Houston Strategies

Houston vs. architects & Dallas traffic, DC loves our food, WSJ hates our pensions, and more

This week's items:

• I think this is a pretty good analysis from Kinder on why Houston has (marginally) more traffic congestion than Dallas.  I especially agree with the last part about Houston keeping more activity in the core vs. more widely spread-out in Dallas.  Yes, we are both multi-centric cities, but if you look at the job and activity concentration we have in the Downtown-TMC-Uptown triangle, Dallas doesn't compare - and I think that's a good thing.  I like our balance of a vibrant core with multiple centers better than the more pure dispersion of DFW, even if it does create a little extra traffic congestion.
• The Wall Street Journal on Houston's pension funding mess. "the city is headed toward Chicago-level distress" I believe it is the #1 issue to keep in mind during this mayoral runoff...
• Houston IAH is the #5 most connected hub in the world, according to new rankings from OAG.  The top 4 are Atlanta, Chicago, DFW, and Charlotte.  "The Top 50 Megahubs are those airports with the highest ratio of possible scheduled connections to the number of destinations served by the airport."
• New Geography on how society is evolving in ways that make public transport less and less effective.
• Houston, the 'stroboscopic' city.  News flash: architects aren't fans of our less-than-tidy-nor-avant-garde design aesthetic.  Talk about a narrow perspective. They’re completely judging the city on architectural aesthetics – not even a nod to the economics of the free market making lives easier for millions.  I blogged about this long ago: architects often think about cities as just one big beautiful architecture project enforced through planning and regulation – they couldn’t care less about the functional aspect of millions of people living and working together or keeping cities affordable for the poor and middle class.
• HOT lanes in the United States - The end of traffic and the future of transport.  Great graph showing the rapid growth of HOT lanes, which provide congestion-free lanes for buses, carpools, and others now, and will do the same for automated vehicles later.
• Houston ranked #1 on The Best Cities for Registered Nurses.  And not just #1 overall, but #1 in every category!

• The Washington Post is reviewing the top ten food cities in America, with this month's focus on Houston - and they were very impressed!  Love these quotes!

“Everything you know about Texas is wrong”
"Houston, you have a problem. Your food scene deserves more love."

Finally, earlier this month I presented at the American Dream conference in Austin.  You can skim the presentations here and, if you're interested, my own Opportunity Urbanism slides are here.

Labels: affordability, autonomous vehicles, aviation, governance, home affordability, mobility strategies, opportunity urbanism, rankings, toll roads, transit

posted by Tory Gattis @ 6:09 PM