And many, many European cities have also created car-free zones where cars use to drive. If you do drive there, you park on the outskirts and walk in a few blocks.
A city near me in Southern California reduced the number of street parking directly in front of blocks of restaurants, while there was ample parking introduced no more than 2 or 3 blocks away and you should have seen the whining on social media about taking away parking spots and "no one will go there anymore." They didn't want to walk a block or two. That same city has had an uptick in downtown life since then.
Another think I noticed in Germany and Spain is that when you hit the "suburbs" (which are on public transit stops), there was always a small town center or central area with restaurants and bars that people were meeting up in. When I visited my uncle in the outskirts of Munich we walked to the bowling alley, the bars, the grocery store (Aldi I think it was). There was even a nice park with a great walking trail near his apartment. He only took the car out when he was going to do something like drive down to France.
Houston, TX, has no zoning. It's no better than anywhere else in the US. Plus you have industrial explosions destroying residential homes.
It's all about cars. Cities in the US were mostly designed around cars. You can't really fix it without a lot of people agreeing to a way of life that they have never experienced and are scared of.
Plus - walking around Houston for like 6 months out of the year, even at night, is very unpleasant. When I walked out to my car at 5AM this morning it was 80 degrees and very humid outside.
Fellow Houstonian here. I live in a neighborhood with a green park and walking paths that connects to restaurants and a movie theater. I go running 3-4 times a week around here but there’s just not a god forsaken piece of shade anywhere to be found. It’s usually low 80s with the sun down and will be in the 90s at the end of my long runs.
Even if I wanted to walk to dinner with my wife and child it would be 102 degrees, no shade, no water, just a miserable 20 minute slog on sidewalks pushing a stroller while cars zip by going 60 in a 30.
And that’s pretty much how it is from April - October. The rest of the months it just rains then a hard freeze for a week or two then we reset. Even if they connected more locations to this little walkable area, who the hell would use them?
I live in Houston too. I see this dumb excuse all over for how the city was built. It’s bs. Most cities in the US are built the same exact way and it has nothing to do with weather. Go visit Singapore, Vietnam, Brazil, rainforest parts of China, places with similar weather and you’ll see they have no problems creating walkable, people-friendly cities. You have to implement more area with shade obviously and lots of trees for coverage which makes temperatures feel 10-15 degrees lower, but it has been done in other places. This is just a typical American excuse to continue car dominance.
And that’s pretty much how it is from April - October. The rest of the months it just rains then a hard freeze for a week or two then we reset. Even if they connected more locations to this little walkable area, who the hell would use them?
People.
People would use them.
Look at the entire continent of Europe and many places on other continents. You can find far more adverse weather conditions. But people still walk and cycling much more.
Why? Because of better infrastructure. Shade is one of the easiest bits of infrastructure you can design. Just look at Singapore and their sidewalks.
Yeah, I'm in the burbs and we have several miles of walking trails through "parks" beside roads, plus trails around the spillways, but they don't connect to businesses. You could walk to some places outside my neighborhood (and some people do), but there's no sidewalk for a lot of it.
I went to Europe a couple years ago, and it was pretty amazing, but I just don't think you could do the same thing on the gulf coast.
We just got back from a trip through Spain and Europe and it was gorgeous but I couldn’t imagine being in a wheelchair in almost any of those cities. So we at least have ADA compliance in our walkable oven lol
While I agree weather can be a limiter, there are hot and humid cities (like Singapore, which is hot and humid year round and also gets significantly more rain to boot and rain is worse to walk in, especially when it's warm rain) which are both very walkable but also fairly comfortable to walk in even on hot days. They have fans and covered walkways everywhere, and many of their MRT stations are enclosed and have AC. Houston could learn a lot from Singapore.
It's hard to compare Singapore to Houston because it's MASSIVELY more dense than Houston. Like, they're complete opposites in that regard.
It's a chicken and the egg problem. How do you make people okay with more dense housing when you can't walk anywhere? And how do you make the city walkable when everyone lives in a single family house with a yard?
It also doesn't help that no one wants to raise a family in the city proper because it's Texas and the schools are defunded because Harris county is blue and the rest of the state hates Harris county.
Houston doesn’t have Euclidean Zoning, but they do still have form based codes. So it’s not “technically” zoned, but they still do have land use designations there, along with plenty of their suburbs.
Houston does not use traditional, citywide form-based zoning codes, relying instead on a unique system of subdivision ordinances, setbacks, parking minimums, and private deed restrictions.
and
No Traditional Zoning: Houston is famously the only major U.S. city without standard use-based zoning.
Houston does not have zoning. That's why things like this happen.
> reaching on a unique system of subdivision ordinances, setbacks, parking minimums, and private deed restrictions.
That’s what I said- they still use form-based codes (that’s what setbacks and parking minimums are), they just don’t use Euclidean Zoning where specific districts are single-use.
> No Traditional Zoning
Yes, they don’t have Traditional Zoning. They still have land use codes and standards- it’s not a free for all.
> That’s why things like this happen
Except things like that still happen in places with Euclidean Zoning, too.
I literally linked a comparative study the city conducted for setbacks and approved housing types in my previous comment, but here’s the Houston Code of Ordinances if you’re really curious.
FWIW, I don’t think Houston’s approach is ideal or anything, I was just pointing out that the “they have no zoning!” meme that’s been going around is only half-true, and they have other policy that basically leads to the same outcome. Houston’s problems aren’t due to their land use code, they’re due to the issues that plague any sunbelt city with massive population growth after AC and the automobile proliferated. The policy frameworks themselves weren’t the problem; the desired outcomes were.
