Houston Strategies: Congestion improvements, global superstar city, biggest homes in America, up vs out debate, Vision Zero flaws, CA vs. TX, and more

Monday, October 29, 2018

Congestion improvements, global superstar city, biggest homes in America, up vs out debate, Vision Zero flaws, CA vs. TX, and more

Ok, first an apology for such a *long* gap between posts. I have been nearly continuously traveling since early Sept (multiple trips mixing work and fun), including presenting MaX Lanes at the Strong Cities 2030 sustainable mobility symposium in Essen, Germany and debating up vs. out urban development policies at the Breakthrough Institute Ecomodernism 2018 conference in DC. Both events went really well and I got very positive feedback. As you might expect with such a long gap, a lot of smaller items have gotten backlogged:

INRIX Data Show Some Progress on U.S. Congestion, where Houston shows substantial improvements. Good excerpt:

"The other point that leaps out of the table is the change in rank of Dallas and Houston, both of which moved significantly lower in the league table of most-congested metro areas. Both have a growing fraction of their expressways that are tollways, and both have expanding networks of variably priced managed lanes. Also striking is that Portland, with just one-third the population of Dallas, has nearly the same average congested hours per commuter and has nearly double the percentage of peak period hours that are congested."

Market Urbanism: HOUSTON OR PORTLAND: WHICH CITY IS DOING URBAN DENSITY BETTER - A look at the pro-market vs. pro-planning urban model.
Market Urbanism: HOUSTON, DALLAS and NEW YORK CITY: AMERICA’S GREAT 3-WAY HOUSING SUPPLY RACE - The 3 are growing their housing stocks, and seeing their prices stabilize compared to other metros.
The flaws of "Vision Zero" programs to reduce auto accidents.

"Vision Zero is a failed policy from a paternalistic government that takes millions of dollars to implement and never reaches its goal of zero deaths, in part because its goal is completely unrealistic. But Vision Zero does make life harder for commuters and those delivering freight. Yet this is the policy that many U.S. cities want to implement."

Curbed has a good series of articles titled "The United States of California and Texas" comparing our two states.
Joel Kotkin in City Journal on "One Nation, Two Economies - More than gender, race, or other hot-button media issues, a deep socioeconomic divide will shape the midterm elections."
The Urbanophile argues that fast-growing Sunbelt cities - including Houston - need to invest in livability for the next stage in their lifecycle.
McKinsey identifies 50 global superstar cities, including Houston (one of only 11 in North America).

"The 50 cities account for 8 percent of global population, 21 percent of world GDP, 37 percent of urban high-income households, and 45 percent of headquarters of firms with more than $1 billion in annual revenue. The average GDP per capita in these cities is 45 percent higher than that of peers in the same region and income group, and the gap has grown over the past decade."