Question about Houston

[ahzzie]

Why would anyone want Houston to be like NYC? Thankfully it isn't and never will be.

[Black Jack22]

What do you mean by urban?

I live in Houston and I do not know the term "urban" or what it even means.

[Energy_Fin_Guy]

Miami and San Francisco are both urban and they are not in the North East.

[foreverrayni88]

My Sister Just Moved to Houston Texas Cypress I believed its called. She likes it she said that everyone is friendly. But the weather is terribly humid...She just came from CA

[Energy_Fin_Guy]

Cypress is a 'burb. That's not Houston.

[Redlionjr]

I would consider a good amounts of Inner Loop to be urban..you have more residents moving into Downtown(and I don't know why people bash downtown,downtown street activity at night has been more and more active with feet traffic extended further outside of main st.) I know because i'm hitting up clubs or grabbing something to eat every other weekend..trust me I don't think by any means Inner loop Houston is suburban..it's more "urban" then Charlotte..trust me when i'm in Humble or Spring or pick any community off of 1960 those are the def. of a true suburb...true even in the inner loop you won't find a continuation of a urban utopia like Manhattan/San Fran/Miami/Chicago/Boston/Philly..but me personally I don't want Houston or any other city to mimmick those cities..because those cities have there own identity..I can't consider parts like Midtown/Montrose area/Museum district/3rd ward(which is very underrated and I don't think many ppl take the time to visit this historical gem of Houston because of "stories" they've heard)/neighborhoods surrounding Rice Village suburban those to me are urban..it's basically similar with Atlanta and I wouldn't compare Atlanta "urban" to Charlotte "urban".. I don't mind the mixture..sure Houston has alot it can work and it's doing so..I think Atlanta is working on that a little faster then Houston in terms of "urbaning" up the inner city but it's def. more then a pocket full or urban spots in the inner loop

[rb4browns]

Originally Posted by am2

Dude, why dont you save your rants!!! I wouldn't expect Houston or any city outside of the NE to have "NYC" urbanism. Maybe Atlanta urbanism?

[Spade]

Miami is not urban. It's dense but urban it is not. Not even close to San Francisco type of urbanity.

[bamba_boy]

It's all relative - urban vs suburban. I grew up in an outer suburb of giant Youngstown Ohio. Beyond my little 3000 people suburb were a bunch of cornfields and ponds for watering cattle. In fact farm kids were zoned to my high school. When I moved to Houston a couple of decades ago it was a huge urban scary city. It's grown a lot since to become even more urban - at least around the Galleria and the western half of the area inside the loop. However, in that period I've also had business trips and long project assignments in places like San Francisco, New York, Hong Kong, London, Lagos, and Singapore and compared to them all but the very core of downtown and midtown are decidedly suburban. But, hey, there is nothing wrong with that. In fact I think Houston is really in sort of a "golden period" of nearly perfect density inside the loop. Not very dense in the conventional big city sense but dense enough to make it interesting.

You can live in a single family house with a yard, pool, and long driveway long enough for your kid to learn how to ride a 2-wheeler and play with friends down the street without supervision yet 5 or 6 miles from the downtown of the 4th largest city in America with world-class ballet, symphony, concert-halls, Hard-Rock Cafe, Billy Blues, Toyota Center with nationally known musicians and NBA basketball less than 5 miles away in River Oaks, Old Braeswood, Rice Village, Memorial Park area, West U, Bellaire, etc. 5 miles in the other direction to a massive NFL/convention/world's largest rodeo complex. Plus a tremendous jobs base in the energy and medical industries (world's largest hospital conurbation).

You just can't do that in NY, Chicago, LA (well maybe but at twice the cost and distance), SF, etc. You can in Atlanta , Phoenix, Miami, Vegas, but not with the diverse jobs base and low unemployment. Houston is really unusual in that some of the best single family house neighborhoods are very near it's downtown, unlike some that are very "hollowed out" with decaying private housing and public projects.

[jimmyev]

Originally Posted by rb4browns

Sorry everyone if you are disappointed that you want NYC urbanism at Sunbelt city prices. It doesn't really exist. Anyways, we can stop arguing about it now and move on. Thanks!

Several cities exist on the Great Lakes and in the Ohio Valley with NYC urbanism at less-than Sunbelt prices. They just don't have the rapid-growth economy of the Sunbelt.