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Why City Design is Important (and Why I Hate Houston)

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by Rocket River, Sep 22, 2021.

  1. Rocket River

    Rocket River Member

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    Interesting
    Never Really thought about it
    but
    definitely a Car City

    Rocket River
     
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  2. NateNate

    NateNate Member

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    Honestly it feels like there’s no hope. Certainly not that far out of the loop.
     
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  3. Deckard

    Deckard Blade Runner
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    When we moved to Austin in 1980, we drove around looking for a house to rent and ended up in south central Austin. One thing jumped out at us real quick. Sidewalks were being built in several different areas of that old part of town. Not so much on the main streets, which already had them, but in the neighborhoods. I don't know if a bond election had passed the year before, or if the city was just flush at the time, but it blew our minds. You simply didn't see that in Houston, unless it was a new development.

    Odd what you might notice when you move to a new city. I noticed new sidewalks in old neighborhoods, and the girls. Girls everywhere. It was the beginning of June and I came close to having an accident a couple of times driving in the Town Lake area. Of course, I was with a girl, but I sure enjoyed the view. It was Austin and the end of an era, but certain aspects of the '60's and '70's were still hanging on there. I'll leave it at that.
     
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  4. Dr of Dunk

    Dr of Dunk Clutch Crew

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    Doesn't walking pretty much suck across Texas? Well, except in maybe some of the newer neighborhoods. Mostly because nobody wants to walk outside when it's 100 degrees or mosquitoes are eating you alive.
     
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  5. Dr of Dunk

    Dr of Dunk Clutch Crew

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    Alright... he lost me at 11:37 of that video... we're done here. :D
     
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  6. tinman

    tinman Contributing Member
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    Lake Travis > Clear Lake
     
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  7. tinman

    tinman Contributing Member
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    Dude lots of people walk in Houston
    Have you gone to the Galleria?!
     
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  8. Buck Turgidson

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    LOL

    Lake Travis = Lake Conroe

    and that is not a compliment
     
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  9. tinman

    tinman Contributing Member
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    Lake Travis >>>>>>>>>>>> Lake Conroe
    [​IMG]
     
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  10. Jontro

    Jontro Member

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    didn't watch the vid...

    but i remember riding the metro once in my life from downtown. the wait was like 2 hours. maybe things are better now since i've left town
     
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  11. RKREBORN

    RKREBORN Member

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    If you don't like it here, you can go back to California
     
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  12. htownrox1

    htownrox1 Member

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    If it’s so terrible please move to California where I’m sure your dollar travels soooooo much further.
     
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  13. ima_drummer2k

    ima_drummer2k Contributing Member

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    I kept waiting and waiting for this guy to say something about the weather. And when he finally does, he says "sure, there might be a few bad weather days...but that's no excuse."

    Uh.....a few bad weather days? When did he visit Houston? February? Clearly it wasn't July or August.

    I'm sorry that people in Houston don't want to casually stroll around town at 4pm during the summer time (which is basically half the year) like people do in other cities. We prefer cars with air conditioning so we don't, you know, pass out from heat exhaustion.
     
  14. geeimsobored

    geeimsobored Contributing Member

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    After living in a city with a common grid design that extends through the suburbs (the entire metro area shares a common urban planning design), its really hard to go back to the complete chaos that is Houston's "urban plan."
     
  15. donkeypunch

    donkeypunch Contributing Member

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    The guys not wrong in the fact that the city design is terrible. There should be more public transit thats easily available. Walking should be promoted in denser areas like downtown. He gets a lot right, hes just not aware of all the factors that could hinder such things(weather).
     
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  16. tmoney1101

    tmoney1101 Contributing Member

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    It’s not just Houston most major cities in the US are designed to sell cars.
     
  17. VooDooPope

    VooDooPope Love > Hate
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    Compared to many other large cities Houston is well laid out for the mass of people to travel the plethora of miles on their daily commute . Of course it isn't walkable but who wants to die in the heat & humidity which lasts from June to mid Sept?
     
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  18. JuanValdez

    JuanValdez Contributing Member

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    I also didn't watch the video. I prefer reading. Appears to be something about the car-centricity of Houston and how it's not built for walking, judging from comments. In which case, I don't need to watch it. I've lived it. But wanted to say I've started working downtown and using metro for the first time in a very long while. To get to and from downtown, it's not terrible -- especially after you've seen the prices for contract parking downtown.
     
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  19. SuraGotMadHops

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    The downtown tunnels is a much larger network than you might expect. Basically all the walking and retail you would normally see in a metro downtown, but air-conditioned.
     
  20. Dr of Dunk

    Dr of Dunk Clutch Crew

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    Well, he said he lived in Canada and moved to the Netherlands because he thought it was best for the reasons mentioned in the video. He didn't really care for any US city he visited. Not sure how poor California keeps getting thrown into these arguments. :D

    That being said, I enjoy road trips and driving and meeting others in backwoods places, so I can't do the live, work, play, eat in 1 square mile thing. I'd go nuts relying on public transportation. The few times I took public transportation, it was ok, but it's unreliable and I don't know if someone is gonna piss on, vomit on or shoot me. Maybe all 3. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating ...
     

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