A model made from Ike debris, on display at Gulf Coast Green, showing a rehabilitated and roof-supplied future for Maya's Grocery in Galveston [Photo by Raj Mankad]
Gulf Coast Green Recap: Can Houston Become Denser?
From April 16 to 17, several hundred environmentally-minded individuals gathered at the 2009 Gulf Coast Green Symposium. While keynote speaker Alex Steffen addressed the issues of a growing worldwide middle class (and the largely-inevitable consumption that comes with it), Steve Mouzon, AIA, LEED AP discussed “living traditions” right down to the detailing of an organic kitchen garden for a sustainable home. But it was the local speakers who took on the specific challenges Houston faces.
Representatives from the City of Houston gave updates on recent efforts. According to the Mayor’s office, this petroleum-driven city now gets 20 percent of its facility and infrastructure energy from renewable sources (largely wind). The goal is to double that to 40 percent. Twenty-one LEED buildings (representing over 8 million square feet) are underway within the city, METRO and city vehicles are rapidly switching to hybrids, and the George R. Brown convention center is set to receive a 100-kilowatt solar panel system on its roof this year. Three permitting offices will move to a recycled rice warehouse off Washington.
And while there were many pings of excitement, a small pit developed in my stomach with each speaker. Each cited one element as the cornerstone for the green movement: density. It reduces vehicle miles traveled, greenhouses gasses emitted, the energy and materials needed to extend infrastructure farther and farther out. According to speaker John Jacob, Ph.D., density improves rainwater runoff quality (assuming that extensive wilderness areas are then left intact outside the city). But Houston’s not dense. The bulk of this city is organized around strip malls and freeways and freestanding single-family homes. Even with all the strides that have been made, I couldn’t help but wonder: Can Houston ever really be a green city? Or are we destined to hit a wall the size of our freeway system?
There are glimmers of a different trend, though, as smaller town centers have emerged from within the larger city. Speaker Jeff Taebel, FAICP and number-cruncher for the Houston Galveston Area Council (HGAC), sees potential in denser regional areas such as the Medical Center, Downtown Houston, the Woodlands and Sugarland Town Centers, and Galveston’s Strand District. If population projections for this region are correct — and we appear to be on track to absorb the equivalent of today’s Los Angeles by 2035 — the question is not whether Houston will become more dense, but how well the built environment will accommodate people’s needs. According to Taebel, “livable centers” of varying size developed throughout the region would be a more cost effective response to mobility needs than expanding freeways. Livable centers linked to an urban core by mass transit would reduce the number of miles traveled by car. (See the graphic below.) More jobs, amenities, and resources close to people’s homes means fewer miles traveled on any given day.
The production of the Gulf Coast Green event itself suggests Taebel’s vision is not alien to this region. The lightrail stop outside the Reliant Center front door allowed some participants to leave their cars at home. And the efforts at walking the walk did not stop there. Catered foods were all organic, served without the use of disposable products, and all food waste was composted. Recycling receptacles were widely available. Energy offsets were purchased by the group to compensate for the energy used during the symposium, and a CD was available to attendees in place of a myriad of disposable paper handouts.
Mike Marcotte, DEE, Director of Public Works and Engineering Department for the City of Houston, weighed in on planning for density in response to a question about the absence of zoning or other restrictions. “We are a city of villages—not one kind of city,” he said, adding, “Right now people have choices. They can live on a half acre of land or they can choose to live in a smaller apartment in the city or in between. And that’s what we want. We don’t want to tell people how to live. We want people to have choices.”
Perhaps living in a country and, especially, a state that values the individual, a compromise that lets people choose between the density of city centers and the openness of the suburbs is the best of both worlds.
And perhaps the people on those half acres can grow organic kitchen gardens.
Sarah Gandy
IALD, LC, IES, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP
Related Links
Houston Tomorrow Tweets From Gulf Coast Green
Official Gulf Coast Green Site with Speaker List
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