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Growth Machine

by KUT & KUTX Studios, Audrey McGlinchy

Housing prices in Austin have exploded in the past decade, leading to a city that’s not just unaffordable — but also highly segregated. None of this happened by accident. It’s the result of decades of decisions about what — if anything — gets built in Austin and where. From a master plan to move Black and brown residents to one part of town, to fights over how to protect the environment, to an outdated land development code — all of these are pieces in a machine that’s engineered Austin’s housing market.

Publisher-supplied feed metadata · PodParley refreshed Mar 4, 2024 · Source feed

Episodes

  1. Introducing Season 3 of The Disconnect: Power, Politics and the Texas Blackout

    The Disconnect: Power, Politics and the Texas Blackout is back for a third season, and Growth Machine host Audrey McGlinchy will be co-hosting some of the episodes with Mose Buschele. In this season of The Disconnect: Power, Politics and the Texas Blackout, the podcast explores the history of oil...

  2. Introducing: 24 Hours in Austin

    The new podcast 24 Hours in Austin tries to answer the question: What does a day in the life of Austin, Texas sound like? A team of audio producers from KUT spent the last several months documenting a handful of days in the life of Austin. They spent 24 hours straight in one location, talking to...

  3. Grow or Die

    (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. The full transcript of this episode of Growth Machine is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or...

  4. Pigs in a Parlor

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

  5. There Go The Neighborhoods

    (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…

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  6. Welcome to Silicon Gulch

    (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. The full transcript of this episode of Growth Machine is...

  7. Fertility Drugs for Cars

    (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.

  8. Smart Growth or Dumb Growth?

    (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. The full transcript of...

  9. Listen to This Podcast or We’ll Poison Barton Springs

    (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. The full transcript of this…

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  10. Roads to Everywhere

    (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. The full transcript of this episode of Growth Machine is available on the KUT &...

  11. We Planned This

    (Episode 1) Austin has grown a lot in recent years — and the East Side has been impacted the most. To understand the city’s pattern of displacement, we have to go back to 1928. The full transcript of this episode of Growth Machine is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is […]

  12. COMING JUNE 22 | Growth Machine: How Austin Engineered Its Housing Market

    Housing prices in Austin have exploded in the past decade, leading to a city that’s not just unaffordable, but also highly segregated. It’s the result of decades of decisions about what — if anything — gets built in Austin and where. Hosted by Audrey McGlinchy.

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ABOUT THIS SHOW

Housing prices in Austin have exploded in the past decade, leading to a city that’s not just unaffordable — but also highly segregated. None of this happened by accident. It’s the result of decades of decisions about what — if anything — gets built in Austin and where. From a master plan to move Black and brown residents to one part of town, to fights over how to protect the environment, to an outdated land development code — all of these are pieces in a machine that’s engineered Austin’s housing market.

HOSTED BY

KUT & KUTX Studios, Audrey McGlinchy

CATEGORIES

Frequently Asked Questions

How many episodes does Growth Machine have?

Growth Machine currently has 12 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.

What is Growth Machine about?

Housing prices in Austin have exploded in the past decade, leading to a city that’s not just unaffordable — but also highly segregated. None of this happened by accident. It’s the result of decades of decisions about what — if anything — gets built in Austin and where. From a master plan to move...

How often does Growth Machine release new episodes?

Growth Machine has 12 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.

Where can I listen to Growth Machine?

You can listen to Growth Machine on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.

Who hosts Growth Machine?

Growth Machine is created and hosted by KUT & KUTX Studios, Audrey McGlinchy.
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