Photo by Patrick Rodriguez

Envisioning the future of the growing American city, Neal Pierce suggests, through references to Bellevue, Washington, Amsterdam and Bogota, a better way to grow.

Even here in Alta Vista, one of the first streetcar suburbs of San Antonio, we are attempting to limit the dominance of the auto-centric environment, promote pedestrian-friendly public realm spaces. Similar goals are applicable to outlying areas of San Antonio as well.

Bellevue was a sprawling suburban area once, as unlikely a candidate to become “a Class A center with high-rise buildings, plazas, parks, cafes” as is the ring of suburbs around San Antonio today. But a smarter future was envisioned and “[t]oday Bellevue is precisely that. Across the country, growing numbers of close-in suburbs are undergoing that same transformation from dullsville to walkable and inviting places.”

San Antonio can and must grow by developing transit-supporting density, parks and livability by investing in not only downtown San Antonio but also in additional nodes strategically located to work together. In so doing we can sustainably contribute some of the additional 75 million of new housing units that the U.S. will need by 2050.