Houston vs. Dallas --- SMACKDOWN! (Austin, The Woodlands: MBA, year round, coverage)

[orbius]

Houston feels like some giant sprawling South American city without the pleasing architecture. Dallas feels more like a midwestern city, one with less planning, more sprawl, and more diversity.

[solytaire]

Originally Posted by iTravelots

You have to be kidding me. Dallas or Houston? If you are looking for a true TEXAS feel then it DEFINITELY is Houston. I travel all over North America monthly and live in Dallas. I'm a yankee transplant from Upstate New York and by far Dallas is a more liveable & desirable city.

Dallas is also more International. I completely disagree with anyone that says Houston is more cosmopolitan....are you kidding me? They obviously don't get out much. The DFW area has its own Little Saigon in Arlington (Vietnamese), Yankees galore (mostly North Dallas), Hispanic, Black, Persians, Indians (India) have practically taken over Las Colinas (Irving). Dallas has a huge International Terminal (D) at DFW that can't compare to Houston's Bush Airport.

Dallas has Uptown, Midtown, & Downtown with DART rail connecting all of them. Soon DART will connect DFW. Houston is a smog filled car crazy armpit. I have never seen a city with more city parking garages than Houston. Drivers in Houston also drive like idiots.

Dallas has some of the most trendiest restaurants, clubs, & neighborhoods. Houston has NO ZONING and has junk yards next to beautiful homes. Houston is built on a bayou.....it floods like New Orleans and the weather is like New Orleans. Dallas has a change of seasons.

Dallas also has more urban density than Houston. Dallas is growing vertically finally....not sprawling out like Houston. The tolls in Houston are highway robbery unless you wanna deal with traffic that will make you pull your hair out.

Dallas and Austin are Texas's best cities. The rest of the State should sucede from the Union...it sucks.

This person is out of his/her mind. Hardly any of these things are agreed with by most of the other visitors I've met, to either city.

[Metro Matt]

Houston feels more Southern with its piney woods, Spanish Moss draped Live Oaks, & numerous bayou's. Its where Cajun Culture unofficially begins. That being said, Houston has more in common with New Orleans & Atlanta than Dallas.

Dallas feels more Midwestern & like a concrete urban island surrounded by vast prairies & plains. Think Baja Oklahoma.

Fort Worth is the only city that truly feels "Texan" to me even though it shares Dallas' same geography. They don't call it Cowtown for no reason. Fort Worth is where the wild, wild, West officially begins.

[AK123]

Originally Posted by iTravelots

You have to be kidding me. Dallas or Houston? If you are looking for a true TEXAS feel then it DEFINITELY is Houston. I travel all over North America monthly and live in Dallas. I'm a yankee transplant from Upstate New York and by far Dallas is a more liveable & desirable city.

Didn't take you that long to developer that Dallitude did it? Or maybe you already had it and just didn't know it yet!

Originally Posted by iTravelots

Dallas is also more International.

I guess you didn't realize Houston ranks 3rd or 4th in the nation in number of foreign consulates. Or has two Chinatowns, complete with street signs in Chinese.

Originally Posted by iTravelots

Dallas has Uptown, Midtown, & Downtown

So does Houston.

Originally Posted by iTravelots

Houston is a smog filled car crazy armpit.

I guess you don't realize Dallas ranks only 2 or 3 places behind Houston on the smog city list.
And are you suggesting Dallas isn't a car-centric city?

Originally Posted by iTravelots

Dallas has some of the most trendiest restaurants, clubs, & neighborhoods. Houston has NO ZONING and has junk yards next to beautiful homes.

Last I checked, Houston was on the Forbes top 10 best restaurant cities list. Dallas was not. Although Dallas has some notable restaurants, Houston is usually ranked as having a better overall restaurant scene.

Junk yard next to beautiful homes? Mostly hypothetical. Show me some photos where you've actually seen this.

Originally Posted by iTravelots

Dallas also has more urban density than Houston. Dallas is growing vertically finally....not sprawling out like Houston.

That's up for debate. And what do you think Frisco, McKinney etc are? How is DFW any less sprawling?

Originally Posted by iTravelots

Dallas and Austin are Texas's best cities. The rest of the State should sucede from the Union...it sucks.

Um, okay. You said you're from New York?

[LAnative10]

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

Houston feels more Southern with its piney woods, Spanish Moss draped Live Oaks, & numerous bayou's. Its where Cajun Culture unofficially begins. That being said, Houston has more in common with New Orleans & Atlanta than Dallas.

Dallas feels more Midwestern & like a concrete urban island surrounded by vast prairies & plains. Think Baja Oklahoma.

Fort Worth is the only city that truly feels "Texan" to me even though it shares Dallas' same geography. They don't call it Cowtown for no reason. Fort Worth is where the wild, wild, West officially begins.

I agree fully with this assesment. The area around Dallas feels very midwestern to me. That being said Dallas doesnt really seem that midwestern to me. To be honest, in my opinion, the real gem of the three cities is Ft. Worth to me. A small town feel in a big city.

