Houston has been a complete disaster of urban sprawl due to a decades long policy of no zoning controls whatsoever, so though they may have some great new policies, you did "clickbait" me into the piece by saying London could learn from Houston.
One interesting area where London can learn closer to home is Croydon. Yes, Croydon, and more particularly the southern suburbs, where (up until the new mayor was elected and cancelled it), they had a policy of allowing houses and bungalows to be bought and then developed into flats (often 6 to 9 with designs that were sympathetic to the local designs, though, tbh, most were bland 1930s urban expansion). This has added, relative to every other borough in London, a LOT of new housing and also, empirically, dampened house price inflation in the area. Oh, but it did create a lot of NIMBY response, plus some perceived corruption between developers and senior civil servants and councillors. Plus ca change etc
I understand the inner core has improved, simply that the issue with Houston (and most US cities, Houston is one of the worst) is the suburban sprawl. So disastrous in so many ways, not least that it is hotter than the sun there in summer so everyone drives from AC to AC. No walking ever.
A lot of that could simply be included in the new National Development Management Policies. That takes it out of the Mayors hands, and it would apply everywhere else in England too.
A lot of interesting stuff here. But allowing grade 2 listed or conservation area properties to be extended is almost certainly not politically viable.
No way the MIMBY (maybe in my backyard) homeowners would go along with that. And don’t forget homeowners are still 75-80% of the voters across the country - and probably more in the swing districts.
Houston has been a complete disaster of urban sprawl due to a decades long policy of no zoning controls whatsoever, so though they may have some great new policies, you did "clickbait" me into the piece by saying London could learn from Houston.
One interesting area where London can learn closer to home is Croydon. Yes, Croydon, and more particularly the southern suburbs, where (up until the new mayor was elected and cancelled it), they had a policy of allowing houses and bungalows to be bought and then developed into flats (often 6 to 9 with designs that were sympathetic to the local designs, though, tbh, most were bland 1930s urban expansion). This has added, relative to every other borough in London, a LOT of new housing and also, empirically, dampened house price inflation in the area. Oh, but it did create a lot of NIMBY response, plus some perceived corruption between developers and senior civil servants and councillors. Plus ca change etc
I understand the inner core has improved, simply that the issue with Houston (and most US cities, Houston is one of the worst) is the suburban sprawl. So disastrous in so many ways, not least that it is hotter than the sun there in summer so everyone drives from AC to AC. No walking ever.
A lot of that could simply be included in the new National Development Management Policies. That takes it out of the Mayors hands, and it would apply everywhere else in England too.
A lot of interesting stuff here. But allowing grade 2 listed or conservation area properties to be extended is almost certainly not politically viable.
No way the MIMBY (maybe in my backyard) homeowners would go along with that. And don’t forget homeowners are still 75-80% of the voters across the country - and probably more in the swing districts.