Before assessing the
planning of Texas, it is important to consider the history of it, and compare
it to what it is today, and what the plans are for the future cities in Texas.
Cities in Texas have experienced large population booms over the course of the
histories, most notably African Americans in the 1920’s, Hispanics from the
1950’s onwards, and a large number of all races during the Great Depression and
afterward from the 1940’s to the 1990’s. This has caused a large unplanned
growth for most cities, most notably the city of Austin. Today, these cities
are planned in a way that is a shadow of the image of these growths, with
sprawling suburbs, and a very much car orientated cities, with highways and
major thoroughfares dominating the Urban centres. Towards the future the
governing bodies of the cities of Texas, such as Houston and Austin, as well as
many different consulting and development firms have ideas and plans for the
cities, to improve them. The city government of Houston, for example, as their
own strategic master plan, called ‘Plan Houston’ which provides a general plan
to improve the city through connectivity and main developments, which is
community governed by a board of members and through community consultation,
surveys and meetings.
So in relation to if
the planning Texas is considered Anarchy or Innovation, it has been been
anarchy in the past, and currently can still be seen as still, through the large
urban sprawl and the car dominated cities, making it hard to get around the
city without a car. However, their plans for the future, such as the plan for
the light rail in Houston, shows innovation of how they are being planned.
Stuart Taylor
