HARRIS COUNTY GREEN GUIDELINES is a public document created for developers, engineers, and architects designing the future of non-housing areas in Harris County, Texas.
The current Houston municipal code has little regulation or mandatory green standards for new non-housing developments. As a result, Houston’s urban fabric has woven in very few long-term resiliency strategies or pedestrian-oriented designs.
Our team was tasked to create a 300-page document of planning guidelines to provide developers with clear strategies for green and community-oriented design. These guidelines included the design of streetscapes, roadway cross sections, parks and open space, utility placement, block sizes, block uses, and other provisions.
The process of writing the final design guidelines included field visiting successful Texas communities, measuring pedestrian-friendly block sizes, and researching resiliency strategies.
The final guiding principles of the document include compatibility with the surrounding neighborhoods, equitable design, neighborliness, health and well-being, sustainability and resilience, fiscal responsibility, and pedestrian focus.
The document was produced under the ownership of Gensler and in collaboration with Michael Bloom, SEngineering LLC, and CMTA. It was published in the spring of 2022.
