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This article misses an option I've seen used by the city which I live in: Austin, TX. Instead of building a serious mass transit system, the city encouraged th

by pm90 9y ago

This article misses an option I've seen used by the city which I live in: Austin, TX. Instead of building a serious mass transit system, the city encouraged the greenfield development of high density urban clusters outside the downtown region. So the companies moving in now have option to be located in the Downtown or the "New Downtown" (called the Domain). I think this has been a very successful strategy. But it depends on whether you can convince enough people/companies to move to the alternate high density development.

bradknowles 9y ago
The “new downtown” is not the Domain. It’s Round Rock. And the developers have not done any favors to Austin by building all the massive high rises near the river so that no one else can see any part of the river. Nor have they done any favors to Austin by continuing to build out massive cookie cutter developments so that they can try to become the next Steiner Ranch — meanwhile causing very grave harm with the massive increased traffic on 183, Mopac, 360, 2222, etc....
nikofeyn 9y ago
i think you’re being generous calling austin’s city development and urban design even a “strategy”. austin for a long time didn’t want to grow at all, so they did everything to basically discourage it. then growth was forced on the city, and they’ve had to scramble to try, unsuccessfully, to catch up. that’s why there’s a double decker highway that doesn’t really help the traffic, an expensive highway that goes around the city that no one uses, a highway with practically no exits that goes through people’s backyards, an expensive train that no one uses and is almost pointless, no way to get across the city quickly, hardly any bike lanes in a city where bicyclists are plentiful, and more and more. austin is a poster child for how to not design and develop city infrastructure.
- StudentStuff 9y ago
  The train is expensive cause no one bothered to land bank for it, ditto for the freeways running through people's backyards. The lack of planning I saw when I visited Austin was astounding, but it is cultural at this point. Just look at transit in Austin, its nearly a mile to get to a damn bus stop from the Apple campus, and even at peak service is spotty and extremely slow. Busses need to have priority, and be set up to feed your rail system (which is extremely small and needs serious expansion). The current system in Austin will never approach 70% ridership like Seattle or anywhere near it without major changes.
- hueving 9y ago
  Don't forget traffic worse than silicon valley.

by pm90 9y ago

bradknowles 9y ago

The “new downtown” is not the Domain. It’s Round Rock. And the developers have not done any favors to Austin by building all the massive high rises near the river so that no one else can see any part of the river. Nor have they done any favors to Austin by continuing to build out massive cookie cutter developments so that they can try to become the next Steiner Ranch — meanwhile causing very grave harm with the massive increased traffic on 183, Mopac, 360, 2222, etc....

nikofeyn 9y ago

i think you’re being generous calling austin’s city development and urban design even a “strategy”. austin for a long time didn’t want to grow at all, so they did everything to basically discourage it. then growth was forced on the city, and they’ve had to scramble to try, unsuccessfully, to catch up. that’s why there’s a double decker highway that doesn’t really help the traffic, an expensive highway that goes around the city that no one uses, a highway with practically no exits that goes through people’s backyards, an expensive train that no one uses and is almost pointless, no way to get across the city quickly, hardly any bike lanes in a city where bicyclists are plentiful, and more and more. austin is a poster child for how to not design and develop city infrastructure.

StudentStuff 9y ago
The train is expensive cause no one bothered to land bank for it, ditto for the freeways running through people's backyards. The lack of planning I saw when I visited Austin was astounding, but it is cultural at this point. Just look at transit in Austin, its nearly a mile to get to a damn bus stop from the Apple campus, and even at peak service is spotty and extremely slow. Busses need to have priority, and be set up to feed your rail system (which is extremely small and needs serious expansion). The current system in Austin will never approach 70% ridership like Seattle or anywhere near it without major changes.
hueving 9y ago
Don't forget traffic worse than silicon valley.