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View Poll Results: Which city provides the best/most opportunities for urban living?
Houston 63 37.28%
Dallas 54 31.95%
Fort Worth 5 2.96%
Austin 26 15.38%
San Antonio 18 10.65%
El Paso 3 1.78%
Voters: 169. You may not vote on this poll

 
 
Old 11-30-2010, 09:22 PM
 
2,744 posts, read 6,088,263 times
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No Htown they are not suburban in nature or low density. If you call that suburban in nature then Montrose and all those neighborhhods in inner Houston would be considered suburban in nature, a mixture of high rise, multi family, single family homes, etc. Houston is a hodgepodge of styles of housing in it's core due to no zoning laws.

Anyway Midtown includes Monte Vista, Olmos Park, a hospital district, SAC which has 25,000 students and many living in the area, in apartments and converted mansions and it is not limited to suburban style dwellings only. There are homes in the area mixed with commercial, high rise residential and multifamily housing.

There is also lots of lofts, warehouse conversions and urban style living in these areas especially in SoFlo, Southtown areas, and the Pearl District is coming up nicely.

River North is the new name given to the area, already has exsiting lofts and apartments. The River north master plan envisions 25,000 people living there once it is built out, which will probably take more than 10 years for it to reach that population. The Musuem Reach at River North was recently completed and opens the door for more urban style development in the district. Government Hill/Ft Sam Houston has a $ 2Billion redevelopment project underway.
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Old 11-30-2010, 09:23 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
10,138 posts, read 15,961,222 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AlGreen View Post
see, now believe it or not, this is an example of a neighborhood in houston that some might say looks ugly, but i think it looks cool and quirky. very colorful
I partially agree with you.

The roads look awful. Narrow and just so unkept there. But whatever though, it is what it is. The homes look okay. I am not into that style but if thats what people there like than good for them!

To Migol84: I'll respond in a bit.
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Old 11-30-2010, 09:29 PM
 
Location: America
5,092 posts, read 8,813,024 times
Reputation: 1970
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Originally Posted by DANNYY View Post
I partially agree with you.

The roads look awful. Narrow and just so unkept there. But whatever though, it is what it is. The homes look okay. I am not into that style but if thats what people there like than good for them!
narrow streets help with density. i love narrow streets. the road looks rough, but that's part of being in a city. even the big apple has it's f'd up roads in nice areas

as far as the homes..not my style either, but they still look interesting and i really want to see what they look like on the inside
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Old 11-30-2010, 09:34 PM
 
2,744 posts, read 6,088,263 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AlGreen View Post
see, now believe it or not, this is an example of a neighborhood in houston that some might say looks ugly, but i think it looks cool and quirky. very colorful

That is cool and urban, San Antonio has some of that style but to a lesser degree than houston, developers are limited due to what can be built in the 18th and 19th century historic districts surrounding downtown.
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Old 11-30-2010, 09:41 PM
 
Location: Up on the moon laughing down on you
18,495 posts, read 32,811,640 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AlGreen View Post
see, now believe it or not, this is an example of a neighborhood in houston that some might say looks ugly, but i think it looks cool and quirky. very colorful
I didn't say anything, but I don't think they are attractive at all. now I know you have poor tastes

btw you can find a lot of those in various parts of 3rd ward
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Old 11-30-2010, 09:46 PM
 
Location: Washington D.C. By way of Texas
20,503 posts, read 33,365,465 times
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aw yall don't like those homes? They look sharp and interesting to me. I remember somebody posted a picture thread on SSP a while ago and featured these homes and even the people from the North and Northeast marveled at these homes because you don't see them anywhere else. I could easily live there.

How about this picture from Reverberation on SSP?


About those streets though. I agree with you and Al Green. Some of the best cities in our country has rough look streets. But they do need to improve on it's infrastructure.
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Old 11-30-2010, 09:48 PM
 
Location: Up on the moon laughing down on you
18,495 posts, read 32,811,640 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SweethomeSanAntonio View Post
No Htown they are not suburban in nature or low density. If you call that suburban in nature then Montrose and all those neighborhhods in inner Houston would be considered suburban in nature, a mixture of high rise, multi family, single family homes, etc. Houston is a hodgepodge of styles of housing in it's core due to no zoning laws.

