CITE 22 w Ihuli lit
Main Street, 1996.
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DOWNTOWN H O U S T O N :
HOUSTON IS EMBARKING ON THE LARGEST PUBLIC WORKS PROJECT IN THE CITY'S HISTORY,
ALL OF IT CONCENTRATED DOWNTOWN. THE VISIBLE RESULTS OF THE METRO DOWNTOWN AND
MIDTOWN TRANSIT STREETS PROJECT SHOULD BE DRAMATIC, BUT THE URBAN DESIGN
PHILOSOPHY, MECHANISM, AND DELIVERY SYSTEM ARE AS BOLD, UNIQUE — AND RISKY —
AS THE DREDGING OF THE SHIP CHANNEL EIGHT DECADES AGO.
J K h F R E Y C H S N E R
Main Street, looking north from Dallas Avenue, ca. 1930. CITE limy in w i n I e 23
TtlOt A»fnup, laying slmTtar lioikl, 10. 1925. numrHwsIwi Mempattan Imorili (Ma. Honshu Punk fan; downtown environment m i g ht l i m i t machmes, kiosks, trash receptacles, side- J future ridership g r o w t h . The combina- walk patterns and colors, and public art tion of queuing transit passengers, pedes- will vary by district. Traditional furnish- trians, strcetseape amenities, and furni- ings, such as acorn light standards, w i l l ture n a r r o w s sidewalk space, and the rel be installed along M a m Street and ative neglect of infrastructure mainte- around M a r k e r and Courthous e squares. nance has allowed some sidewalks and Contemporary furnishings w i l l be streets to deteriorate to a c o n d i t i o n installed elsewhere. requiring m a j o r repair or reconstruction. Sequence p l a n n i n g w i l l be coordinate d As a result, M e t r o has taken the initiative with property owners and managers to for major improvements that w i l l encour- minimize disruption d u r i n g what w i l l be, age continued g r o w t h and clarity its sys- at least, a tour-year construction p e r i o d , tem of stops and routes. during w h i c h time the City of I louston Transit street improvements for will upgrade antiquated public utilities, downtown I l o u s t o n were first proposed replacing water mams and storm and san- in the IVKOs w i t h a D o w n t o w n itary sewers. Similarly, the Texas D< velopmem Plan liu.ilK to he published Department ot Transportation and the in late I99f> or early 1947. Once r o u t i n g city w i l l undertake a concurrent series of is reconfigured. M a i n Street w i l l no bridge and freeway reconstruction p r o - longer serve as a linear transfer center, jects a r o u n d the perimerer of d o w n t o w n and bus service w i l l he integrated on all during the transit streets construction , downtown streets. H D M D pushed for and project phasing w i l l also be c o o r d i - preservation ol curb parking and loading nated w i t h this w o r k . /ones wherever possible, especially in his- During each ol the 12- to 15-month REMAKING w
focus on the design ot rhe public sec- imposes an annual assessment of f> cents toric areas, where buildings lack loading phases, a single construction management tor — the space between buildings per S I 0 0 land value on all 705 acres of docks and garages. company w i l l provide inspection and A— is new for this city. T h e great tor- downtown property included in the dis- \s II is now planned, rhe scope ol contractor coordinatio n on the entire tune of a b o o m i n g oil and gas economy trict. T h e H D M D p r o g r a m has t w o Metro's D o w n t o w n and M i d t o w n Transit project. H D M D is f u n d i n g improvements created an encouraging atmosphere for major components: first, a d o w n t o w n Streets I'mjcci is immense. Streets border- that are not being provided by M e t r o — flamboyant high-rise developers and their operations and maintenance effort that ing more than 4 5 0 city blocks w i l l be landscaping on nontransit block frontage, creative architects; rights-of-way between addresses the day-to-day quality of the affected; approximatel y ^4 linear miles of street f u r n i t u r e at locations other than the property lines was the sole province ot downtown environment at the small street w i l l be altered in some fashion. The transit stops and shelters, and w a y f i n d i n g traffic engineers, water and sewer mainte- scale; and second, a broad planning el I n n character ot north-south "linear streets" graphics. M e t r o anil H D M D have also nance people, a n d the utility companies. that tries to offer a long-range perspective will be consistent along their length. T h e had to resolve long-term maintenance The end ot the oil b o o m in the m i d - o n the future of d o w n t o