Uploaded on 2014-11-06 by sbratton

I am just going to deal human stocks flows - rather than energy, water and agricultural produce (the big three). Waco has multiple short term human flows, albeit of different densities and periodicity. With two colleges and a major university, students who are not full time permanent residents are a major flow. Tourists and long distance truck drivers are also flows, although tourism is concentrated on week ends and the truckers usually stop only for meals, fuel and a few hours of rest. All these human flows provide capital and require services and infrastructure. Until recently, planning for these flows was largely separate. A band of businesses, such as fast food restaurants along the interstate highway serves all three, and remains a rather ugly and banal area right in the city core. Planning largely ignored the rivers, and pedestrian access was primarily organized around campus malls and center city parks. More participatory planning projects, especially those linking the university with the chamber of commerce have resulted in more innovative approaches to "managing flows" and more emphasis on pedestrian access, rather than just considering transportation corridors for vehicles. This includes connecting the new university stadium to the campus via a foot bridge, encouraging sports fans to park downtown and walk or take buses to stadium, and improving the paths along the Brazos River. The long term trend has been towards increases in all three human flows. The advantages are job generation, and stimulation of urban renewal. The problems are relatively uncoordinated development of services, and strains on resources for permanent residents. Should any of these flows slow, the impact on the local economy would be major. The city has a long way to go though, in terms of providing better links across the interstate, improving aesthetics, reducing unsustainable support systems for these flows, and protecting the critical water resources along the river. [1]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14152388652130188.jpg