Re-energized : a new model for suburban housing through infrastructural remediation

Abstract

Isolated houses within secluded subdivisions have been dominating the American landscape for decades. Commonly criticized as energy and resource wasteful, financially vulnerable, and socially unresponsive, few have provided constructive ideas for new methods of development. The goal of this thesis is to provide an alternative model of urbanization by redefining the relationship between infrastructure and urban form. By rethinking the dynamics of this relationship, the thesis will introduce a framework that has the dexterity to address more complex patterns of urban development, a characteristic which is severely lacking in the current model of the American "suburb." This type of urbanization has reached a tipping point at which local governments lack implementable strategies for meeting the demands of their growing populations that are both sustainable and economically viable. Focusing on Denton, Texas, the proposal aims to repurpose oil and gas extraction sites for new housing subdivisions. Taking advantage of the Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Zone (ETJ) in one of the fastest growing regions in the country, these new designs will be allowed to experiment in future growth areas that do not abide by conventional regulations of municipal governments and have the flexibility to support more complex forces. By converting resource extraction rights and infrastructures to cleaner energy sources of wind and solar, this new dynamic of development capitalizes on the diversity of a dispersed network while accommodating both economic and environmental expansion in a more sustainable system.