I’m not an urban planner, so you might ask, why do I run a YouTube channel about urban planning and walkable cities? It all comes down to a life of travel, and a terrible walk in the suburbs of Houston.
Get a 42% discount on Curiosity Stream + free access to Nebula: https://curiositystream.com/notjustbikes
Patreon: https://patreon.com/notjustbikes
Twitter: https://twitter.com/notjustbikes
Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/notjustbikes
One-time donations: https://bunq.me/notjustbikes
NJB Live (my bicycle livestream channel):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9v57F4xz46KaDsvWfCv8yw
—
References and Related Reading
Federal Highway Association National Household Travel Survey
https://nhts.ornl.gov/vehicle-trips
What’s wrong with comparing Seattle to Houston?
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2016/11/1/whats-wrong-with-comparing-seattle-to-houston
Out of Control – Houston’s roads, drivers are country’s most deadly
Houston Chronical
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/investigations/article/Houston-s-roads-drivers-are-nation-s-most-12865072.php
Eerste van der Helststraat
Stadsarchief Amsterdam
https://archief.amsterdam/beeldbank/detail/0aad26fc-e9bf-e57e-55a5-602f535594d3
Historical Photos of London, Ontario
https://images.ourontario.ca/london/70147/image/168885
https://images.ourontario.ca/london/70144/image/168864
https://images.ourontario.ca/london/2416638/image/1231809
https://images.ourontario.ca/london/2416643/image/1231822
https://images.ourontario.ca/london/2416632/image/1231791
Historic Photos of Houston
https://digitalcollections.lib.uh.edu/concern/images/v692t673c?locale=en#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&xywh=-2574%2C-326%2C13507%2C6475
https://digitalcollections.lib.uh.edu/concern/images/t722h945k?locale=en#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&xywh=-1597%2C-187%2C7702%2C3693
Giant Brontosaurus Rib: 5 Must-Try BBQ Dishes at Mighty Quinn’s
Tasty (YouTube)
High Frequency: Why Houston is Back on the Bus
Streetfilms (YouTube)
A Year After Bus Redesign, METRO Houston Ridership is Up
https://kinder.rice.edu/2016/08/16/a-year-after-redesign-metro-ridership-is-up
Houston just dramatically improved its mass transit system without spending a dime
https://www.vox.com/2015/2/18/8056039/houston-transit-reimagining
Houston Rolling Back Parking Requirements
How does Houston plan without zoning?
City Beautiful (YouTube)
The Energy Corridor District unveils west Houston’s first protected intersection
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/neighborhood/katy/news/article/The-Energy-Corridor-District-unveils-west-15884757.php
More performative pedestrian infrastructure
No, Houston isn’t a walkable city, but you have to start somewhere
https://kinder.rice.edu/urbanedge/2021/03/08/houston-is-not-walkable-city-yet-pedestrian
Katy Freeway by Aliciak3yz – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40222519
Katy Freeway by Socrate76 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7444029
Reducing congestion: Katy didn’t
City Commentary
What Dallas, Houston, Louisville & Rochester can teach us about widening freeways: Don’t!
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/8/23/what-dallas-houston-louisville-rochester-can-teach-us-about-widening-freeways-dont
Houston commute times quickly increasing
https://www.click2houston.com/news/2014/02/04/houston-commute-times-quickly-increasing/
Houston’s $7 billion solution to gridlock is more highways
Curbed.com
https://archive.curbed.com/2019/8/5/20754435/houston-traffic-highway-i-45-north-txdot
North Houston Highway Improvement Project
http://www.ih45northandmore.com/pub_hear_doc.aspx
The big picture for a big plan
https://kinder.rice.edu/urbanedge/2019/06/24/houston-i-45-expansion-txdot-NHHIP
“The truth about a city’s aspirations isn’t found in its vision. It’s found in its budget.” – Brent Toderian
—
Chapters
0:00 Intro
0:05 A Brief History
1:19 Living car-free when unemployed
2:23 Insane amounts of travel
3:42 A fateful trip to Houston
4:25 The walk in Houston (Willowbrook)
7:26 Urban planning and history
9:00 Forgetting those who don’t drive
11:13 Houston: sprawl and average BBQ
11:51 What Houston is doing right
13:12 There’s still a long ways to go
15:19 Conclusion
16:29 Patreon shout-out
16:40 Outro
Source
