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I made another trip to Houston last week, which provoked some thoughts about the contrast between what has happened as a result of planning in Portland over the last few decades, and the situation in Houston.

As mentioned before, Houston has long been the anti-planning poster child for its lack of zoning as an implementation tool. They do have a planning department, though I definitely will have to find out what functions they perform if I keep writing about the city.

In the inner-ring neighborhoods around downtown, the lack of coordination between land use and transportation planning combined with the lack of any zoning controls on land use is enabling widespread unplanned redevelopment. Houses throughout these neighborhoods from as early as 1890 are being torn down and replaced with townhouses and apartment developments; most have no access to transit within a mile or more, and even then it’s spotty. In some cases massive apartment complexes are being erected with no transit service within any reasonable walking distance.

Portland has been criticized lately for allowing similar redevelopment projects in certain areas. However, the major difference is that these projects are allowed only where there is significant transit capacity within easy walking distance. Metro just renewed, through the November ballot, its commitment to protect the integrity of single-family neighborhoods throughout the metropolitan area while encouraging higher intensity land uses, including significant housing density, in high-capacity transit corridors.

The difference between the two regions could not be more dramatic. Houston will continue to see massive traffic buildup in these newly popular inner areas to match their suburban traffic nightmare, while Portland will show much greater increases in density while maintaining a much higher quality of life in similar inner neighborhoods.