Anyway Midtown includes Monte Vista, Olmos Park, a hospital district, SAC which has 25,000 students and many living in the area, in apartments and converted mansions and it is not limited to suburban style dwellings only. There are homes in the area mixed with commercial, high rise residential and multifamily housing.

There is also lots of lofts, warehouse conversions and urban style living in these areas especially in SoFlo, Southtown areas, and the Pearl District is coming up nicely.

River North is the new name given to the area, already has exsiting lofts and apartments. The River north master plan envisions 25,000 people living there once it is built out, which will probably take more than 10 years for it to reach that population. The Musuem Reach at River North was recently completed and opens the door for more urban style development in the district. Government Hill/Ft Sam Houston has a $ 2Billion redevelopment project underway.
montrose is one of the least suburban neighborhoods in either Houston or San Antonio. Remember I said suburban are largely residential, and Montrose is laced with stored restaurants clubs, and other businesses.

yeah, if those areas you described are midtown, then SA doesn't have a midtown. I lived in MOnte Vista and trust me not many people would refer to that area as mid town.

I really think you should visit Houston and Dallas more to see the developments people are talking about
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Old 11-30-2010, 09:50 PM
 
Location: Up on the moon laughing down on you
18,495 posts, read 32,811,640 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Spade View Post
aw yall don't like those homes? They look sharp and interesting to me. I remember somebody posted a picture thread on SSP a while ago and featured these homes and even the people from the North and Northeast marveled at these homes because you don't see them anywhere else. I could easily live there.

How about this picture from Reverberation on SSP?

that looks cool. where is that??
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Old 11-30-2010, 09:52 PM
 
2,744 posts, read 6,088,263 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HtownLove View Post
I don't know what you are talking about but the only city in the US that has a larger urban foot print than Houston and not combined with its associated county is OKC. Houston is bigger than SA. After OKC and Houston,
Phoenix, Los Angeles,and Skagway AK, all have bigger imprints than SA. Yes SA may be 50sq miles larger than Dallas, but it is still 150sq miles smaller than Houston.


Furthermore, SA has a lot (lotsa lots) of open land. So although SA has more land than Dallas, Dallas is more cohesive and has more amenities than SA. lots more actually.

SA was never a big city in terms of big cities. when SA had more people than Dallas and Houston, all three were still small town. Galveston was the first real big city in Texas.

I guess I learn something new everyday. Where is SA's midtown?? I rode by bike along Broadway every week. that is definitely not a walkable area. That area is down right treacherous. Lincoln Heights, So Flo, Southtown, and the Medical Center are all car dependent. I would like to see the walk-ability score for the medical center because it is basically a building here, then some prairie then another here and some prairie then more buildings here surrounded by more open space. The neighborhoods around the med center are most definitely suburban because they are solely residential, which by definition is suburban.

It is hard to define any urban areas in San Antonio because of the zoning laws. You have sea after sea of suburban areas(areas that are primarily residential) then along the highways you find bands of commerce. Sorry man, the only areas of the city that has a good urban mix is the downtown areas and some of its immediate surroundings.
The Urban footprint would be the the urban core not the entire city limits.
Show an aerial of Downtown Houston on the same scale as the one I put for San Antonio and Houston's urban footprint would probably be smaller.

The Medical Center area is not a cookie cutter suburban subdivision, it is mostly condos and multi story apartments and high rises and would be similar but on a smaller scale than Houstons Med center. Although the Med Ctrs are less walkable neighborhoods they are not suburban.
You have to draw the line somwhere between a suburban and urban neighborhood.
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Old 11-30-2010, 09:53 PM
 
Location: America
5,092 posts, read 8,813,024 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HtownLove View Post
I didn't say anything, but I don't think they are attractive at all. now I know you have poor tastes

btw you can find a lot of those in various parts of 3rd ward
if you were to look down, you would clearly see that i said those homes are not my taste. i'm saying the area looked cool and urban
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