PLANNING AND SPATIAL ORGANIZATION
Bird's eye view of Houson looking south (1873). Courtesy Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Houston Public Library
Bird's Eye view of Houston, looking South (1891). Courtesy Amon Carter Museum, Forth Worth
Houston has a reputation for being one of the most unplanned Western cities.
The two pictures above highlight the growth that occured between 1873 and 1891.
In the first picture, the important infrastructures of the city were already
in place. The railroads can be seen running along the northern part of the city,
and in the later picture, the city has enveloped the railroads. The flat, unbounded
area that Houston once inhabited has expanded in every direction almost completely
uninhibited. The earlier grid plan is set up differently than the expanded grid
plan that emerges in the second arial photograph, with only a few connecting
diagonals. With a lack of government involvement in the planning of the city,
it has resulted in a lack of cohesion in the city layout, but because it was
developed by private investors all trying to maximize the utility of the land,
it is still extremely functional. Because Houston has grown differently than
older cities like New York and Boston, and due to the lack of zoning legislation,
it is easy to make the previously mentioned argument; however, upon closer inspection
of the textures and functional parts of the city, a unique method of organization
emerges.
Photo Courtesy of Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Houston Public Library.
The Southern Pacific Railroad shops in the 1890's were located in the Fifth Ward. These were the single largest employer of skilled, blue-collar workers, so in addition to impacting the spatial development of the city, they were also critical to sustaining Houston's industrial economy. Industrial districts like the Fifth Ward sprung up near the railroad tracks. Other industrial areas, like the FourthWard, sprung up near shipping channels, but these tended to deteriorate into industrial slums when railroads became more dominant. Both of these areas were predominantly black neighborhoods. The Fourth Ward (or Freedman's Town) had a thriving population in the 1940'sand was the first black neighborhood. Its spillover population created the Fifth Ward which eventually replaced the Fourth Ward as the city's center of black business and economic activity by 1950. The introduction of two major highway systems eventually displaced many Fifth Ward residents, however, and this contributed to the decline of what was once Houston's culturally richest area. This did, however, allow for the emergence of the Third Ward in the 1960's. The Third Ward is still a dominant black neighborhood in Houston today, but it is a neighborhood of "contrasts". There are row or "shotgun" houses amid tree-lined, upscale housing. This is because of recent in-migration of wealthy black residents. As can be noted by the location of the Wards, black neighborhoods are clustered near the center of the city. The Center of Houston is predominantly minority because most of the wealthy, whites have moved into more suburban neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city. Less than half of the white population lived in the central city in 1980, but two-thirds of the Hispanics lived there and the black concentration in the central city is even higher. The black populations remain the most segregated in Houston remaining highly concentrated in the center city, whereas the Hispanic population is slightly more evenly distributed around the city. One of the major concerns of Houston residents is the difference between the slums of the city (which are almost entirely minority) and the prosperous areas of the city in the northwest. Because the city doesn't provide many of the typical city infrastructures such as sewage systems, trash removal, water supply...etc, local areas are left to fund their own infrastructures. There are areas of Houston where there is no running water, and no method for trash removal. Meanwhile, other areas of the city are state of the art business facilities with cutting edge of modern conveniences. These contrasts between the different areas of Houston are a result of the capitalist, "fend for yourself, small government" type of mentality that Houston embodies.
Fifth Ward: Courtesy Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Houston Public Library
In the downtown area, commercial buildings are the norm. This is indicative of the amount of influence the private sector has on the shape of the city. There is little uniformity to the building size or shape, but it is easy to see that entire parts of the downtown have been changing and updating at a rapid pace. There is almost no historic preservation, and Houston is known for having one of the most modern urban landscapes as businesses and companies have updated their office buildings according to popular and practical conventions of the times. The two images below demonstrate the contrast between Houston as it was developing in the late 19th century and Houston during the late 20th century. It is difficult to find similarities, other than the individualized, non-uniform nature of the buildings. Today, Houston is a city full of tall buildings and modern offices, and there is almost no trace of the older, brick, two or three story shops and offices that were once the vernacular.
Houston, looking northeast from the Courthouse (1880's). Courtesy Houston Metropolitcan Research Center, Houston Public Library
Pennzoil Place -Downtown Houston 1989
Houston has grown by annexing some of its surrounding towns, resulting in urban areas with a suburban neighborhood feel. And like most “automobile cities”, Houston is organized in clusters which are all linked by orbital roads like the Interstate Loop 610. Below is a picture of the highway system that has been so critical in shaping Houston's sprawling growth patterns.
The absence of zoning regulations has left the city’s development in the hands of private landowners and developers, who determine the size, use, cost, and height of their buildings. This has affected not only the business climate and commercial districts, but also the residential neighborhoods. Houston's unregulated growth, lack of land-use controls such as zoning, and big-business biased public policy decisions have allowed the erosion of residential areas. There have been attempts at instituting zoning laws, but all attempts have failed in the polls. The result is a segregated, individualized cityscape exemplefied by the fact that sewer systems and water provisions distinguish business districts from housing areas.
City of Houston Well (text states: Houston Depended almost exclusively on ground-water through private wells until World War II. This was not typical of other cities in the United States for that period.)
This is because developers are expected to supply water and sewage services, not the city. Unlike other cities, which would extend their current systems into surrounding areas with the hopes that the surrounding areas would soon be annexed by the city, developers secured the establishment of a water district and thus dictated the use of the land. Once an unicorporated area had developed sufficient servies and a solid economic base -- THEN the city was free to annex it for the tax benefit... altogether a different story than what was expected in older cities. All in all, Houston uses its business edge to become a city that embodies constant urban change that is incomparable to virtually any other city.