w n H o u s t o n . east-west "district streets" w i l l have v a n - and operations cost-sharing. In general, 1980s changed all that, of course. T h e "The H D M D initiative has been joined able elements as they pass t h r o u g h differ- Metro w i l l maintain those items associat- city experienced a g r o w i n g recognition by the Metropolita n Transit A u t h o r i t y ot ent districts. In M i d t o w n , planned ed w i t h transit operations. H D M D w i l l that the d o w n t o w n environmen t c o u l d Harris County's D o w n t o w n and M i d - improvements are more limited . handle day-to-day d o w n t o w n operations not be complete or g r o w economically town Transit Streets Project, a large-scale In terms of overall area, the M e t r o and maintenance: e m p t y i n g trash recepta- without more sensitivity to public spaces. redesigning of public rather than private initiative is rhe largest public w o r k s pro- cles, watering trees, and maintainin g Out ut this awareness grew a private space. It is the M e t r o project that c o u l d ject of its kind in I louston \ history. seasonal plantings. M e t r o w i l l replace organization focused on planning, at have the greatest impact on the character Under Metro' s supervision, I ' C A L w i l l damaged items in the transit shelter about the same rime that rhe transit of d o w n t o w n I l o u s t o n . Refocusing on serve as coordinatin g architects and w i l l lie.is, and I I D M D w i l l handle replace- authority, spurred by public o p i n i o n , downtown's public spaces is one key to develop pro|cct-widc guidelines tor the ments elsewhere. began to redirect its spending priorities fostering mixed-use development by the final design w o r k , w h i c h w i l l be contract- from fixed-rail mass transit to street private sector, w h i c h w o u l d help trans- ed to IS engineering firms. In a d d i t i o n , The Ttonsil Slreels Project as Urban Design improvements for its regional bus system. form the area f r o m a nine-to-five c o m - five architectural and landscape firms or In 1990 the I louston D o w n t o w n mercial c e w e r i n t o a round-the-clock teams w i l l be chosen for streetscape Houston's D o w n t o w n and M i d t o w n Management Corporatio n was created to residential, commercial , .md insti- design services. Transit Streets Project is an o u t g r o w t h tax d o w n t o w n property o w n e r s in order tutional environment. Metro's goal is not to create absolute o l the American pragmatic t r a d i t i on in i n fund shared public improvements, giv- With unproved regional and local consistency t h r o u g h o u t d o w n t o w n but to urban design. As noted by George Baird, ing gi eatei aitt ntion to tin w hole em in >n bus service, transit ridership to d o w n - respect the character of each properly Americans have typically approached rhe ment — public ami private. Restructured |i IW II I ll HIM. HI lias grOU 11 Mgnitil. -»llll\ and district. Special pavements installed design ot cities f r o m a pragmatic or as the H o u s t o n D o w n t o w n Management over the last decade. M e t r o is n o w con- In b u i l d i n g owners w i l l be retained, empirical point of view.1 In contrast to District ( H D M D ) in 1995, this entity cerned that the p o or c o n d i t i o n of the lighting, seating, newspaper vending 1 uropean urban designers such as A i d " CITE 24 11 o I ti I 8 8 i lliily six
1 s II I
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Pfopoifd bin ihelter and itneniliei, PGAL, nrchilerti
Proposed Nloin Street improvement!, Downtown and Midtown Tionsit Sited Improvement Piojccl. Tom Gullelle, lllutlraloi. Without them, the walls of the public- spaces remain under the control of the Rossi, Matthias fingers, or Rob and Icon private sector. Although it is clear that Krier, who have critiqued the eil\ primar- what the private sector does — what it ily from an ideological or theoretical Discovering the Center (l^MH), were typically address the boundary <>/ the brings to the edge of the public space — viewpoint, such American writers as based on extensive time-lapse filming of public realm — that is, the edges of the will directly affect the safety, security, Jane Jacobs, Kevin Lynch, William H. people in urban settings. The Social Life city's public spaces. If the public realm of use, and character ot that public space, Whytc, and Jonathan Harnett