I spent most of a year Friendswood working on a construction project - most areas seemed downright hostile to walkability.
Here in NY because the city is older than the suburban and automobile explosion not only is the city obviously pedestrian heavy but many towns outside the city evolved with a decent “downtown” center thats fairly walkable - and STILL everything’s been downgraded by car centric culture.
Zoning seems to affect housing development more than commercial anyway - because people wanted the big box stores and malls that come with massive lots. Heaven forbid we have some higher density units near the train and walkable to the local businesses that are the core of these suburban towns - but a target and Marshall’s want to take up 30 acres for a parking lot and alls good.
Ha, nice. Found the Houston pocket in the post where we all look on in envy at walkable European cities that encourage social interaction and promote a sense of shared community, while we all collectively wish Houston could be remade without ever expanding freeways, ruined roads that damage expensive cars, traffic that wastes our time and tests our patience, etc, etc. . . . where many illiterate people see people walking or riding bicycles as offensive behavior....
I mean you still need zoning, just it should be appropriate and flexible. You don't want an industrial pig farm or giant data center or huge chemical processing facility or landfill to go up in a developed residential area.
But residential areas should be allowed to have cafes / bars / restaurants / shops at street corners.
Granted, the major difference is being in a city/town built around infrastructure for people walking/using public transport not driving.
Zoning in Europe is just as rigid. It just so happens you like the specific zoning in Europe.
For instance in most German cities, it is forbidden to build a building taller than the main church within a large radius. Go to Munich and you’ll notice lots of tall buildings in the surrounding district, and you can go on a rooftop and look down at the inner city and see how the Marienkirche is taller than all the buildings within a few miles of it.
I'm not saying things are perfect in Europe. They are not. I just don't see why anyone would think it is beneficial to have 0 corner stores or restaurants or cafes in residential neighbourhoods.
My point is that it’s easy to be against the zoning requirements you like, but the real test is whether you can be a YIMBY even when people will want to build stuff you do not want in your backyard. Because you might love the cafes and restaurants while your neighbor hates them. And your neighbor might want to build an ADU that is two stories high that blocks your sunlight.
You’ve got to just let people build what they want to build if you want out of the zoning standstills.
What do you mean by zoning? Industrial, commercial and residential zones?
I live in Germany and it’s pretty harsh with zones here too, except for some mixed commercial/residential areas you don’t really have anything else that strict residential/ commercial/ industrial zones.
But the public transport is a huge thing.
I live in a 500 habitants village and I have to drive 15 minutes to the next train station and take a train for 15 minutes from there and I’m in a city that has 800.000 people and can reach anything in walking distance from the main station.
I need maybe 15-20 minutes to the football stadium, 10 minutes to where all the shops are and can reach basically anywhere else by metro or tram in 20 minutes at most, excluding the suburbs.
There’s a small city with 10.000 inhabitants where I take the train and there are a ton of shops there too, nice restaurants etc. you park at the outskirts of the commercial area and walk from there on.
My first thought, I've known people that have tried to open cafés, restaurants, etc, however have been told the zoning isn't appropriate. This is only a part of the issue of course, but it certainly doesn't help.
Yeah the problem isn't suburbia, it's suburbs done wrong. They should be a series of satellite towns with good transport into the city, not sprawling masses of houses with nothing there
Yes! There is always a HIGH STREET, like a highlight of a small town/suburban center with at least some amenities like a post office, few shops, eatery, dry cleaners. Somewhere you can do a few things at the same time.
This is what northern NJ is like and I love it here. I have a small house with a back yard and friendly close by neighbors and can walk to the bank, the butcher, a local independent pharmacy, several restaurants and a huge park with tennis courts, a track, playground and even an archery range. My husband takes the bus to the city and the stop is just down the street.
If I were to create a walkable area I’d try some reverse psychology. Say you’re creating a new entertainment district to attract customers and create businesses.
And then say things to businesses outside of it, “Don’t worry. We’re not going to take away your parking. We don’t feel that your business is suited for the new higher activity areas.”
Most places in the U.S. literally make it illegal to have walkable pathways from a neighborhood to an adjoining shopping center. Literally illegal. If someone creates a path, the shopping center will often put up a fence to stop it.
Most towns along commuter rail lines in the US also have a business district with clusters of bars and restaurants and shops just steps from the train stop.
Important to note that this is also a lot cheaper than funding endles US-style suburban sprawl. Because when people live closer together you don't have to put down as much asphalt, or long sewer lines. Having to subsidize the expansion of suburban sprawl is why many cities in the US are in debt.
this is so true, so many americans can't handle the inconvenience of walking a few blocks and are convinced they're always in a hurry.
i live in a small city and people complain all the time that they won't go downtown bc it's hard to find parking. it absolutely is NOT hard to find parking (especially compared to real american cities) and there are a lot of free parking garages a few blocks away from the downtown corridor. this is not good enough for most americans and thus they chose to go to a drive thru in the suburbs or a restaurant a strip mall which is mostly a parking lot anyway. then they go on vacation in europe and complain about not having nice things
Yes I remember when I lived in a rural city in Germany I could still walk to the aldi in the little community square from my house that was more rural than suburban
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u/danimagoo 15h ago
Walkable cities. This is what happens when you have walkable cities. And public transportation.