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August 18, 2023

Grow or Die

Growth Machine

By: Audrey McGlinchy

(Episode 7) Now that the machine has done its job, what now? We explore some of the existential questions that Austin’s housing market has wrought.

August 10, 2023

Pigs in a Parlor

Growth Machine

By: Audrey McGlinchy

(BONUS — Deleted scene!) We go back 100 years to tell the origin story of modern zoning.

August 4, 2023

There Go The Neighborhoods

Growth Machine

By: Audrey McGlinchy

(Episode 6) Austin last re-wrote its land development code in 1984. Sounds boring, right? Well, that rewrite made it harder to build denser forms of housing. We explore the history of zoning in Austin and the opposition to changing the rules today, which could make the biggest difference in fixing Austin’s affordability crisis.

July 27, 2023

Welcome to Silicon Gulch

Growth Machine

By: Audrey McGlinchy

(Episode 5) Not that long ago, Austin’s economy was sleepy, to put it mildly. People came here for UT, to work for the state or for the military.

A little more than 50 years ago, a bedsheet changed everything — including the housing market.

July 20, 2023

Fertility Drugs for Cars

Growth Machine

By: Audrey McGlinchy

(BONUS) We talked in episode 2 about cars and roads — and how they affect where we live. We didn’t talk about one other way that cars affect housing: making places to put all the cars.

July 13, 2023

Smart Growth or Dumb Growth?

Growth Machine

By: Audrey McGlinchy

(Episode 4) When a new mayor came to power, he found what he thought would be a compromise — a way to bring new businesses and build housing for all the people coming to Austin without threatening the city’s ecological gems. It turned out to be more complicated than that.

July 6, 2023

Listen to This Podcast or We’ll Poison Barton Springs

Growth Machine

By: Audrey McGlinchy

(Episode 3) In the 1990s, Austin voters passed landmark protections for parts of southwest Austin that sit on top of the aquifer that feeds Barton Springs. That set off a chain of events that had a profound effect on how the city would grow in the coming decades.

June 29, 2023

Roads to Everywhere

Growth Machine

By: Audrey McGlinchy

(Episode 2) I-35 is more than a road. It’s been sculpting Austin’s housing scene for more than 60 years, encouraging endless sprawl and making gridlock a lifestyle. Take a drive with us through the highway’s history.