The Woodlands Curved Geometry

[SpringTX]

Everyone knows about the towering shields of pine forest lining every street in The Woodlands, which hide both homes and businesses in sylvan enclaves. And most folks know about the democratic utopian experiment of George Mitchell. But the designers planned some less-well-known aspects which are just as revolutionary and amazing. They designed the entire community using the geometry of organic forces: curves, spirals, fractals, and intentional randomness. While often disorienting to navigate, this pervasive irregularity connects with people on a primal level. Its concentric curves tighten social bonds among neighbors and create greater senses of place and even personal individuality.

For 5,000 years, since the first city arose in the Indus River valley, mankind has planned cities on rigid, rectangular grids. You will notice some form of grid in almost every city and community today. A few developers around the country attempted to veer away from the grid with utopian experiments in the 1970's, but The Woodlands is one of the few that has survived. Since the success of The Woodlands, some other communities have slowly started to adopt its curve-based street design. In Houston, for example, a few upscale golf course communities like Windrose and Gleannloch Farms have followed suit.

Most residents of The Woodlands live on a semi-circle or flagella-shaped cul-de-sac, which is the cell unit of this community's design. Most subdivisions are themselves cul-de-sacs hanging off a circular or curved thoroughfare within each village. So they live in cul-de-sacs within cul-de-sacs. And the planners designed many of the villages to be cul-de-sacs themselves off of major thoroughfares like Woodlands Parkway. Even the entire community stems off I-45 as a giant cul-de-sac of sorts.

The designers made each village a different shape and size, some long and slender like Indian Springs and others heart-shaped like Cochran's Crossing. They fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. The architects aimed every road, big and small, in all directions, with constant twists and turns along the way. Shadow Bend Drive, for example, runs generally north-south parallel to Gosling, but then bends 90 degrees and runs perpindicular to it at one point. The planners made parks of all shapes and sizes, and placed them in a variety of locations. They placed the features in unusual locations inside the parks, like basketball courts in the middle of the woods. The golf course designers wove fairways through residential areas. A hundred miles of bike paths wind through the subdivisions like veins, sometimes mirroring the roads, only to later criss-cross them and/or vanish into the woods.

These concentric semi-circles, unique shapes, and circuitous routes create deep layers of privacy for residents. People in The Woodlands live in what they typically describe as friendly little mini-communities, usually confined to their cul-de-sac or a few adjoining cul-de-sacs. They describe their neighbors as active in arranging block parties and other events. They report that their children make many friends in their neighborhoods. If you drive through any Woodlands subidvision after school on a sunny day, you will usually see children riding bikes, scooters, and skateboards down the street. If you drive down a cul-de-sac, you'll often see adults in their yards stop and stare unexpectedly at the sight of your car. If you live in The Woodlands, you'll see neighbors waving courteously at seemingly every car which drives past them, almost like they might have done in the romanticized small towns of yesteryear.

Because of all the unusual geometry in The Woodlands, residents develop some different habits. Some tend to drive more cautiously on side streets, where the constant twists and unexpected intersections put drivers off balance. Drivers tend to get lost much more often, even on routine trips to the store. In conversations, people sometimes show confusion about locations. Perhaps Woodlands people explore their surroundings more. Even longtime residents seem to talk as if they were on a perpetual quest to find another store, or a closer store, or a better route to get to it. Residents seem to show a great sense of wonder about their surroundings. No one seems to show the slightest bit of irony at street or subdivision names like Hidden Lake, Mystic Woods, or Enchanted Forest. If you drive through one of these places slowly and admire the serenity of the thick canopy of trees, fresh air, and birds chirping, you'll find these names to be surprisingly appropriate. Residents tend to have a greater variety in neighborhood experiences; 2 residents living only a mile apart can live in 2 totally different worlds. One of them might live on a street among crusty retirees in mansions, and the other one might live among down-to-earth, young, blue-collar families. Because of all this, perhaps Woodlands folks feel more individualistic, like modern-day Henry David Thoreaus, each living in their own little Walden Pond in the suburbs.

[RedScare]

That's the funniest thing I've read all week. Getting lost in your own neighborhood is revolutionary and amazing.

[sevfiv]

i am particularly fond of this small twirl-of-a-neighborhood off of 35 in denton:

and now, i think i am even more fond of the term flagella-shaped cul-de-sac

[RedScare]

For those who wonder what Flagella are...

flagellum

noun flagella

1. biol.

The long whip-like structure that projects from the cell surface of sperm, and certain bacteria, unicellular algae and protozoans, used to propel the cell through a liquid medium.

