| Houston's lack of zoning, market driven constructs, and dependence on the automobile have produced a sprawling, decentralized city connected by networks of flow, where density and urbanism are exceptions, not the rule. In downtown Houston, after years of neglect, a recent boom in (re)development coupled with new transportation initiatives are radically reshaping Houston's historic core and its adjacent neighborhoods. As these new transportation corridors (specifically Metro's new light rail) are realized, their adjacent land use and development (both public and private) provide opportunistic conditions for new visions of urban form and metropolitan life in Houston. The Thesis investigates these emergent opportunities, addressing the changing city in its own terms, focusing on the convergence of these new and existing urban infrastructures to develop new strategies for urban density in Central Houston. |
