffic are people that doesn't live within that microdistrict and simply drive their POV there, park in the garage, walk around, eat a meal, shop...then leave in their POV.
You’re right for sure they are entirely car dependent as most people drive to get to them. Also most residents who live in these developments also own cars and drive pretty much everywhere. CityCentre in Houston like you pointed out also falls under this boat as does Legacy West/The Shops at Legacy in DFW
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