2. bot.

A long thin runner or creeping shoot.

I wonder how the people who protest reproductions of Michealangelo's David like living on a sperm tail of a street.

[KatieDidIt]

I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

[Subdude]

Um, back on topic, I'm kind of a grid-guy myself. To me, cul-de-sac neighborhoods just don't seem that interesting. The description sounds like a bunch of adjoining but non-interacting enclaves, not a real town. With grids there are always multiple routes to get some place, but with cul-de-sacs dominating, all the streets tend to funnel traffic to one big collector road. I understand wanting to manage traffic so kids can play in the streets, but there are other ways.

Personally, I hate driving through the Woodlands for exactly the reasons you describe. I never fail to get lost there, because of the non-intuitive layout and curving streets. That being said, the layout is hardly "revolutionary and amazing". What IS amazing is if the Woodlands was designed using the geometry of fractals, since fractal geometry wasn't widely known at the time the Woodlands was planned.

I need to chew a while on the term "intentional randomness".

[WesternGulf]

Um, back on topic, I'm kind of a grid-guy myself. To me, cul-de-sac neighborhoods just don't seem that interesting. The description sounds like a bunch of adjoining but non-interacting enclaves, not a real town. With grids there are always multiple routes to get some place, but with cul-de-sacs dominating, all the streets tend to funnel traffic to one big collector road. I understand wanting to manage traffic so kids can play in the streets, but there are other ways.

Personally, I hate driving through the Woodlands for exactly the reasons you describe. I never fail to get lost there, because of the non-intuitive layout and curving streets. That being said, the layout is hardly "revolutionary and amazing". What IS amazing is if the Woodlands was designed using the geometry of fractals, since fractal geometry wasn't widely known at the time the Woodlands was planned.

I need to chew a while on the term "intentional randomness".

But then again, what suburb in Houston do you know that is on a grid?

[Subdude]

But then again, what suburb in Houston do you know that is on a grid?

Most of the original "streetcar" suburbs were built in grids before that went out of style. Think of Montrose extending out to Kirby, the Heights, or large parts of Third Ward and East End.

I realize I am probably in a minority with the grid preference.

[Jeebus]

I realize I am probably in a minority with the grid preference.

Or perhaps a silent majority? I too prefer the grid system.

[RedScare]

I am a big fan of grid neighborhoods. That first post is exactly backwards, in that it discourages neighborliness, as opposed to encouraging it. Families going for walks tend not to walk down cul-de-sacs, knowing that this is a nice term for "dead end". Only those streets that are not dead ends get traversed. On the other hand, whenever I walk my dog in my grid neighborhood, I take a different route everyday, knowing that no matter where I go, I know exactly how to get back home. This promotes meeting new neighbors, since I am constantly on different streets.

I believe that the curved streets were designed to promote privacy, not neighborliness. The combination of curved streets and many trees allows the residents a certain feel that they are alone, in that few homes can be seen on a curved, tree-lined street. While this may be desirable in its own right, it is at the expense of the neighborly aspect. That post sounds more like a misleading marketing spiel than a thoughtful observation.

[gnu]

Or perhaps a silent majority? I too prefer the grid system.

i am not a strict "grid-o-phile" but i am certainly anti cul-de-sac.

regardless of the pattern, (you can have some curvilinear streets in there and some streets off the grid) the key is the interconnectivity to the rest of the community and street network. we shouldnt want to isolate ourselves so much.

as redscare stated, the grid (or interconnectivity) promotes neighborliness

also,

why do you think the shutdown of the 59 downtown spur went relatively well?

the ability of the grid system to handle the increased traffic load certainly helped.

what would have happened to the traffic if there were a bunch of cul-de-sacs in montrose???

just my novice planner's opinion...

Edited May 23, 2006 by gnu

[KatieDidIt]

Love the grid system. We used to live in a grid now we live on a cul-de-sac that the "lookielous" loop at 45 mph and drive on. I used to be able to walk the grid and if I got tired sooner, take the straight line back.

[TheNiche]

Where did you get this stuff? Barring the possibility that you're an ad writer, a land planner whose prime years were in the 70's, or George Mitchell's biographer, this can't possibly be SpringTX talking.

My thoughts: The Woodlands, like indoor malls, must be considered within the context of the period when they were first conceived and ultimately built. It is not enough to cast them off as misguided relics of a mistakenly suburban past, and I do very much appreciate the perspective that is provided regarding planned chaos. The subject has always intrigued me and it was undoubtedly an avant-garde concept in its day. I think that if The Woodlands is able to maintain its vibrancy into the next couple centuries, it will be considered one of America's historical gems.

