America’s Top Suburbs: The 30-Year Evolution from Bedroom Community to Megalopolis

October 27, 2022 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM (GMT-06:00) Central Time Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, West Fork, Level 3 Concurrent Session
Open to All Attendees
Economic Development Public and Private Partnerships Suburbs
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In 1990, Frisco, Texas, was home to 6,100 residents and the top tourist attraction was dove hunting. Today, the city of 236,000 residents is the headquarters for the Dallas Cowboys and will soon boast a world-class community anchored by the PGA of America headquarters. Frisco attributes its rapid growth to enforcing a comprehensive plan adopted 30 years ago. They followed real estate’s version of “function follows form.” Three miles north, Celina, a town of 6,100 in 2010, anticipates a similar growth trajectory. The city just approved an ambitious 30-year master growth plan for what they believe will be a 300,000-person town by 2050. However, their plan encourages high-quality development leveraging financing districts without rigid land use guidelines—real estate’s version of “form follows function.” Is one approach right and the other wrong? Or does it even matter how a city grows, as long as it is prosperous with a high quality of life? This program will explore how and why Frisco became the fastest-growing city in the United States while being notoriously difficult for developers and how Celina plans to grow as large and quickly by employing a very different, developer-friendly playbook.

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