Tools to Implement Walkable Urbanism

One important mission of an urban planner is to guide urban development by identifying existing and upcoming challenges and establishing sound public policies to address those challenges.  After a policy is created, how to effectively implement the newly established policy requires different tools and approaches. In Houston, it can be challenging to implement walkable urbanism, especially where residents heavily rely on cars in their daily lives. In this session, we will discuss how the City of Houston Planning and Development Department utilizes creative strategies to implement the Walkable Places and Transit-Oriented Development Ordinance, Sidewalk Ordinance, Vision Zero, and Complete Community Action Plans to overcome challenges and effectively implement walkable urbanism. 

Houston is an auto-centric city. Traffic congestion has become a top issue for Houstonians. Another two million people are expected to move to the area in the coming three decades. The city must grow up, not out.  Plan Houston brought Houstonians together to develop a vision, goals, and strategies for the City’s future. The Walkable Places & Transit-Oriented Standards, Sidewalk Ordinance Amendments, Vision Zero, and Complete Communities efforts are the actions grown out of the plan. This session will discuss the following strategies to overcome the challenges of the policy implementation process.

•The Users’ Guide for Walkable Places and Transit-Oriented Development was created to explain and illustrate the walkable urbanism concepts and planning standards in layman’s terms.
•The Sidewalk Ordinance Amendment creates the Fee in Lieu of Sidewalk Construction to provide options for property owners to meet the sidewalk requirements and promote a complete sidewalk network in the city.
•The Vision Zero Action Plan outlines 50 specific tasks to eliminating fatalities and serious injuries on our roads by 2030.
•Complete Communities is a community- led planning effort designed to bring focused implementation to each of 10 underserved communities.

By leveraging efforts of the Mayor’s Office of Complete Communities, City departments, and outside agencies, the Planning and Development Department implements projects to improve walkability.