I believe that The Woodlands has a place in the world. Introverts, best defined as people who prefer the close and personal company of a few to the more superficial company of many, need housing too. More importantly, one of the big advantages over grids is that land uses are static and that household incomes tend to fluctuate within a fairly predictable range...so a buyer within a neighborhood with many cul-de-sacs knows exactly what he's getting for about the next 10 years or more. In the mean time, kids are free to play in the streets and bike around the subdivision. You don't see that same kind of thing so much where grids come into play...adults are out and about, but with a more dynamic environment comes a more dynamic set of people; some of these 'dynamic' people don't mix well with kids...and so even where kids are present, their outdoor activities seem to be less visible...at least these are my personal observations.

[RedScare]

Niche, I agree with you except for the last part. A grid with sidewalks allows kids to play where they can be supervised, as well as out of the street. Most subdivisions I've lived in or visited did not have sidewalks, forcing children into the street, where it is more dangerous...especially if drivers are not paying attention on the curves.

Numerous studies on crime show that the burglar prefers dead ends and cul-de-sacs, for precisely the same reasons that homeowners do. There is less visibility and more privacy. The corner house gets more visiblity, so there are more eyes watching it.

The Woodlands and its curvy design and lots of trees WAS cutting edge stuff back in the 70s and 80s. It took awhile before it became clear that privacy is the inverse of neighborly. This is still not to say that the Woodlands is not attractive to a lot of people, but let's not make it into something it is not.

[Jeebus]

Hey moderators, why don't you convert this into a "Grid" vs. "Cul De Sac" poll for us?

[westguy]

Yeah, after 5-10,000 years of grid planning, people suddenly think they know better? The part about curves and such connecting with people on a primal level sounds like babble from a brochure. The curve system is bad for the communities because it makes it extremely difficult to redevelop the land when the properties deteriorate.

[PureAuteur]

I think grids, curved streets, cul-de-sacs, or a combination of everything can be a great place to live as long as the people are great and the community identity is there. I've lived in Woodland Trails West, a neighborhood in NW Houston planned in the late 1970s which had cul-de-sacs and "Drives", a typical suburban concept, but it was very neighborly. Maybe it was the custom design of the homes or the abundance of trees and sidewalks. I've lived in Timbergrove Manor, which is more or less a grid system with some streets being dead ends. I've lived in the town of San Marcos, where the center of town is based on a grid, but the rest of the town streets and roads are completely random, with some very long straight roads and some curvy streets, and some that loop around town.

After all that, I've come to the conclusion that it's really about the community or town you're in and the people who make up that community or town. Any design can be great.

[WesternGulf]

Most of the original "streetcar" suburbs were built in grids before that went out of style. Think of Montrose extending out to Kirby, the Heights, or large parts of Third Ward and East End.

I realize I am probably in a minority with the grid preference.

I was talking about modern suburbs. None of them are on a grid like you will find in the innerloop where for every 5 or 7 residential streets going east to west north to south there is one commercial street depending on the block size.

[TheNiche]

Niche, I agree with you except for the last part. A grid with sidewalks allows kids to play where they can be supervised, as well as out of the street. Most subdivisions I've lived in or visited did not have sidewalks, forcing children into the street, where it is more dangerous...especially if drivers are not paying attention on the curves.

Numerous studies on crime show that the burglar prefers dead ends and cul-de-sacs, for precisely the same reasons that homeowners do. There is less visibility and more privacy. The corner house gets more visiblity, so there are more eyes watching it.

The Woodlands and its curvy design and lots of trees WAS cutting edge stuff back in the 70s and 80s. It took awhile before it became clear that privacy is the inverse of neighborly. This is still not to say that the Woodlands is not attractive to a lot of people, but let's not make it into something it is not.

I'd think that there would be a big difference between burglars and criminal nutjobs.

The burglar plans to commit a crime, targeting upper-middle income enclaves and planning out the most rational sequence of events to get the most valuable loot in the least amount of time; they prefer not to have a confrontation or to injure their victims because that would increase the risk involved in the crime.

The nutjob (inclusive of dumb criminals) is opportunistic, who commits a crime because they were going from one place to the next and just happened to see something they want, be it your lawn ornament, your car, your aluminum TV antenna, or your kid. They don't necessarily act in a rational way, and aren't necessarily afraid to injure or kill others. Grids are conducive to crime by nutjobs becauase the allow for passers-through.

[SpringTX]

I'd think that there would be a big difference between burglars and criminal nutjobs.

