In a wide ranging interview with the Monitor, former Council Member Chris Riley talks tactical urbanism, urban studies, place making, New York City, Austin’s opportunity for “human interaction” instead of driving out of one garage and into another one, historic zoning rules, how much of what we love about Austin is illegal to build today.
They spend a lot of time about CodeNEXT: how long and complicated it is (and if that’s needed). He says we should judge CodeNEXT by:
- Is it easier to build enough housing
- Does it meet the Imagine Austin goals (and in particular being compact connected
- Can we have abundant housing, lots of housing choice, walkable neighborhoods, and enough meaningful things on our corridors to have a public transit system?
In addition, they talk about how density allows for good mass transit systems.
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https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2017/03/austin-monitor-radio-former-council-member-chris-riley/