Question for you Matt, do you really think that Houston feels more like Atlanta than Dallas? Dallas and Atlanta felt similar to me (Atlanta is more southern and African American obviously and Dallas is more Mid/southwestern and Latino). But the cities had a similar feel to me in the way they are set up.

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by LAnative10

Question for you Matt, do you really think that Houston feels more like Atlanta than Dallas? Dallas and Atlanta felt similar to me (Atlanta is more southern and African American obviously and Dallas is more Mid/southwestern and Latino). But the cities had a similar feel to me in the way they are set up.

Houston & Atlanta have more in common the way their massive hub & spoke network of freeways are set up. Both having multiple skylines all over the city, though Houston is clearly in a league of its own there. Piney woods within the urban & surrounding area. Metro's are so close in size. Houston & Atlanta are at the very center of their metro's & therefore lack an anchor city like Fort Worth is to Dallas.

Differences would be Atlanta has much prettier freeways with businesses neatly tucked behind trees vs. Houston's chaotic jumble of mess littered along the feeder roads. Houston is flat, Atlanta has hills & nearby mountains. Atlanta is no where near as diverse. Atlanta has Houston beat on public transportation & nice airports. Houston is a coastal city, Atlanta is further inland with the closest real beaches being in two other states.

[Dangerfield]

Dallas and Atlanta are similar in many ways. I lived in Gwinnett County, GA for 6 years before returning home to DFW in 2006.

Atlanta has a more linear skyline than Dallas but the setup of the of city proper and suburbs share alot of commonalities.

Dallas Uptown = Atlanta Midtown

Highland/University Park = Buckhead/Dunwoody

Plano = Marietta

McKinney = Alpharetta

Garland/Mesquite = Norcross/Duluth

Irving = Douglasville

Duncanville = College Park

Cedar Hill = Fayetteville

Lancaster = Lithonia

I-20 = common to both Dallas and Atlanta

I-30 = I-85

I-35 = I-75

I-45 = I-16

DFW = Hartsfield

Both Dallas and Atlanta are major hubs for 2 airlines - Dallas (Southwest, American), Atlanta (Delta, Airtran).

Nice flowing and zoned developments = Dallas and Atlanta. Houston, not so much.

Both Dallas and Atlanta are land locked but have numerous lakes in the surrounding area.

Lake Texoma = Lake Lanier

The heavily forested city of Atlanta makes Houston's tree cover look meager.

Atlanta is hillier than Dallas, but South Dallas does favor South Atlanta in terms rolling to hilly terrain. Houston is flat everywhere.

Gangsta rappers: Houston = Atlanta

[AK123]

Originally Posted by Dangerfield

The heavily forested city of Atlanta makes Houston's tree cover look meager.

So how does it make Dallas' tree cover look, non-existent?

Originally Posted by Dangerfield

Houston is flat everywhere.

Not along Buffalo Bayou. The parks surrounding the bayou have some elevation changes. Not much of anything, but better than nothing.

[Dangerfield]

Originally Posted by AK123

So how does it make Dallas' tree cover look, non-existent?



Not along Buffalo Bayou. The parks surrounding the bayou have some elevation changes. Not much of anything, but better than nothing.

As I've cited before, Dallas' and Houston's city proper look very much alike as far as intown tree cover. The Houston area's main area of natural occurring tree cover is on the far northside. Tomball and The Woodlands.

I prefer the cross timber terrain with vistas and hills of the Dallas area to the green coastal flatlands of Houston anyways.

Houston


Dallas


Atlanta

[LAnative10]

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

Houston & Atlanta have more in common the way their massive hub & spoke network of freeways are set up. Both having multiple skylines all over the city, though Houston is clearly in a league of its own there. Piney woods within the urban & surrounding area. Metro's are so close in size. Houston & Atlanta are at the very center of their metro's & therefore lack an anchor city like Fort Worth is to Dallas.

Differences would be Atlanta has much prettier freeways with businesses neatly tucked behind trees vs. Houston's chaotic jumble of mess littered along the feeder roads. Houston is flat, Atlanta has hills & nearby mountains. Atlanta is no where near as diverse. Atlanta has Houston beat on public transportation & nice airports. Houston is a coastal city, Atlanta is further inland with the closest real beaches being in two other states.

I was thinking as a city Atlanta reminded me more of Dallas because the majority of the population comes from outside the prime city of the MSA. Atlanta is even more suburban than Dallas though. The freeway system is quite similar among Dallas, Houston, and Atlanta to me. Dallas has better public transit than the other two. DART is in the process of a major expansion that will cover alot of the city, something Houston or Atlanta wont match anytime soon. The only thing it lacks is a direct link with DFW and its getting that in 3 years. I had also always thought that Dallas and Atlanta were laid out more similarly because of the the way the suburbs surround the city. Houston swallowed alot of the suburbs around it. Atlanta isnt as diverse as Dallas, but its more African American. Granted Dallas doesnt really have as much tree cover as either Atlanta or Houston. All three cities have multiple skylines, though as you mention, Houston is in a leauge of its own on that one.