Envision Houston 2035
With a population increase of more that three-and a half million people by the year 2035, the Houston –Galveston area could be all concrete and buildings. Some citizens think there has to be a better way.
If the past predicts the future for Houston and surrounding areas, more people, means more cars and more roads. Building enough office and retail buildings, houses, and roads to accommodate 3,580,000 more people could take a lot of greenspace – virtually all that’s left in this area.
About 400 citizens involved in Envision Houston workshops have been looking at computer models of past trends for transportation and growth and have decided there are other options. They would rather see planning that would save the greenscape, protect wetlands and floodplain, develop the bayou linear parks plan, slow down the road-building, and produce more and better transit. Workshop participants envision thousands of cities, towns, villages, and urban neighborhoods increasingly linked by transit.
To shift from the current trend toward more suburbs and freeways, spending could shift from roads to towns and neighborhoods that have homes closer to schools, business and shopping. A mass transit system instead of freeways could be built. Greenspace could be preserved. It’s up to the community to choose and policy makers who represent the citizens to make the way for this vision to become a reality.