The Developer's City
Growing up in Houston, Texas, I have become accustomed to seeing the effects of the lack
of city zoning that led to the hodge-podge of certain areas of town. A small
bakery can be dwarfed by a mansion built next door and historic homes are
overtaken by developers looking for a profit. While I love the vibrancy the
city has and the fact that you can find things hidden in every corner, at times
it feels as though the city does not truly belong to its inhabitants and that
the developers are actually at the helm, sometimes creating unsavory businesses
next to residences. I experienced this first hand as some of the city’s older
homes, one of which my grandparents lived in when I was younger, were bought up
by pushy developers who wanted to build mega-mansions. The character that these
homes had embodied the spirit and beauty of Houston and the bland, often
cookie-cutter homes that now occupy almost every square foot of the property
took away a little piece of the city’s DNA. Not only do architects need to take
a stand for holding city character, but architects need to assist the people of
the city in letting their voices be heard loud enough to make a change. I am
not sure why voters continue to reject city zoning laws, but I fear that if we
do not start taking a stand for what makes our cities special, they could all
look the same in the future.
A home in the Fourth Ward remains even though a
parking garage and development surround it.
This 1940's home was bought in 2006 to save it from demolition
and the site becoming a fast food restaurant.
This makes me so sad! I hate to see beautiful old homes surrounded by parking garages and fast food restaurants. I feel like there are some really great opportunities for architects and developers in a city like Houston, but unfortunately, these decisions are being made by the wrong people. On the opposite end of the spectrum, living in Charleston exposed us to the extremely strict laws set by the BAR which almost preserves the city too much. There needs to be some kind of balance because I would hate to see cities turn into a museum either.
ReplyDeleteThis same thing is happening in Clemson. One of the developers for an apartment complex downtown tried to buy Groucho's Deli and develop the land but the owner of Groucho's didn't budge, so now we have a monster apartment building wrapping three sides around the little deli.
ReplyDeleteI agree that there is a need for zoning and for keeping the character of a city - but to an extent. Often the city's growth demands such that they need to adapt and make changes in order to cater to this growth. For example, I have lived in and loved, Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA, however almost nothing "new" or has the appearance of being "new" is allowed. This applies more so to Charleston's peninsula than Savannah as Savannah has made way for a few contemporary buildings in the last decade. Their fight for character, makes the city grow further out into urban sprawl and suburbs in West Ashley, Mount Pleasant, North Charleston, and even out to Summerville. So what is the balance? Strict zoning doesn't allow mixed uses and walkable cities and keeping the character to the degree of Charleston doesn't allow for adaptation or growth as the city's needs change, while Houston just doesn't care about either. How do we balance this while planning cities but still allowing some degree of freedom?
ReplyDeleteThis is sad! An example I can think of that successfully mixes old with the new is Boston. This blend of historic buildings and "new" buildings is well done in my view. The Trinity Church and John Hancock Tower we viewed in class a few weeks ago, for example, is a great example of putting the old on display while still having new buildings around.
ReplyDeleteI am very agree with you that Houston need zoning. There were couple time that I couldn't find the places because they are all hidden by those giant parking garage.
ReplyDelete