have <>j Small Urban Spaces in particular con- the city is conceptualized as a continuous Houston still has no legal power to con described particular urban problems firmed many of Jacobs'*, earlier observa- exterior room, it has only two types of trol this effect. In turn, in the absence ol and then addressed them with specific tions, offering significant data that were edges. The street and sidewalk constitute any such controls the public sector can design responses. used in the revision of New York City's its "floor;" property lines, often defined only control the "floor" of the public This problem solving approach clearly /oning ordinances, and were the basis for by building faces, are its "walls." realm. Thus, given the constraints that forms the basis for I louston's transit zoning revisions in other cities such as Harnett's definition of urban design as exist in Houston, the only urban design streets project. From Metro's point of Seattle.1 Wbyte convincingly demonstrat- "designing cities without designing build- strategy available is the one that has been view, the problem is the efficient move- ed thai to support .m acme pedestrian ings" can only mean exercising control selected — a strategy based on remaking ment o| buses to and through downtown environment a city needed seating in pub- over the boundaries of the public realm, the "floor" of the public realm. By mak- Houston. Metro also wants CO improve lic areas, accessible ground-level attrac- the "floor" and "walls" of the public ing a major public investment, which will the experience of transit patrons by tions such as retail shops and restaurants, spate. In almost all American cities, such both signal a commitment to the public- improving the pedestrian environment. and well-designed features that would control involves regulation of uses and space of downtown and dramatically Hie I I D M D seeks a catalyst lor its down- support public-private interaction. At form. The experience of the last three alter its visual character, Metro, H D M D , town development plans. Its own funding roughly the same nine, Jonathan Barnett, decades shows that decisions by the pri- and the others involved hope to prompt limited. H D M D is working with Metro a veteran of more than .1 decade of devel- vate sector fundamentally influence the both a corresponding private-sector to transform the downtown streetscape oping urban strategies for different dis- character ot the public realm. Private endorsement ot the general downtown in ,m effort to demonstrate public com tricts in New York City, in his Introduc- development, both buildings and uses plan and a willingness to invest in new mitment to the rcvitali/anon o| down- tion to Urban Design (1^82) defined a within them, determines the boundaries private development that will foster the town 1 louston, thereby luring private general approach to the task as "design- of public space — the sneers and squares goals ol this plan. investors to help fulfill its vision. ing cities without designing buildings" — of the city, l-'rom this understanding This strategy depends, above all, on The idea that public-sector improve- and described how urban design emerged cities such as New York, Tort land, and the quality of the urban public space that ments and private-sector development in policy decisions in New York and else- Seattle have developed ordinances requir- will be created and the apparent degree can work in a synergistic relationship is a where, t le enumerated practices that have ing ground-level transparency with retail of change that people perceive to be tak- basic concept of urban design. At least become standard in American urban or restaurant uses in downtown buildings ing place. But this approach involves an since DMO, when Jane Jacobs published design: land-use and building-form regu- and defining "build-to" lines to protect unusual reversal ol public perceptions of 1'hc Death and Lift <>/ Great American lations, special provisions in historic street w a l l continuity. Other cities, such the streetscape. Typically, the average Cities, urban designers have come to and/or pedestrian districts, ordinances to as Boston and Minneapolis, rather than person barely pays any attention to the understand the critical interaction of pub- reinforce public-private interaction, pub- waiting prescriptive ordinances, have streets,..ipi miles-, a pmbli in anscs. lic and private space.