The burglar plans to commit a crime, targeting upper-middle income enclaves and planning out the most rational sequence of events to get the most valuable loot in the least amount of time; they prefer not to have a confrontation or to injure their victims because that would increase the risk involved in the crime.

The nutjob (inclusive of dumb criminals) is opportunistic, who commits a crime because they were going from one place to the next and just happened to see something they want, be it your lawn ornament, your car, your aluminum TV antenna, or your kid. They don't necessarily act in a rational way, and aren't necessarily afraid to injure or kill others. Grids are conducive to crime by nutjobs becauase the allow for passers-through.

According to Oscar Newman's classic work "Creating Defensible Space", The Woodlands would be an extremely unsafe place to live: lots of tree cover, cul-de-sacs, hidden bike paths, etc. Basically a criminal could sneak up to your house, loot it, then escape, and never be seen by a single soul. But I've heard that crime rates in The Woodlands are very low.

[TheNiche]

According to Oscar Newman's classic work "Creating Defensible Space", The Woodlands would be an extremely unsafe place to live: lots of tree cover, cul-de-sacs, hidden bike paths, etc. Basically a criminal could sneak up to your house, loot it, then escape, and never be seen by a single soul. But I've heard that crime rates in The Woodlands are very low.

Looting via bike paths? Sure...

Frankly, the demographics don't support high rates of violent crime...only burglary by criminals that are smart enough to hit affluent neighborhoods with lots of cul-de-sacs. Smart blue collar criminals are hard to find.

[RedScare]

Looting via bike paths? Sure...

Frankly, the demographics don't support high rates of violent crime...only burglary by criminals that are smart enough to hit affluent neighborhoods with lots of cul-de-sacs. Smart blue collar criminals are hard to find.

SpringTx was talking about burglary, not violent crime. All burglars are "blue collar". They work with their hands. White collar criminals loot businesses, usually through financial transactions.

BTW, your earlier post only included cat-burglars and something called a criminal nutjob. You left out the 95% of burglaries committed by two groups in between. That is, young neighbors who know the layout of the neighborhood and when you are not home, and drug users, who are often times included in the previous group. Both of these groups tend to not commit their crimes in the open. They like working uninterrupted. They like back yard fencing, and other things that hide their activities. They commit their crimes like you would if you were doing it, i.e., with the least likelihood of getting seen.

[SpringTX]

The description sounds like a bunch of adjoining but non-interacting enclaves, not a real town.

I think that's a fair criticism to some extent. I think the planners were hoping for more of a sense of a small town, as you say. And there is some of that sense. But I think a lot of it comes from institutions such as the high schools, the WAC, the country club, the YMCA, and various churches. The planners centralized shopping with the Village shopping centers and now the town center, and I think that helps a little. The parks are too numerous (over 100 of them), too small, and too dispersed to really act as central gathering places for the larger community - with the possible exception of North Shore Park. The operating organizations try to hold special events like outdoor markets and outdoor concerts, and this helps a little. But the bottom line is that you're talking about nearly 100,000 people living in the middle of the Houston suburbs in the 21st century. It's got to be hard to create a sense of community in those conditions.

So I agree that The Woodlands seems to have a mother lode of wonderful little enclaves, each consisting of a few hundred neighbors, each like its own little island. That doesn't seem to be a very common type of community, even for modern-day suburbia. Even if it isn't very revolutionary any more today, I think it offers a fascinating alternative to life in a grid.

Does it connect us closer to mankind's most primitive pre-urban civilizations, back in the days when we swung from trees or lived in caves? Maybe not, but I think it's possible.

I wonder if anyone has ever designed a community based entirely on triangles...

[gnu]

I wonder if anyone has ever designed a community based entirely on triangles...

Washington, DC?

[TheNiche]

SpringTx was talking about burglary, not violent crime. All burglars are "blue collar". They work with their hands. White collar criminals loot businesses, usually through financial transactions.

BTW, your earlier post only included cat-burglars and something called a criminal nutjob. You left out the 95% of burglaries committed by two groups in between. That is, young neighbors who know the layout of the neighborhood and when you are not home, and drug users, who are often times included in the previous group. Both of these groups tend to not commit their crimes in the open. They like working uninterrupted. They like back yard fencing, and other things that hide their activities. They commit their crimes like you would if you were doing it, i.e., with the least likelihood of getting seen.

I'm aware of the difference between white collar and blue collar crime. One of my points was that the demographics in The Woodlands would most likely support the one and not so much the other.

