Unintended Benefits of Houston Being America's Worst-Designed City

So it turns out wemay be America ’s worst - project metropolis . Lack of “ official ” zoning . mussy roads and meagre public fare options . gross chaos . We get it , our predecessors sucked at figure . But that may not needs be a bad thing . In fact , there are a crew of ways in which the city totally ( and unintentionally ) come out forwards in the whole “ the programme is there is no plan ” trade .

1. It may have saved us from the housing market crash

roll in the hay it or hate it , Houston ’s want of zoning may in reality be what shielded it from the kill living accommodations house of cards that rocked the rest of the country . Picture Margot Robbie explaining this all whilst in a house of cards bath drinking champagne . While living accommodations prices zoom as the national bubble expand , Houston ’s cost remained mild ; and when all inferno broke loose when the bubble break open , henry - townsfolk remained largely unmoved .

As discussed inan article from the Chron , senior economic expert Bill Gilmer found that district regulations were partly to blame . First , the laws contract supply , which result in raising the cost of new menage construction . As caparison demand increase , metropolis with stern zoning laws saw prices increase due to the lack of supplying . In bit , the high housing prices extinguished requirement and - BOOM - the mortgage market collapsed and chaos consumed the absolute majority of the country – minus Houston , where the increase in demand was met with an increase in grammatical construction / provision . Or something like that . Whatever . Margot Robbie in a house of cards bath .

2. We have, like, five different Downtowns

Most metropolis have one Downtown . That ’s passably coolheaded and all , but you know what ’s cooler ? Having five times the amount of business and societal epicenters that other city have . Actual “ business district ” is pretty sweet for starter , and then we have hotbed like Uptown and the Galleria , Greenway Plaza , the Med Center , and the Woodlands for damn rice beer .

3. Where else would a HOUSE MADE OF BEER CANS exist?

Nowhere . The resolution is clearly nowhere . Urban planning website Next City evenpublished a piece entitled“Seven Buildings ( and Neighborhoods ) That Would Never wing in Any City But Houston , ” in which our want of planning is show to have spawned some jolly swell developments in areas where , in other cities , “ builders would n’t even opine of thump the NIMBY hornet ’s nest . ”

4. Thirty extra minutes of traffic means 30 extra minutes of quality podcast time

Listen , in a metropolis where urban sprawl runs rampant and you have more than 2 million people trying to make their fashion around , road congestion is inevitable . But look on the lustrous side of your protract commute : you have an spare half hour to finish the modish Serial sequence ( still a affair ? ) or gain a militant advantage in your family fantasy football league .

5. It proves democracy is alive and kicking

Do you love how many time we , as a mass , shut out down the urban center ’s zoning marriage proposal ? Three . Three separate times : 1948 , 1962 , and 1993 . All three times , the Houston community of interests got together and was like , “ Hey , how do y’ all palpate about zoning ? We do n’t need none of that crap , right ? ” And everyone was like , “ Yeah ! We ’re going to vote this down even though the eternal sleep of America conceive it ’s a just musical theme . Bless their heart ! ”

6. It promotes diversity

Having a taqueria next to a in high spirits acclivity that is next to an erotic dress shop that is next to a comic strip center with a banh mi shop may not look pretty , but what it bolsters is pretty - and that ’s diversity , the blending of cultures , and a general attitude where everybody bewilder along with his or her neighbour . Kinda likeMister Rogers ’ Neighborhood , without all the horrid sweater and creepy puppets .

7. We have the same look as plenty of other cities, but we get to keep our street cred

If you look at Houston ’s urban landscape , it ’s not unlike that of other Sun Belt city . Take Dallas , for representative . Are we really that dissimilar ? The answer is no , and the reason is that we in reality do have regulations in place that middling much do the same matter as “ official ” zoning jurisprudence . Those regulations include things like limitation on edifice size and height , deed restriction on the percentage of a raft that can be occupied , and regulations on the density of communities . All of this without recede one bit of our badass cowboy magical spell .

8. We’re more flexible

Communities can ring together to ordain variety , create a form of bottom - up de facto zone situation that is a bit more elastic than traditional zoning regulations . In twist , we ’re able to respond to changes in land function requirement and tastes faster and more efficiently , whether that means businesses and residents teaming up to vary spate size permits , or territorial dominion voting to protect their look with a “ historic ” status . Then there ’s these nerveless thing calledmunicipal management districts(MMDs ) , which allow local holding owners to recruit modest taxes on businesses and multifamily residential belongings to fund local melioration . Just look at the East End , where you ’ll find what was once a dilapidated shipyard and warehouse territory blossoming into a mixed - use of goods and services sphere that ’s home to mansion house , parks , an awesome craft brewery , and a presently - to - be vodka microdistillery .

9. You could potentially get a payout for an inconveniently placed building

Sometimes our lack of top - down regulation mean there ’s nothing you could do to stop that nuisance high - rise from bug out up in your otherwise aesthetically pleasing locality . While that ’s pretty annoying , it just may lead to a windfall of cash monies , which was the case withthe Ashby high - rising , where 20 homeowners who file suit against the developer of the 21 - history apartment tugboat were award $ 1.2 million in damages . for certain , their belongings values may have suffer , but a win ’s a win !

10. We kind of prove things don’t blow up when government backs off

Libertarians would love us . With the exception of like royalty screwing up the HERO right to vote back in November , we ’re an anomaly – a ( for the most part ) socially openhanded metropolis that has a longstanding propensity to bound government . What ’s pretty cool is that this has n’t blown up in our faces . alternatively , it has created a remarkable situation in which land use is incite by economic forces instead of required zoning . Take that , Americuh !

11. We’re quirky and we like it

Say what you will , but you ca n’t argue against the fact that Houston is unique . Sure , it may not actually reckon so unlike than other cities , as we discuss above , but it is unlike . Houstonians can get alimentary paste and wimp electrocute steak at restaurants operate out of old , converted houses ; walk down the street to a hardware storage and thrift shop , then grab coffee and a croissant bigger than your face at a coffee shop ; or take in rad graphics at a wrangle of restore shotgun house overlooking skyscrapers . We ’re not cookie cutting tool , and we ’re altogether cool with that .

12. We’re “The City With No Limits”

Fact : we’realreadythe worst - designed metropolis in America , so we ca n’t go anywhere but up . As it turns out , we are . Houston ’s universe is expect to double over the next two decades . Good matter we ’re growing consequently . The city is presently pursue aninitiativeto add 80 miles of complect wage increase and bike trails ; the promiscuous rails is being expanded ; and you just have to walk down the street ( literally any street ) to see new construction popping up . Not to mentionForbespredicted we would become America ’s next great orbicular metropolis by 2023 . So , America ’s worst - designed city ? Yeah . We ’ll take it .

Brooke Viggianois a Houston author who is majestic to live in the nation ’s worst - designed metropolis , but is earnestly wonder when that construction across the street is going to end because she ’s tired of changing her atmosphere filters every calendar week . Tweet her@BrookeViggianoif you have any good intel on that front .

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