- Jacobs, in address- lic investment policies, and comprehen- begun requiring that every downtown People notice street lights only when ihe\ ing how people actually use the city, iden- sive urban design strategies.4 building be subject to administrative fail to operate properly and ignore most tified key spatial relationships such as These texts, and others like them, review for its conformance to a general street signs, focusing only on the ones that between the public sidewalk and an strangely devote little space to the design urban design plan and to specific urban that provide specific information. Metro adjacent private use. She described the of the streetscape. Whyte docs discuss design gi>als for its location. Turthermore, appropriately characterizes its new bus need tor mixed-use areas and 24-hour issues such as the width of sidewalks and Portland lias specific.lib linked down- shelters as "unobtrusive," .is .ill street urban districts and urged an appreciation the character of the public realm as a town transit improvements and land-use scapes should be. of the extraordinary complexity of our place of interaction, but he pays no atten- regulation, so that tall office buildings In American cities, the streetscape vines. Much nl wh.it |acobs wrote was tion in si reel lurniture other than seating. with large numbers of commuting serves as background. Individual build- immediately challenged because it was Harnett devoted one chapter to street fur- employees are allowed only where suffi- ings, special restaurants, unique stores are based on personal observation and relat- niture, lighting, and signage.'1 In general, cient transit service is available and tran- the things people notice and remember ed anecdotally. However, later urban I IDMD's strategy of using the Metro pro- sit-related improvements have already about a city. I hose who have visited New- observers applying more rigorous meth- ject to catalyze urban revitali/ation and been built. York may recall the F. A. C). Schwartz toy ods provided a stronger tactual base lor new downtown investment has limited But I louston — the only majoi store with its giant bear and other toys. their analysis and proposals. Willi.mi I I . precedent in practice. American city without the legal authority Does anyone remember the light poles, Whyte's two books, the Social Life <>/ The common element in American to regulate building form and land use — traffic signals, or sidewalk pavements? Small Urban Spaces {1 **«(), and City: approaches to urban design is that they lacks these traditional urban design tools. Designers, of course, see these elements. CITE Itlllll SIJC H i n I E i 2b
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hut for most people, w h o are less aware tus for the creation of I I D M I ) was to cre- of the physical environment , activities ate a d o w n t o w n organization similar to make the city, and surfaces are only a mall management company. Once the background. new streetscape improvements are in Police departments have learned to place, I I D M I ) and M e t r o w i l l need t" repaint police cars periodical!) in a neu adopt routines ol monitoring , mainte- color and pattern, so more people w i l l nance, and repair. Otherwise the project Imiisimiu Avenue, 1996. notice t h e m . Ahhoue.li the number of cars cannot succeed as a catalyst for other patrolling the streets does not change, downtown investment. I9K5, however, this unregulated and UPDATE: METRO the awareness of the police presence is One goal of the D o w n t o w n seemingly unstoppable success has been For budgetary purposes the SI 77.6 million Metro heightened. The Housto n D o w n t o w n Development Plan — c h a n g i n g d o w n tempered. The creation of I I D M I ) and Downtown and Midtown Streets Transit Project is and M i d t o w n Transit Streets Project can town f r o m an employment center to a the determination by M e t r o to invest in a scheduled to begin construction in fiscal year 1997. he expected to f o l l o w a similar pattern to mixed-use district — has already begun public-works project of this scope reflect However, it is nol clear when Metro legally will be influence perception. Initially, the new to be addressed. H i e most p r o m i s i ng evi- this change in the city's fortunes and the able to move forward with the project because of streetsc.ipe w i l l he noticed. ( H e r