No Zoning: Why Houston May Be Our Future…

by Zakcq Lockrem, LivableStreets Alliance board member and Masters Candidate at Harvard University Graduate School of Design

@ LivableStreets office, 100 Sidney Street, Cambridge [map]
Open to the public. Suggested $5 donation. Complimentary drinks provided by Harpoon Brewery.

No Zoning: Why Houston May Be Our Future…
... and why that may not be such a bad thing. Deep in “Red Territory,” America’s fourth largest city is seldom used as an example of good planning ideas. Instead, it is thought of as an example of what not to do. Yet, as the only major American city without zoning, Houston is a prime example of how transportation planning shapes our cities, for both good and bad. Although 100 years of auto-centric planning have left Houston a sprawling metropolis, the addition of a single light rail line 6 years ago (and an aggressive plan for 4 more lines by 2012) has revealed an ally that advocates seldom trust in the fight for a denser, more walkable future: the market. By exploring Houston’s experience, we can learn a lot about the connections between transportation and land use, the role that zoning has played in creating our current auto-centered predicament (and what our alternatives are), and how to answer when someone tells us that Americans just don’t want denser living.

Zakcq Lockrem is a LivableStreets Alliance board member, a Master of Urban Planning Candidate at the Harvard's Graduate School of Design, and a leader of the Boston Chapter of the Planners Network. Zakcq has work experience in transportation, infrastructure and housing, and has contributed to projects in West Africa, Mexico, California, Louisiana and around New England.

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