The Failure of the Mueller Development in Austin

About ten years ago, development began on a 'forward-looking', 'sustainable', 'transit-oriented' planned residential development that would be near the city, called Mueller in Austin. Today, it's wildly popular, with higher-than-average per-square-foot housing costs, high HOA fees, and homes selling quickly.

However, I believe it is a total failure.

Austin had a chance to start from a clean slate, where a truly people-centered community could be built. One with dedicated bike lanes, infrastructure for transit growth plans (extra lanes for bus rapid transit lines... tracks for a tram... anything, really). One with businesses sprinkled throughout the community in a way that would offer true walkability. More options like the garden court homes (which sold super quickly, by the way, but are unfortunately VERY limited in quantity) which have protected and shared backyard space for multiple homes in the same way a German baugruppe of housing might. Things that truly foster a community.

Instead, they built a suburb. Every house looks the same. Yes, there are continuous sidewalks (a surprisingly rare find in Austin, even in the 'burbs over here), but that's pretty much all that was "different". If that's revolutionary and forward-looking, boy do we have a long way to go. The homes have small or minimal garden space, in order to encourage communities to gather. But where? You have to drive to a park! Or at best, cycle on a very wide road that you share (hopefully share, anyway), with a car.

I mean, I haven't heard of a bus hitting a house in Mueller like I did in North Loop, so I guess at least it's technically 'safer' for people to live there. But how far have our definitions of 'community' and 'safety' fallen that we still ask people to drive to get around to what they need in our 'forward looking' developments.

Out of principle, I minimize my trips to Mueller. Going there frustrates me so much: there was a TON of potential to really showcase something different. To build a semi-urban development that could serve as an example to other cities. To set up a structure that would allow for a future population explosion, considering the needs of non-drivers (older and younger population) who could (gasp!) coexist in an environment. Instead, when I do have to go there, I see people in their cars, driving from point A to point B. It's just like anywhere else in the US, because apparently we are unable to think outside the little suburban boxes from whence we came.