Even though Houston is poised to surpass Chicago as the third-most populous city in the U.S., its downtown isn’t as vibrant as what you’d find in other major metropolises. But with a significant infrastructure project set to reroute the area’s crisscrossing interstates, Houston has an opportunity to modernize and revitalize the area that key players don’t plan on letting go to waste.
Recently, the Houston Downtown Management District released Plan Downtown, a series of strategic recommendations that will transform the city’s central business hub into a more welcoming place for residents, retailers, and entrepreneurs. “What we’re doing with this plan is to bring some consensus about what’s the next chapter ahead of us,” said Bob Eury, executive director of the Downtown District.
One of the more interesting facets of that next chapter is a proposed five-mile “green loop,” which will transform the areas on and around the soon-to-be-former freeways into public green spaces and paths for pedestrians and cyclists. According to Eury, the freeway project means that “[we’ll] have a chance to reconnect neighborhoods that were cut off when the freeways were built,” ultimately opening up downtown access to adjacent communities in a way that wasn’t previously possible.
Sustainability isn’t the only watchword: Plan Downtown also hopes to foster innovation as well. To do that, the Downtown District aims to encourage entrepreneurship by restoring the balance between big and small businesses while envisioning offices and public spaces designed to increase what Eury calls “the density of chance interactions between people.”
Though Hurricane Harvey is the obvious elephant in the room when it comes to current urban planning discussions in Houston, increasing floodwater resilience had been a priority since long before the storm made landfall. Though Eury says only a small area of Houston’s downtown saw significant flooding in late August, his Downtown District team is considering options ranging from additional floodgates to architecture that will allow buildings to be de-watered more quickly.
The plan also calls for an additional 12,000 residences, which some experts believe will act as a catalyst for further development in the area. “We’ve built two high-rises downtown in the last few years, and they appear to be leasing very well,” says Bob Inaba, EVP of Houston-based Kirksey Architecture. “More residential buildings is really what helps to get more activity down therence you get that momentum going, a lot of things will change.”
Because it’s a 20-year vision that’s tied to a considerable overhaul of Houston’s highway system, it might be a while before Plan Downtown takes off. But given its lofty aims, it’ll certainly be an urban planning effort to watch.
