Peter Brown

It only happens in the city

Director, Better Houston / Former Houston City Council Member, Sep 14, 11.

Tagged with economy, cities, urbanism, density

After serving on Houston City Council for four years (2006-2010), I became fascinated with the phenomenon of knowledge-industry “urban innovation,” and what other cities are doing to ride the cutting edge of economic, social and cultural advancement.

One thing for sure – it only happens in the city, especially in dense walkable cities, like New York, Chicago, LA, Boston; even Seattle, and Denver. Big city mayors recognize that where there is an attractive density of people, talent, small entrepreneurs along with concentrations of corporate activity, institutions of learning and research, and ethnic diversity; then innovation and wealth-creation flourish.

Houston is a very low density city, even compared to Los Angeles (2.8 times as dense as Houston). The period 2000 to 2010 saw a relative decline of density in the city, as almost 90% of new population growth occurred in the suburbs, not within the City limits. This is a trend which needs to be headed off at the pass. The City government and business community can stimulate the potential for innovation in a number of ways:

1) Invest in the infrastructure of innovation to attract the creative class – new IT technology such as cloud computing, education, and dense, compact, transit-served urbanism.
2) Proximity, to foster personal interaction of all types, enhanced by mixed-use walkable urban districts, bikeways, and rail transit, including modern streetcars.
3) Business-friendly regulations to encourage a range of close-in for-sale and rental housing in safe, attractive urban neighborhoods. Here Houston has a real advantage over high cost housing cities like San Francisco, Chicago, and New York.

Urban economists agree that “workers in denser places are more productive,” (Ron Avent from his new book, The Gated City). Harvard economist Edward Glaeser explains that keeping housing costs reasonable by not restricting the supply would help Houston attract the higher density mixed-use it sorely needs. I like to paraphrase the “purpose of cities” described by Jane Jacobs, in her writings about city life. The purpose of cities is 1) to maximize exchange of all types – economic, environmental, and social; 2) to minimize travel times 3) to create the middle class. If these precepts had been embraced by city leaders, America today would enjoy a much stronger and efficient economy, and a higher quality of life.

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