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[quote=PostOak5115;34864278]As it has always been said, what Houston and a few other southern cities lack in aesthetic character and history, they make up for with the local personalities, hospitality, and entreprenurial spirit.
Boston most defintely is a grand city with many key industries including finance, education, and medicine along with one of the best harbors in the world. I'm most positive London, Paris, Amsterdam, and other questioned Boston's and New York's future global relevance in the 1800s.[/quote]
I'm from and voted for Boston. But you raise a very good point.
As it has always been said, what Houston and a few other southern cities lack in aesthetic character and history, they make up for with the local personalities, hospitality, and entreprenurial spirit.
Boston most defintely is a grand city with many key industries including finance, education, and medicine along with one of the best harbors in the world. I'm most positive London, Paris, Amsterdam, and other questioned Boston's and New York's future global relevance in the 1800s.
I don't know. They probably wouldn't have guessed that New York would be the most important (at least one of the most important) city in the world in 2014, but by the time 1900 rolled around New York City had over 3.4 Million people- more than double what it was in 1890- so by the end of the 1800s, most of the world saw that New York was a rapidly rising star. No North American city is growing at those rates today. I don't see Houston becoming the world's leader in 200 years (I'll wager my place in heaven- fingers crossed- on it), even if its current growth rate continues (it won't... no growth rate remains constant).
As for Boston, it's still not nearly as relevant as London and Paris, and you could make arguments it's not as relevant as Amsterdam in many aspects. And by the end of the 19th century, Boston had 560,000 people. Not too far off from today's population (although there are far, far more living in the Boston area).
The industrial revolution took hold in North America in the 1800s and was responsible for the population booms in those cities. Boston and New York were trending upwards by the end of the 19th century and given that it was the "new world" I think people in Europe had a pretty good idea that Boston and New York were gaining relevance. Conditions are very different today in Houston than they were in Boston and New York back then. I don't think the comparison between BOS/NYC then and Houston today is necessarily accurate.
Boston is becoming less relevant as more cities around the U.S. (like Houston) grow in prominence. That said, I think they both serve different industries/needs for the U.S. and will be very relevant in their respective areas.
Boston is becoming less relevant as more cities around the U.S. (like Houston) grow in prominence. That said, I think they both serve different industries/needs for the U.S. and will be very relevant in their respective areas.
In your post saying Boston's becoming less-relevant, you actually showed why it isn't. Boston is one of the few cities in the country which consistently attracts the ultra elite of a very powerful knowledge-based industry: life sciences. The other two I can really think of are the SF Bay with high technology and New York City with financial services.
The fact of the matter is, while Houston is certainly becoming more powerful, a great deal of it is from the energy & oil industries--Houstoners relax, I understand the economy is diverse, but this is still your bread & butter. Boston's economy is quite diverse too, but with a stronger focus on high-skill industries like life sciences/biotechnology, high tech, and financial services, among others. Houston doesn't really thrive in any of these industries (though MD Anderson is a fantastic hospital), so even if Houston is doing better overall it doesn't really diminsh Boston's importance and relevance. The can coexist without hurting one another because they don't really compete on anything unless you consider "big GDP" an actual competition.
There are certain cities which go head-to-head, like Dallas and Houston. While they're both diversifying their economies, energy & oil are still huge drivers. The same could be argued about many rust belt states and Souteast states, which battle for manufacturing jobs. However some cities & regions can thrive simultaneously without hurting one another, and perhaps even help one another. For example, while Boston & SF do go head to head many times in high tech & biotech, they also work together very well. Most large companies from the Bay area have a significant presence in the Boston area and vice versa.
There is no doubt that energy/oil/gas is still king in Houston, but its much more multi-faceted and diverse than it was in the over-the-top oil baron, socialite, and roughneck days of the 70s and 80s, as Houston has become the global brain center for the industry. The industry now includes R&D, production, exploration, finance, tech, energy trading, shipping, refining, and legal. Dallas Fort Worth may have strong roots in the energy and oil and gas industry along with many royalty owners living in the CSA, but it isn't on the same level as Houston in the energy arena.
Dallas-Forth Worth started to really diversify in the late 80s with telecom communications, high tech, aerospace, logistics, and existing finance industries leading the way. Houston also pushed to diversify with healthcare, and other industries, but with its stronger energy ties, the energy industry as a whole consolidated, sheltered, and reorganized in Houston after the oil bust.
True. I wasn't saying Houston doesn't have a diverse economy, just that Boston & Houston don't really compete much in industries. They specialize in different areas.
Yes, Houston has a presence in life sciences with things like the Texas Medical Center, but that's not really even a blip on the radar compared to Boston. In terms of things like financial services, the gap is even larger. You could argue those are Boston's two biggest industries. Similarly, Boston has little to no presence in energy & oil, Houston's main industry.
What I want to know is why does Houston have so little educated people living there? It has a great economy, but in regards to the college educated, it's very lacking.
What I want to know is why does Houston have so little educated people living there? It has a great economy, but in regards to the college educated, it's very lacking.
Why would you go to college when you can get a wielding certificate and make 100K a year?
What I want to know is why does Houston have so little educated people living there? It has a great economy, but in regards to the college educated, it's very lacking.
Houston's had a lot of educated transplants, but I'm interested to see how things go in the future. It doesn't really have an abundance of high-level universities, so it needs to attract elite talent from the outside. This is an advantage for Boston.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rynetwo
Why would you go to college when you can get a wielding certificate and make 100K a year?
Houston's had a lot of educated transplants, but I'm interested to see how things go in the future. It doesn't really have an abundance of high-level universities, so it needs to attract elite talent from the outside. This is an advantage for Boston.
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