Atlanta's size compared to Houston (Druid Hills, Auburn: homes, neighborhoods, suburban)

[disposable2]

So I was watching this video of uptown Houston and was taken back at how so many people thought Houston was so much bigger than Atlanta, some even saying that uptown Houston rivals Los Angeles, and how its the biggest city in the southern half of the nation from FL to CA, so my question is does Houston's layout of random buildings throughout the city really make the city feel immensely bigger than Atlanta?

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=F9ner54K1Qw

[lastminutemom]

Yes. But it isn't just the random layout (and it is random) but it is the fact that Houston is nearly 600 square miles and Atlanta 132 square miles. Metro Houston (Greater Houston) is about 10,000 square miles while metro Atlanta is about 8800 square miles.

Have you ever been to Houston? Everything feels very spacious, lots of ranch homes in neighborhoods (older ones) as well as huge amounts of parking lots.

Houston is very sprawly, in my opinion much more so than Atlanta.
Everything is bigger in Texas.

[Born 2 Roll]

Oh boy...Not another "whose is bigger?" thread...

But since we're here, whose is bigger? Atlanta's or Houston's?

[disposable2]

Originally Posted by lastminutemom

Yes. But it isn't just the random layout (and it is random) but it is the fact that Houston is nearly 600 square miles and Atlanta 132 square miles. Metro Houston (Greater Houston) is about 10,000 square miles while metro Atlanta is about 8800 square miles.

Have you ever been to Houston? Everything feels very spacious, lots of ranch homes in neighborhoods (older ones) as well as huge amounts of parking lots.

Houston is very sprawly, in my opinion much more so than Atlanta.
Everything is bigger in Texas.

Yes I have been to Houston and understand what you're saying, but did it give off impression that it was much bigger than Atlanta? It sure didn't for me, that's why I'm asking, I don't know where so many people are getting this notion from.

[lastminutemom]

Originally Posted by disposable2

Yes I have been to Houston and understand what you're saying, but did it give off impression that it was much bigger than Atlanta? It sure didn't for me, that's why I'm asking, I don't know where so many people are getting this notion from.

Because it is much bigger. The City itself is 4 times as large as Atlanta and to me, it feels much larger.

Everything is "bigger" in my mind in Houston and other parts of Texas -- grocery stores, big box stores, etc because there is more land.

Houston, by many people's measure, is one of the poorest planned areas in the country. In fact, until recently there wasn't much planning to speak of.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by disposable2

Yes I have been to Houston and understand what you're saying, but did it give off impression that it was much bigger than Atlanta? It sure didn't for me, that's why I'm asking, I don't know where so many people are getting this notion from.

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.

[disposable2]

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.

This made a lot of sense, I guess a lot of people give a "freeway perspective" of the cities, because honestly on surface streets to me Atlanta felt like a much more bustling city than Houston, but I guess a lot of people judge a city from a highway.

[-StarBright-]

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.

First, Atlanta's metro is only about 5,457,831, which makes it the 9th largest metro. Houston's metro population is about 6,177,035, which makes it fifth. The city of Houston has 2,160,821 people in city limits,which makes it the 4th largest. Atlanta has only 443,775 people in city limits. Houston has a much larger population. Downtown Houston also seems more urban in my opinion. Houston also has a lot more land. I think Houston seems larger simply because it is.
Houston - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Atlanta - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[chiatldal]

Originally Posted by disposable2

Yes I have been to Houston and understand what you're saying, but did it give off impression that it was much bigger than Atlanta? It sure didn't for me, that's why I'm asking, I don't know where so many people are getting this notion from.

If want to be specific Atlanta core feels bigger than Houston, Houston doesn't have the DT next to Midtown set up as Atlanta does. Nor does Houston have the connected urban neighborhoods like O4W, Sweet Auburn, Cabbagetown, Castleberry hill and etc. DT Houston is isolated by a ring freeway, and skips Sweet Auburn like neighborhoods and go straight into Morningside like Neighborhoods but gridded.


With saying that Houston metro feel bigger because Houston stick with Morningside like neighborhoods in a grid that goes on forever and there's no Druid Hills like neighborhoods. So Atlanta core feels bigger while Houston metro feels bigger.

Anyways the page was full of native Texans being prideful, over boosting stuff. Houston is bigger and feels a little bigger but nothing dramatic. If you read the comments they clearly have a bias and feel Houston is the greatest place on Earth. They was bashing LA also. If you go to a Atlanta video you see the same thing but reverse. It's the silliness of the internet and you shouldn't take it seriously.

[bryantm3]

to me, that video of uptown houston looks like sandy springs if it was about 2x bigger than it is now. there are a lot of tall buildings, but the development style is super suburban— it doesn't even have as much of an urban layout as buckhead, and we give buckhead hell for being too suburban.

that being said, they spend WAY more on infrastructure than we do— our roads and sidewalks absolutely blow and they've got giant chrome circular street signs, i've never seen anything quite that elabourate. we need to spend more on infrastructure and present our city better than we do. in addition, the area looks beautiful, a lot of palm trees and some really nice street trees— it looks way the hell better than the photos i've seen of downtown houston.