All this is mythic, like the architects campfire story of Houston as unplanned free-for-all. In fact, Houstons core neighborhoods grew around a 90-mile streetcar system, and the city has a higher WalkScore than Austin. Houston is amazingly more progressive and more concerned about things like quality of life, walkable neighborhoods, and bike infrastructure than people realize, says Susan Rogers, a professor of architecture at the University of Houston. The light rail project rides that same wave of interest in car-free life. Rail used to be a negative word around this town, says Tom Lambert, head of Houstons Metro transit agency. Its not anymore. But the people themselves have changed — no American metro has grown faster than Greater Houston over the last quarter-century, making it one of the most diverse areas in the United States — and they might be taking the city with them. Stephen Klineberg, co-director of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University, divides Houstons history into three periods: the sleepy streetcar town, the city structured by the freedom of the automobile, and the metropolis yearning for freedom from the automobile. Theres a vision: retail downstairs, residents upstairs, shade trees, sidewalk cafes, says Klineberg. This is, in general, a city self-consciously reinventing itself for the 21st century.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Apr 2014 16:34:34 +0000