Managing Texas' Growth: Mixed-Use and Density
By: Robert (Bob) H. Voelker The Texas real estate market is experiencing a radical transformation brought about by the reversal of over 50 years of centrifugal forces that propelled development to the fringes of the state’s major cities. To grasp these trends, we first need to review a brief history of real estate in America. In the early 20th Century, advances in infrastructure (water and sewer facilities, in particular) allowed for the growth of large cities. Prior to thattime, cities could not grow beyond a certain size without health issues arising from too many people living in close proximity to one another. With the advent of mass production and the need for factory workers to live close to employment centers, the trend was clearly set for in-migration from rural areas to denser inner city dwellings. The automobile was new on the scene and still too expensive for most people, so work, home, shopping and church were all placed within walking distance. Beginning somewhere around 1950, the over-industrialization of major cities, along with exponential growth in automobile ownership and in the federal highway system made development in the suburbs more feasible and attractive. The Civil Rights Movement and court-ordered busing in the 1960’s also exacerbated flight to the suburbs. Land and automobile transportation were cheap, and the perceived ills of mixed-use zoning and density in the city (factories too close to housing, and the density of the housing projects) gave rise to Euclidian zoning, separating real estate in bands that insulate more intense uses from lesser intensive uses. As the suburbs grew in prominence, desirable living began to be viewed in terms of acres per residential unit, instead of residential units per acre. TO READ MORE, CLICK THE PDF ICON BELOW: View as PDF |