Planners, developers foresee future for Houston

As geographically massive as it is complex, Houston and its growth are frequently the topic of conversation among its residents.
"Houston is a multinucleus city that has allowed sprawl to generate around those centers," writes one Internet blogger.
"Ironic that all the growth in Houston is occurring in the most zoned parts of the city -- the master-planned communities," writes another.
But topics such as Houston's lack of zoning have also drawn praise to the city for shielding it from the housing crisis and strengthening the local economy.
"It's an absolute plus," says Ed Wulfe, founder and managing principal of Wulfe & Co. "We've been able to respond to economic opportunities and also to retain a strong qualify of life through deed restrictions."
Wulfe, with more than 40 years experience in developing, restoring and renovating commercial properties, sees Houston becoming a much more densely packed city and stresses that planners and developers must take on the difficult task of envisioning their city as it will look 10 or 20 years from today.
"We have to try to envision the city that we want to be," he says. "Mobility is a big issue. We have to be sensitive to the needs of pedestrians and of the communities that exist now."
Like other U.S. cities, many Houston-area developers are turning to a concept known as "new urbanism," which embraces a pedestrian-friendly mix of retail, residential and community facilities within neighborhoods.
"New urbanism is actually old urbanism reborn," says Patricia Knudson Joiner, CEO of Houston-based urban planning company Knudson & Associates LP and former city planner for Houston. "In the 1930s and '40s, you had a standard of a grid system of tree-lined neighborhood streets interconnected with larger thoroughfares. Streets were mostly straight, instead of curvilinear. You had churches, schools and corner stores within walking distance of users. And then came the '50s and people had mobility. They had the automobile."
One bonus with this type of "old-fashioned" community, besides being pedestrian-friendly, is that most of the traffic burden is spread out among a grid system of larger thoroughfares rather than all emptying into one (often clogged) artery.
"I take exception to people saying Houston had no transportation plan," Joiner says. "There has been a major thoroughfare plan in place since 1941."
Transportation and urban planning have a more symbiotic relationship than most people realize. Joiner points out an example with the slow decline of visitors to the once thriving Gulfgate Shopping Center during the 1980s, combined with a slow but steady decline in the quality of apartments and in vacancy rates. Before the mall underwent redevelopment by Wulfe in 2001, it was discovered that nearby freeway access had changed during a road project, and transportation planners had inadvertently affected the Gulfgate area by causing would-be shoppers to take an easier to access exit down the road. And blight, she says, is like water on a glass table. for more information see: www.houstonrealtyadvisors.com or www.houstonrealtyadvisors.net or www.edayres.com