What would you consider suburbs and exurbs in Houston (Sugar Land: for rent, neighborhoods)

[kcatheart]

Could some of ya'll give me examples of neighborhoods (surrounding Houston of course) that you would consider the suburbs and some you would consider exurbs. Not sure if I understand the difference. Thank you.

[texas7]

Not sure anyone other than a poli-sci professor or a city government person actually does. You'll hear it all with responses on this one. Everyone seems to have a different school of thought on which one is which. I hear people call areas that have long been suburbs to me, exurbs..........so beats me. I think the exurbs begin outside of the long established suburbs in the fairly new developments outside the Grand Pkwy area.

[kcatheart]

Originally Posted by texas7

Not sure anyone other than a poli-sci professor or a city government person actually does. You'll hear it all with responses on this one. Everyone seems to have a different school of thought on which one is which. I hear people call areas that have long been suburbs to me, exurbs..........so beats me. I think the exurbs begin outside of the long established suburbs in the fairly new developments outside the Grand Pkwy area.

So in your opinion, Sugarland/new territory are suburbs. Anything beyond that would be exurbs? The woodlands suburbs? Same goes for Kingwood, Friendswood? But beyond that exurbs? That's my guess but again, I'm not sure.

[texas7]

Sorry, I probably didn't sound clear but yes your guess my opinion spot on. Of course, that is just my opinion and you will probably find tons who disagree and tons who agree.

[westres1]

I think of exurbs being Santa Fe,Fresno,Cross Creek in Fulshear,Rosenberg...places that were once small farming towns near Houston now hosting commuters willing to drive 2 hours each way to work.
interesting article about exurbs
In the Exurbs, the American Dream Is Up for Rent - WSJ.com

[jfre81]

This has been an evolving thing since Houston's post-WWII boom. It used to be that the suburbs began around where Loop 610 was built, and the suburbs extended out to around where the Beltway is while places like Katy and Sugar Land were pretty much


Most of what's outside the loop and even some of what's inside is suburban in nature, even if it's within a large city's limits that includes places like Clear Lake and Kingwood. The city limit boundaries are just political divisions.

[houston-nomad]

Originally Posted by westres1

I think of exurbs being Santa Fe,Fresno,Cross Creek in Fulshear,Rosenberg...places that were once small farming towns near Houston now hosting commuters willing to drive 2 hours each way to work.
interesting article about exurbs
In the Exurbs, the American Dream Is Up for Rent - WSJ.com

That was an interesting article. I thought the quote at the beginning answers this debate pretty well, too, defining the exurbs as:
"the outermost fringes of suburbs, known as the exurbs"

By that definition, if you are in a Houston suburb, but there are suburbs beyond you, you are not in the exurbs. The exurbs are the outer-most fringe. I've never been that far in Houston, so I don't know what qualifies. Katy?

[sxrckr]

Exurb is a term thrown around on this board way too casually by one or two people, you know who you are. In their narrow world view of how the metro should be, they call most suburbs exurbs. This causes confusion, as you have demonstrated.

So this is a very general rule, but usually I think of exurb as over 30 miles from city center in addition to be surrounded by a whole lot of nothingness. So... Manvel, Fulshear, Needville, Waller, Magnolia, Splendora, Dickinson. Once very small towns that now have suburban-type development as a result of Houston's outgrowth.

Suburbs would include "inner" suburbs as well as outer. Most people refer to the inner suburbs as "in town" now (Bellaire, Heights, Villages etc) and don't even think of them as suburbs. Outer suburbs are what people usually think of when "suburb" is mentioned (Cypress, Clear Lake, Sugar Land, Pearland, most of Katy, Humble.

Now, I'm just giving Houston area examples because this is the Houston forum.

[chris_ut]

No firm definition. You could say Spring is a suburb and The Woodlands is an Exurb or push it farther and say The Woodlands is a suburb and Conroe is an Exurb.

[sxrckr]

Originally Posted by chris_ut

No firm definition. You could say Spring is a suburb and The Woodlands is an Exurb or push it farther and say The Woodlands is a suburb and Conroe is an Exurb.

Most of Spring (like all the subdivisions off Louetta Rd) is a suburb. Old town Spring and north of it... maybe not.

The Woodlands is a unique situation. I'm not sure what I'd categorize it. It looks like a suburb, set up like a suburb, but is much further out than most suburbs.