To the extent that youngsters and druggies commit burglaries within their own neighborhoods, I am doubtful that it comprises 95% of burglaries. Moreover, I would suspect that there is a correlation between socioeconomic background and such crime, in which case The Woodlands is likely to be less hard hit by quite a bit of it...although other suburban areas of similar street layout may not be so lucky.

In any case, you completely missed what I was trying to say. When people move to the suburbs and use 'safety' as a justification, they are really talking about issues more like violent crime, for which there are two controllable factors that seem to determine whether you become a victim of it: 1) are you involved in something illicit or otherwise tempting fate, and 2) you were at the wrong place at the wrong time. Burglars aren't the ones for which the greatest concern is merited...even though The Woodlands is an excellent opportunity for a smart burglar. It is murderers, kidnappers, robbers, rapists, and general crazies that people think of when they're considering the 'safety' aspect...and these kinds of folks, by my definition 'criminal nutjobs', would intuitively be a little bit less likely to plan things out (unless you're tempting fate) and a little more likely to be opportunistic. Grids foster opportunistic crime because more people pass by and thus have the opportunity.

[TheNiche]

Washington, DC?

That and Paris were the first things that came to my mind. But look at your map...even though there are a lot of oddly-shaped triangles and other polygonal shapes carved ou by the main artierials, as well as quite a few triangular lots, the whole city is hardly based upon the triangular shape.

Correct me if I'm wrong, SpringTX, but did you mean to reference something more like a modification of the Sierpinski's Triangle?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierpinski_triangle

Sierpinski Triangle

I could very easily see a master-planned community taking this or a similar modified shape, with a large civic center in the middle triangle, complete with retail, office buildings, high-density multifamily, hospitals, governmental buildings, and other public facilities, and then with the medium-sized triangles being green space.

[gnu]

That and Paris were the first things that came to my mind. But look at your map...even though there are a lot of oddly-shaped triangles and other polygonal shapes carved ou by the main artierials, as well as quite a few triangular lots, the whole city is hardly based upon the triangular shape.

yeah..i wasn't really trying to find a serious answer.

[SpringTX]

Correct me if I'm wrong, SpringTX, but did you mean to reference something more like a modification of the Sierpinski's Triangle?

I could very easily see a master-planned community taking this or a similar modified shape, with a large civic center in the middle triangle, complete with retail, office buildings, high-density multifamily, hospitals, governmental buildings, and other public facilities, and then with the medium-sized triangles being green space.

That's awesome. I wasn't familiar with it.

I can't believe that, in 5,000 years of urban planning, no one has tried this yet. I guess designers are stuck in a gridlock of the grid design.

Those diagonals in DC make for some quite interesting navigation. They don't hold a candle to the clusterflunk of trying to drive even 1 mile in The Woodlands, but they definitely add some navigational spice.

[TheNiche]

That's awesome. I wasn't familiar with it.

I can't believe that, in 5,000 years of urban planning, no one has tried this yet. I guess designers are stuck in a gridlock of the grid design.

Those diagonals in DC make for some quite interesting navigation. They don't hold a candle to the clusterflunk of trying to drive even 1 mile in The Woodlands, but they definitely add some navigational spice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Microwaved-DVD.jpg

How about this one? It is an irradiated DVD that has produced ordered chaos.

As applied to a mid-sized subdivision, a developer could take this, place roads along the cracks, and landscape the middle ring as an expansive park.

Within the pattern of surface ruptures, you can see relatively linear spokes that would be primary and secondary entrances, as well as areas that appear to be traditionally-suburban, complete with dead-ends, cul-de-sacs, and mesmerizing chaos...and yet it also combines some elements of a grid.

If placed in a square of land about 640 acres in size, they'd outclass the competition and, being a circle inscribed in a square, leave four large commercial reserves at the corners.

If only it weren't for those pesky pipeline easements...

Edited May 25, 2006 by TheNiche

[SpringTX]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Microwaved-DVD.jpg

How about this one? It is an irradiated DVD that has produced ordered chaos.

As applied to a mid-sized subdivision, a developer could take this, place roads along the cracks, and landscape the middle ring as an expansive park.

Within the pattern of surface ruptures, you can see relatively linear spokes that would be primary and secondary entrances, as well as areas that appear to be traditionally-suburban, complete with dead-ends, cul-de-sacs, and mesmerizing chaos...and yet it also combines some elements of a grid.

If placed in a square of land about 640 acres in size, they'd outclass the competition and, being a circle inscribed in a square, leave four large commercial reserves at the corners.

If only it weren't for those pesky pipeline easements...

I actually see similarities between that and the existing Woodlands street layout: the cul-de-sacs, the linear spokes, the curved thoroughfares.