Atlanta's size compared to Houston (2015, top hotels, hotels)

[JoeP]

People don't understand what a CSA is and just see city name next to it and because it's a bigger number say that whatever city has x population based on the CSA numbers. There are a few CSAs that are truly a metro, like the Bay area, but for most cities it's not accurate. Standard MSA's get criticized, but in reality are are more accurate. urabanized areas are not accurate because their standards are too limiting. Metros balance urban, suburban and exurban. Perfect? No, but decent.

Houston is bigger, but after a couple million people, what does it really matter?

[Ant131531]

Originally Posted by JoeP

People don't understand what a CSA is and just see city name next to it and because it's a bigger number say that whatever city has x population based on the CSA numbers. There are a few CSAs that are truly a metro, like the Bay area, but for most cities it's not accurate. Standard MSA's get criticized, but in reality are are more accurate. urabanized areas are not accurate because their standards are too limiting. Metros balance urban, suburban and exurban. Perfect? No, but decent.

Houston is bigger, but after a couple million people, what does it really matter?

It does if you're NYC, LA, or Chicago.

[atler8]

Bham..Who's the "he" that you were refering to? The 6.1 million figure for Atlanta was mentioned early on here in the 6th post & no one to that point, including the op, had stipulated any strict reference to only the MSA or CSA or whatever in the comparison of size metro populations here.And no, the 6.1 million figure is not a "...mystery..." type of addition to the stats. But rather, it's based on figures derived from census data as interpreted by one of the common measures of metro classification; i.e. the CSA.

[J2rescue]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

Overall, Houston is slightly bigger than Atlanta, particularly when it comes with the Houston metro region having about 6.3 million people and the Atlanta metro region having about 6.1 million people.

Though a few items that may play into a possible perception that Houston is much bigger than Atlanta is the difference in the character of both cities and their surrounding urban areas.

Houston is virtually completely flat with some heavily-wooded areas but substantially fewer heavily-wooded areas than Atlanta which has lots of areas rolling to hilly to even mountainous topography (particularly on the Northside of the metro area) under a very-thick tree canopy that is substantially larger and thicker than Houston, which is a pretty green city in its own right.

Because of the metro area's virtually pancake-flat topography, Houston has a much more extensive network of 4-6 lane divided surface arterial roads, than Atlanta which is heavily-dependent upon a series of often winding two-lane roads fairly very-close to the center of the city.

Because of its heavily-wooded rolling-to-hilly topography and resulting series of winding 2-lane roads fairly very-close to the center of the city, Atlanta also has many areas fairly close to the center of the city that have a very-suburban to even exurban or semi-rural appearance to them while Houston does not necessarily have many areas with an outer-suburban to semi-rural appearance that are located very-close to the center of the city like Atlanta does.

It is could be because of Atlanta's highly suburban-like and even semi-rural appearance in some areas very-close to the center of the city that some people may think that Houston is substantially-larger than Atlanta.

I think there is a lot of truth here. In addition to the points you make, Houston has substantially more highrises than metro Atlanta does. More highrises combined with the fact that those highrises scattered all over the city are more visible on a flat terrain than nearly anywhere in Atlanta, I think further adds to the perception of a much larger city.

[bryantm3]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

Someone left me this as rep 'Agree, which you would take "sadly" off after Atlanta, It does appear you are a rallier for ATL..Thanks'

Uh, no, I'm just being honest. Houston is no better to me as a city then Atlanta, if not worst. They're both sprawling messes with no sort of semblance of planning and walkability. It's just Atlanta is the lesser of two evils. I'm still looking forward to getting out of Atlanta once I obtain my degree.

wish you'd stay here and help us grow, ant. you'd make a good advocate for urban development.

[Spade]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

Houston's core is less dense than Atlanta's. SF is only 49 square miles and 800k people, yet it feels much larger than Houston and Atlanta. It's significantly more built up and much more bustling.

The problem with Houston is it's downtown is dead. At least Atlanta has a very active and bustling downtown during the day. It gives off the impression that it's a large city which it is...Houston doesn't. It's downtown is almost nothing but office towers which is a huge problem. Then Atlanta's also has a up coming urban midtown. Houston has nothing like this. Their midtown is a joke compared to ours. When you're in Midtown and looking south on Peachtree, you can see an urban streetwall for miles and see the downtown skyscrapers 2 miles away which gives off the impression of a large city. Houston does not have this.

