Houston Genetic City

Peter Zweig, Matthew Johnson, Jason Logan, Peter Zweig, Matthew Johnson, Jason Logan

• Publisher: Actar
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9781948765244
• eBook ISBN:
  9781638409250
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Architecture General

Houston Genetic City offers a vision for a future Houston as a global city, beyond its current petro-economy, its laissez-faire land speculation, and its notorious sprawl. The book speculates about new forms of urbanism that offer resiliency against our changing climate—from flooding to sea level rise to volatile storms—as well as new models for development in fast-urbanizing regions. No city in the United States is a synonymous with unbridled growth and land speculation as the sprawling Texas city of Houston. The book offers a vision for a future Houston as a global city, beyond its current petro-economy, its laissez-faire land speculation, and its notorious sprawl. It speculates about new forms of urbanism that offer resiliency against our changing climate as well as new models for development in fast-urbanizing regions.Though Houston is described as a city, its massive size makes it regional or even megaregional in scale—including a patchwork of satellite downtowns and suburbs, a vast floodplain of bayous and coastal prairie, as well as a long stretch of Gulf Coast. Its lack of zoning means ad hoc developments scatter across the landscape with little formal planning, where urban developments are always provisional and negotiable.Using maps, photographs, timelines, and collages, the book lays out the conditions for new urbanization in this fragile landscape.Published by Actar Publishers & University of Houston's Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design

Table of contents

• Three Million Shapes: Interview with Thom Mayne
• The Genetic City: Matthew Johnson
• What Is
• Origins
• Concentric City
• Sprawl City
• Satellite City
• Genetic City
• Vacancy: Photos
• DEVELOPER CITY
• What If
• A Developed Life: Gerald D. Hines In Conversation with Peter Jay Zweig
• I Flooding: Resilient Points
• The Arc
• II Vacancy: Ad Hoc Reuse
• Edible City
• III Destinations: Class Rooms
• Foreign Bodies
• Pleasure Terminal - Peakscape
• IV Connectivity: Points of Departure - Foreign Links
• Cartel - Caroom
• V Reboot: Revival of a Fallen Origin
• FLOOD: Photos
• Houstonism: A Soft Theory. Matthew Johnson
• Energy: Photos
• ENERGY CITY
• What If - A Wicked-Problem-Rich City
• I Protect: The Wetline I and II
• II Remediate: Poro-City
• Tranitower
• Future Farm
• Waste Scape
• III Activate: Hyperport
• Bayou Thinkscape
• Silicon Bayou
• IV Energize: Energy Island
• Eighth Wonder: An Imaginary Astrodome. Matthew Johnson
• Zone: Photos
• UNZONED CITY
• What If
• I Thick Infrastructure: Centripedus
• II Loose Networks: Linked City
• Superschool
• III High Waters, Shadow Buildings: Air Island
• Astropark
• Visionary Houston: Jason Logan
• EXHIBITIONS AND SYMPOSIA
• Acknowledgements