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Vernacular Assets: Planning for Local VERNACULAR ASSETS: PLANNING FOR LOCAL CULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT IN TEXAS by RACHEL E. ROBERTS Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Arlington in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF CITY AND REGIONAL PLANNING THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON December 2008 Copyright © by Rachel E. Roberts 2008 All Rights Reserved DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my family: Mom, Dad, Chris, Jennifer, my Wilks grandparents, and my Roberts grandparents. My family—and their love, encouragement, and support—made this paper possible, as did their sometimes bothersome refusal to believe that I could fail. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my professors from SUPA who have challenged me, piqued my interests, and occasionally changed my mind. I also offer my thanks to the members of my thesis committee: Dr. Carl Grodach, Dr. Enid Arvidson, and Dr. Jeff Howard. Finally, I would like to thank Wal-Mart, who bulldozed my favorite hill and made me so angry that I decided to try to change the world. November 25, 2008 iv ABSTRACT VERNACULAR ASSETS: PLANNING FOR LOCAL CULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT IN TEXAS Rachel Roberts, MCRP The University of Texas at Arlington, 2008 Supervising Professor: Carl Grodach This paper examines how fast-growing cities in Texas with populations over 100,000 plan for local cultural and environmental resources. In the face of globalization, cities in the United States attempt to craft unique identities for themselves in order to attract tourists, residents, and footloose capital, but plans are often borrowed from work in other cities or are forms of Disneyfication and lead to increasing homogenization among cities. This paper argues that planning based on vernacular assets can better shape local identity, with vernacular assets defined as local cultural and environmental resources that are rooted in place. Plans and related documents from eight fast-growing cities were evaluated as to how or if they protect or develop vernacular assets. The paper concludes that, although the cities do protect v some vernacular assets, these resources are not generally used as a framework for planning or for developing local identity. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................. iv ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... v LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ x LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ xi Chapter 1.INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 1 1.1 Overview ................................................................................................ 1 1.2 City Planning, Sense of Place, and Identity ........................................... 2 2. BACKGROUND, DEFINITIONS, AND METHOD ................................. 12 2.1 Definitions, Cultural Planning and Environmental Planning .............. 12 2.1.1 Cultural Planning .................................................................. 12 2.1.2 Environmental Planning ....................................................... 19 2.2 How Culture and Environment are Linked in Planning and Related Fields ...................................................................................... 26 2.2.1 Smart Growth ........................................................................ 26 2.2.2. Historic Preservation, Green Preservation, and Cultural Landscapes ................................................................ 28 2.2.3 Ecological Design and Bioregionalism ................................ 30 2.2.4 Slow City Movement ............................................................ 35 vii 3. METHOD AND ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK ..................................... 38 3.1 Framework and Indicators of Vernacular Planning ............................. 38 3.2 Looking for Indicators in City Plans ................................................... 48 3.3 Limitations of This Method; Future Research ..................................... 49 4. FINDINGS: INDICATORS OF VERNACULAR PLANNING AFFECTING BOTH CULTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES .................................................................................................. 54 4.1 Language Linking Culture and Environment to Identity ..................... 57 4.1.2 Language Recognizing the importance of Culture and Environment ............................................................... 59 4.2 Funding or Similar Assistance for Protecting Local Culture or Environment ............................................................................. 61 4.3 Efforts to Inventory, Map, and Document Local Culture .................... 63 4.4. Use of Local Knowledge in Plan Creation ......................................... 68 4.5 Summary of Findings for Indicators Applying to both Cultural and Environmental Resources .......................................................................... 71 5. FINDINGS: INDICATORS OF VERNACULAR PLANNING AFFECTING LOCAL CULTURAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES .................................................................................................. 73 5.1 Support for Vernacular Businesses ...................................................... 73 5.2 Celebrating Culture: Festivals and Other Community Events ........... 80 5.3 Historic Preservation and Similar Efforts ............................................ 82 5.4 Other Efforts to Preserve Local Culture .............................................. 91 5.5 Ordinances Protecting Native Species ................................................. 96 5.6 Land Set-Asides ................................................................................. 100 5.7 Other Efforts to Preserve Local Environment ................................... 104 viii 5.8 Other Indicators ................................................................................. 107 6. CONCLUSION.......................................................................................... 109 6.1 What Cities Are Doing to Protect Local Assets ................................ 111 6.1.1 Putting Elements Together ................................................ 122 6.1.2 Revisiting Concepts in Cultural and Environmental Planning ...................................................... 124 6.2 Best Practices ..................................................................................... 127 6.3 Concluding Remarks ......................................................................... 129 APPENDIX A. IN-DEPTH DISCUSSION OF SELECTED INDICATORS: HOW THE CITIES IN THIS PLAN FOR VERNACLAR ASSETS ...................... 132 B. END NOTES ............................................................................................. 198 C. LIST OF CITY PLANS, DOCUMENTS, AND WEBSITES EXAMINED ............................................................................. 211 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 220 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ............................................................................. 232 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 3.1 Map of Texas showing the eight cities studied ...................................... 39 x LIST OF TABLES Table Page 3.1 Rapidly-growing cities in Texas with population over 100,000 .................................................................................................... 40 3.2 Vernacular assets and indicators of planning for vernacular assets .............................................................................................. 46 4.1 Best practice, language linking vernacular assets and identity: McAllen ........................................................................................................... 59 4.2 Best practice, financial support for vernacular assets: Fort Worth ....................................................................................................... 63 4.3 Best practice and examples, identification and documentation: Denton, Fort Worth, and McAllen ................................................................... 68 4.4 Best practice, use of local knowledge/public input: Fort Worth ....................................................................................................... 71 5.1 Example, vernacular businesses: McAllen ............................................ 80 5.2 Best practice and examples, celebrating culture—local events: Fort Worth, Laredo, and McAllen ................................................................... 82 5.3 Best practices, historic preservation: Denton and Fort Worth ............... 90 5.4 Best practices, land set-asides: Denton and McKinney ....................... 104 xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION It is a fundamental requirement and goal to build cities with soul. Beijing Declaration Concerning Urban Culture 1.1 Overview While the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that total U.S. population grew by just over 6 percent from 2000 and 2006, some American cities grew by more than three times that number.1 A potential outcome of such rapid growth is that it might complicate efforts to preserve local identity. Rapidly-growing cities might not have the time to plan for sense of place before many of the elements
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