Greater Houston and the Upper Texas Coast

Region

Greater Houston and the Upper Texas Coast

Sustainability solutions must address specific local and regional needs. HARC's geographic focus is the greater Houston metropolitan area, and the Upper Texas Coast.

The Greater Houston Area topped 5 million people in mid-2003 and will grow in population to over 8 million by 2030. Providing housing, jobs, transportation, health and educational services for this population while protecting environmental quality will be a monumental challenge.

The Upper Texas Gulf Coast supports onshore and offshore industries, fishing, and tourism. Its rich coastal ecosystems are situated along North America's most important migratory flyway. Land subsidence, ecosystem fragmentation, sea level rise, invasion of exotic species, and decreasing fresh water flows into bays and estuaries are among the challenges that will increase in magnitude as coastal communities grow.

HARC focuses its attention on this diverse region and its environmental, social and economic challenges. HARC is able to translate lessons learned here to different scales and to different regions, both nationally and internationally, as well as introducing best practices from around the world to Texas.