Atlanta also has more interconnected urban neighborhoods. As someone mention, you have O4W, Inman Park(which is urbanizing in certain areas), Ponce Highland, Midtown, West Midtown, Sweet Auburn Atlantic Station, Castlebury Hill neighborhoods that surround downtown.

This is why Atlanta might give off the impression that it is larger in it's core. This is why also NOLA feels larger than Atlanta because it's core is significantly more dense despite being a significantly more smaller metro.

Houston's midtown is new. Brand new. They just recently started building up their midtown just less than 10 years ago. In fact, most Houstonians don't even know where midtown is at or it's even called Midtown. That's why the comparison between Atlanta's Midtown and Houston's Midtown is apples to oranges. The problem with Downtown Houston are the tunnels, no residential units, and poor transit system. The latter two are being addressed. But the tunnels basically killed the vibrancy that downtown use to have and I don't know if they ever plan on getting rid of them. They did the same in Dallas but Dallas is developing a way to get rid of them. Downtown Houston has for the first time in probably in 30 years has taken a bit of the momentum away from Uptown-Galleria as most of the newer rumored developments are there. There's also a plan to get rid of the Interstate ring around downtown which also hurts downtown. They didn't just initially build downtown to be an office park. It's the suburbanization that was going on at the time around the country that killed it.

[Ant131531]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

wish you'd stay here and help us grow, ant. you'd make a good advocate for urban development.

Atlanta will do fine without me. It's already making strides in the urban development field. The problem is for me is it's not quick enough and I want to live in a more walkable city in the present, not in the future. I'd be waiting decades before Atlanta has a more widespread urban fabric.

[Ant131531]

Originally Posted by Spade

Houston's midtown is new. Brand new. They just recently started building up their midtown just less than 10 years ago. In fact, most Houstonians don't even know where midtown is at or it's even called Midtown. That's why the comparison between Atlanta's Midtown and Houston's Midtown is apples to oranges. The problem with Downtown Houston are the tunnels, no residential units, and poor transit system. The latter two are being addressed. But the tunnels basically killed the vibrancy that downtown use to have and I don't know if they ever plan on getting rid of them. They did the same in Dallas but Dallas is developing a way to get rid of them. Downtown Houston has for the first time in probably in 30 years has taken a bit of the momentum away from Uptown-Galleria as most of the newer rumored developments are there. There's also a plan to get rid of the Interstate ring around downtown which also hurts downtown. They didn't just initially build downtown to be an office park. It's the suburbanization that was going on at the time around the country that killed it.

The comparison between Houston's midtown and Atlanta's midtown was probably far fetched and you're right. Houston still does not have a dense, highrise urban neighborhood like Midtown though which was the point I was trying to make.

Also, a big problem with downtown Houston is that many of it's office towers are set back like 30-40 feet away from the street and have zero mixed used. This creates dead zones. It's creates a dense skyline, but not necessarily a dense pedestrian population. There's also almost zero reason to go downtown. Much of Houston's tourist attractions are not located downtown and I'm not sure, but I don't think Houston has stadiums downtown either. It also does not have a big university located in downtown.

Atlanta has tourist attractions which obviously gets tourists to stay in downtown and walk around the area. Atlanta has a huge 30k+ student university so students are constantly flowing between classes and restaurants. Atlanta obviously has office workers. Atlanta has heavy rail which is huge is getting people from suburbs to downtown and vice versa. Atlanta also has a lot of lower income residents shop near the Underground area lol. Also, the government institutions are located downtown.

Atlanta just has a lot more going on in it's downtown then Houston does.

[AnsleyPark]

Oh for God's sake folks. Why do we argue over such silly stuff?

[MathmanMathman]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

The comparison between Houston's midtown and Atlanta's midtown was probably far fetched and you're right. Houston still does not have a dense, highrise urban neighborhood like Midtown though which was the point I was trying to make.

Texas Medical Center however is like a city complete with highrises. Huge.

Texas Medical Center - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Also, a big problem with downtown Houston is that many of it's office towers are set back like 30-40 feet away from the street and have zero mixed used. This creates dead zones. It's creates a dense skyline, but not necessarily a dense pedestrian population. There's also almost zero reason to go downtown. Much of Houston's tourist attractions are not located downtown and I'm not sure, but I don't think Houston has stadiums downtown either. It also does not have a big university located in downtown.

Minute Maid park is in downtown as is the Toyota Center. There's also a BBVA Compass soccer stadium.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=houst...is,+Texas&z=16

And the University of Houston has a campus in downtown.

University of Houston, about 14,000 students.