The Woodlands, TX

Walking trails in The Woodlands, TX

When we first moved to the USA, my parents and I lived at the Timarron Village of The Woodlands, TX. The town was originally conceived in the 70's as vision for people to live with nature in a serious of villages with a denser population than the one in Houston at the time. With its 110 parks, 13 pools, 140 miles of hike and bike trails, wild deer in your backyard and natural and man-made water bodies, The Woodlands is seriously a nice place to call home.

Here's a quick history of the place:

 "George Mitchell of the Mitchell Energy and Development Corporation spearheaded the development, purchasing 17,000 acres of land in the hopes of creating an alternative to the suburban sprawl he saw in Houston. While a large portion of the funds for the project came from Mitchell's company, as well as George Mitchell's own fortune, another large portion of the funds came from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), under Title VII, the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1970 (Forsyth, 2005). This funding source shaped the project's goals, as they had to comply with HUD's rigorous demands. To meet these requirements, Mitchell hired a dream team of some of the finest environmental planners, architects, and engineers to work on the project, including but not limited to: Wallace, McHarg , Roberts and Todd (environmental planning), William L. Pereira Associates (master planning and design), and Richard P. Browne Associates (development, engineering, and HUD liaison - also known for their work in Columbia, MD) (Morgan and King, 1987; Forsyth, 2005). The land was to be divided into separate villages, with each village having its own theme (HUD, 1972; Morgan and King, 1987; Forsyth, 2005). The proposed population was to be 150,000 by year 2000, with a gross citywide density of 2.8 units per acre (HUD, 1972; Forsyth, 2005). It is important to note that from the time the development was announced, The Woodlands was considered in extraterritorial jurisdiction of Houston, making the process for approval of the techniques used in the development much easier than it would have been otherwise, due to Houston's lack of zoning regulations (Forsyth, 2005).

            One of the key players, if not the key player in the planning process of The Woodlands was Ian McHarg, whom Mitchell had sought out in particular for the project after reading McHarg's Design With Nature (Morgan and King, 1987; Forsyth, 2005). McHarg looked at The Woodlands as an opportunity to apply his theory of ecological determinism - allowing the ecology of the land to determine what development could and should take place ( McHarg, 1969; Morgan and King, 1987; Forsyth, 2005). Along these lines, an in-depth study of the land took place, and it was decided that the two major environmental/ecological functions that needed to be protected were the hydrologic system and, as one would guess, the woodlands. Particularly within the hydrologic system, issues with storm water runoff were addressed, with a focus on reducing the runoff and using natural systems to do so (HUD, 1972; Morgan and King, 1987; Forsyth, 2005). The second goal was to preserve the woodlands, principally their biodiversity and species richness. In doing so, there was the hope that soil erosion would be reduced and the wildlife would be minimally impacted by the development (HUD, 1972). In addition to these major functions, there were more anthropocentric goals associated with the development, such as an extensive pedestrian/bicyclist system through the woods (to create a level of awareness of the local ecosystem), and a high rate of attached residential units and correlating to this, a high rate of low income housing (to create a more diverse community than could be seen in the suburbs of Houston)."

http://courses.umass.edu/greenurb/2006/kswann/Introduction.htm

So, what could go wrong with this idea? It was planned for social and ecological equity yet somewhere along the took time it took to be developed and its growth, (know about 29,000 acres and 133,000 people) in a world ideologically different from the 70's, it started to become a suburban town. Part of it was the market and part of it was the culture, given that people wanted to be homeowners (as we talked about it in class) and the market provided. Although The Woodlands has a variety of housing options (apartments, duplex, town homes and single-family dwellings) the prices over the years have gone up so much that the idea of social housing has been completely nixed. Prices from the low $200's to the millions (literally right across the street from each other) make it hard for people of low-income to live here.

You can walk, hike, swim and be one with nature, which is awesome (I experienced it and it was amazing), the only problem is..that you need a car to get to the next village, to get downtown, to the grocery story and out of town. You will drive through a marvelous scenery of trees and nature while you go from one place to another since all business are required to "not be seen" from the roads (They only get a small sign so you know that they are behind the trees) in order to try to preserve as much woodland as possible but.. you still need a car. 

Downtown The Woodlands

Apartment complex at Downtown and Business Center

Market Place

Sunday Arts Festival at Market Place

My parents house

Having lived there, I loved the idea and the proposal and I truly believe that it could work by making it less car dependent. Although we live in a culture of car dependency, I think that the framework already established here could be slightly reworked where you would only have to use your car to get to Houston. They could implement a light rail or trolley (which they already have downtown) to get to the existing grocery stores (yes, they have whole foods) and business centers and connect the trails between the villages so you could also bike there. The infrastructure is already there and it works! I feel like if they were to just push a little more on the idea they could make it work. To me, this is one example of how Ian McHarg's theory of design with nature can be achieved... or almost I guess.