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AURA is an all-volunteer grassroots urbanist organization focused on building an Austin for everyone by improving land use and transportation through policy analysis, public involvement, and political engagement.

We are dedicated to a vision of an Austin where everybody is welcome and everybody’s interests matter: young and old, rich and poor, renter and homeowner, healthy and sick, citizen and immigrant, lifelong resident and new arrival. The greatest asset our city has is its people, and our city is at its best when it facilitates connections between all.

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Land Use, Housing, and Affordability

Austin is a popular place. Thousands of people move here every month from across Texas, the country, and the world. Some move here for Austin’s famous culture, some move here for our vibrant economy, and some for the city’s beauty. Still others stay here, or return home, due to their family roots and rich history. As long as there are people who want to make Austin their home, for whatever reason, we strive to provide enough homes for all of them. To do this, we need abundant housing of all types, from smaller apartment buildings and garage apartments in established neighborhoods to downtown skyscrapers to single-family housing.

Transportation and Walkability

Austin’s not full, but the roads that lead to it are.  To solve that we need a transportation system where people can get from A to B without a car. That means adding more buses, bike lanes, side-walks, and high-capacity transit like urban rail and rapid buses.

Blog

Tell City Council You Support Equitable Transit-Oriented Development

On March 9, City Council will consider approving a plan to implement equitable transit-oriented development (ETOD) around current and planned transit stops in Austin. ETOD aims to give Austinites of all income levels more access to housing, jobs, transit, and other amenities, and a quality ETOD implementation is crucial to the success of public transit …

Austin Local Elections Endorsements 2022

AURA membership voted on our 2022 endorsements for Austin mayoral candidates and City Council candidates, as well as ballot propositions for Austin, Austin ISD, and Austin Community College. These endorsements represent the choices AURA members thought were most aligned with AURA’s vision for an Austin for Everyone, with abundant, affordable housing and transportation designed for …

Austin City Council Elections 2020

AURA hosted several Candidate Forums August-September 2020 with many of the candidates running for election for Austin’s City Council in November 2020. We recorded each candidate forum and are posting those videos here, along with questionnaire responses that we received from candidates. For our final forum, we also hosted a panel, in collaboration with Farm&City …