t i m e , dence of this is the investment in new rethinking it has occasioned a m o n g poli- pending lawsuits and cost over-run estimates. however, it w i l l fade into the background dowtuown loft housing. The conversion cy makers. Still. I louston is constrained In a 1988 referendum, voters approved light rail is it becomes part of the daily routine of o f the historic H o g g Building at 40 I by its lack ol regulatory power; 110 other For the City of Houston. This referendum also provid- downtown users. The long-term effects ol Louisiana (Charles E. Barglebaugh and American city has m o u n t e d a significant ed lhal Metro would spend 25 percent of its sales lax increased transit efficiency, lower mainte- Lloyd k. W h i t s o n , architects, I VlO-11) urban design initiative solely w i t h public- revenue on general (not specifically transportation nance ami operations costs, and a better and the W. L Foley b u i l d i n g at 2 1 4 - 2 1 8 sector investment and w i t h o u t accompa- related) mobility improvements — a figure Mayor overall d o w n t o w n environment w i l l con- Travis (John Kennedy, builder, ca. I860) nying private-sector regulation, but then, Bob Lanier has since interpreted os a floor, nol a tinue to be evident to M e t r o ami to to residential units may reflect current n o other American city has built a m a j o r ceiling. However, light roil had many political ene- HOMO, but not to the public. market conditions, but the ready accep- port SO miles inland. W h i l e philosophical mies and, subsequent to the referendum, commis- The exception to this generalization tance of this housing suggests that there and financial approaches may have sioned studies that indicated rail was not economical- may be the effect of the more than 900 is a significant potential demand for changed since the ship channel was d u g . ly viable. In 1992, Metro adopted its SI billion dol- street trees to be planted as part of the downtown and close-in residential devel- the same k i n d of foresight p r o m p t e d lar Regional Bus Plan, which wos designed to make project, w h i c h should have a much more opment. 1 I D M D ' s initial research d e m o n - Metro and 1 I D M 1 ) to launch this vast Metro's transit system preferable to light rail. Half of significant impact. W i t h a c o n t i n u i n g strating a market for d o w n t o w n housing streetscape project — something no the funding for the Regional Bus Plan comes from program of w a t e r i n g and maintenance, led it to provide a grant to the H o g g other American city has done. Whether Metro funds, and half from the Federal Transit downtown I louston could come to be Building project ( n o w called I logg Houston can transform its d o w n t o w n to Administration — pulling into action the federal thought of as shaded and green rather Palace) on the c o n d i t i o n that retail uses the extenr promised, or whether the new requirement that an affirmative action policy be than hot and hare. at g r o u n d level be included. If this k i n d initiative w i l l merely improve pavements included on all federally funded projects. The D o w n t o w n and M i d t o w n Transit of development can continue, and partic- and landscaping, remains to be seen. • In 1993, the Houston Contractors Association Streets Project w i l l he most effective as a ularly if the Rice Hotel's planned conver- filed 0 lawsuit against Metro, claiming that the tran- .. atal; si .11 its 1, o m p l c t i o n , u hen public sion into condominiu m units occurs, a sit authority's Disadvantage Business Enterprise pro- I George Kami. "The Preterit Sums nt the awareness w i l l he greatest. If the project critical mass of d o w n t o w n residents w i l l 1 heory "i UrKm Designi A Sketch ni an Argument/1 gram, which required that contractors subcontract 21 signals a new direction for d o w n t o w n , form, sufficient to support a range ol lecture presented .11 tin* Univcnrity <>t W.i'.liiiiKtoii, percent of each project budget from minority- or •t <>ll<.-ji<.- cit Architecture 6c Urban Planning, Seattle, as I I D M D intends, new private-sector amenities including service, retail, and NdVL-ITlhlT 13, 1990. women-owned businesses, was unconstitutional. In investment ideally should take place at evening activities. .' |.iiir I.Ruh-., I)i\iib jitil I I/I' 11/ (,rr.it Amenun April 1996, a judge ordered Metro not to solicit or (Uties