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-It is currently the 4th most populous city and is projected to be the 3rd in our lifetimes. The metro is currently at #5.
-Second only to New York City in Fortune 500 Companies, and among the tops in Foreign Embassies
-Home to the booming Texas Medical Center, the largest concentration of medical institutions, research, and specialty facilities in the World.
-Energy Capital, which will become more important as the world moves to alternative energy sources.
-Has entered the next stage of its life as a city (similar to New York in the late 1800's) Infill development, mass transit, park beautification projects are all paramount in the city right now. Couple that with an already impressive art and theater venues, top notch universities, great restaurant, and multiple retail options.
-Will benefit more by the Panama Canal Expansion more than any other American City. Especially with the humongous manufacturing sector already in place
-Is already considered the new gateway city welcoming people from every culture and country as long as they are willing to contribute to making Houston great.
And most importantly......
Houston is the city of Future America......domed stadiums, astroturf, space exploration, air conditioning, medical advances, new city forms with a new way of living and thinking all were pioneered in Houston.
Houston has finally reached the point where the sprawl is starting to give and infill is happening at an alarming rate. Very similar to the pattern most established Northeast cities found themselves in during the early 1900s. First
comes the mad boom than comes teh connective tissue that morphs the city into a "Great City
air conditioning was pondered in Rochester NY,
As we move more toward alternitive energy Hostons share would deminish not grow
and Culture clout is still vastly below cities like Boston with the Kennedys, Adams's, Numerous Movies, Harvard, ect.
And Socially with Massheath, and Gay Marrage leading the national trend.
-It is currently the 4th most populous city and is projected to be the 3rd in our lifetimes. The metro is currently at #5. Wrong, City size is irrelevant, and Houston comes in at 9th in CSA
-Second only to New York City in Fortune 500 Companies, and among the tops in Foreign Embassies True, though by the very nature of the companies in Houston, they are rather large.
-Home to the booming Texas Medical Center, the largest concentration of medical institutions, research, and specialty facilities in the World. This is true, but large doesn't mean better or most innovative.
-Energy Capital, which will become more important as the world moves to alternative energy sources. Big MAYBE, it depends on what the alternative energy sources are. If they are solar panels or wind? Not so much. If they are natural gas or ore? Yes probably.
-Has entered the next stage of its life as a city (similar to New York in the late 1800's) Infill development, mass transit, park beautification projects are all paramount in the city right now. Couple that with an already impressive art and theater venues, top notch universities, great restaurant, and multiple retail options.
Not similar to NYC in the 1800s...
-Will benefit more by the Panama Canal Expansion more than any other American City. Especially with the humongous manufacturing sector already in place. True
-Is already considered the new gateway city welcoming people from every culture and country as long as they are willing to contribute to making Houston great. Not so much.
And most importantly......
Houston is the city of Future America......domed stadiums, astroturf, space exploration, air conditioning, medical advances, new city forms with a new way of living and thinking all were pioneered in Houston.
That is your opinion.
Houston has finally reached the point where the sprawl is starting to give and infill is happening at an alarming rate. Very similar to the pattern most established Northeast cities found themselves in during the early 1900s. First comes the mad boom than comes teh connective tissue that morphs the city into a "Great City Again, no... NE cities started out even denser than they are now, not sprawl first, then fill it in...
While I believe this is happening to some degree, I think you'd be hard pressed to find any similarities to how Houston and older Northeast cities developed.
Actually, if you can look past the eras in which they were developed they are very similar. Manhattan and Chicago in the mid/late 1800's were manufacturing boom towns. Chicago was referred to as the 'black city' because of the smoke blew out of the warehouses of the city center. Sam in Manhattan, as the city core was confined to the place where the new immigrants would live. The rich lived in areas that were away form the city center of in specialty designed areas, such as Michigan Mile. Central park, was always named Central but in reality it was designed to be a pleasure retreat for the rich on the outskirts of the city.
As the 1800's turned into the 1900s the city leaders, in both cities, started reconsidering the city core as a place to live. Factories in New York City were starting to be transitioned away from the city core and into New Jersey, Chicago (with the help of prominent business men) pioneered the 'City Beautiful' movement parks were added. Quality of Life Issues are the next stage of a city's life.
Houston is going through this maturation process right now. It actually started with the addition of Discovery Green downtown a few years back.
Here are some examples of the "city beautification" movement that is sweeping the city right now.
While Houston has great potential in the future, its not quite ready to be mentioned in the same sentence with NYC, LA, Chicago, DC and the Bay Area in terms of relevancy to the country. It could happen in the next 10-20 years, but it still needs to mature and work on some weak points such as making its higher education institutions stronger, further diversifying its economy, and imaging itself.
Houston's model is more like LA's. Except no zoning and a waaaay lower density make it a long hill to climb. I'd say Houston is like LA in the 70's.
When you talk about Houston, you really have to talk about 2 Houstons:
1)Houston Inside the loop
2) Houston Outside the loop
The urban planners are concerned with inside the loop, whch has similar density, similar in square miles, and similar population figures to a present day Boston.
Outside the loop skews the number big time but yes, in concept, I agree Houston is a less developed Los Angeles....which is one of the top 3 in this discussion.
While Houston has great potential in the future, its not quite ready to be mentioned in the same sentence with NYC, LA, Chicago, DC and the Bay Area in terms of relevancy to the country. It could happen in the next 10-20 years, but it still needs to mature and work on some weak points such as making its higher education institutions stronger, further diversifying its economy, and imaging itself.
Education:
Houston has TWO Tier One Research Universities inside the loop and another one, in the region, 90 miles away.
Houston has a diversified economy, probably even more than the Bay area. Medical/Energy/Engineering/Manufacturing/Construction/Service/Retail/Banking are all big sectors but it continues to diversify away from primarily energy everyday.
More people moved into Houston, than any other city in the past 10 years, so someone is getting the message
The urban planners are concerned with inside the loop, whch has similar density, similar in square miles, and similar population figures to a present day Boston.
Outside the loop skews the number big time but yes, in concept, I agree Houston is a less developed Los Angeles....which is one of the top 3 in this discussion.
No way inside the loop has similar density to Boston. It just doesnt.
I think Houston belongs in the top 5 discussion, not sure if it is top 5 but at least deserves a mention.
Education:
Houston has TWO Tier One Research Universities inside the loop and another one, in the region, 90 miles away.
Houston has a diversified economy, probably even more than the Bay area. Medical/Energy/Engineering/Manufacturing/Construction/Service/Retail/Banking are all big sectors but it continues to diversify away from primarily energy everyday.
More people moved into Houston, than any other city in the past 10 years, so someone is getting the message
Honestly IMO Texas' politics create a 'race to the bottom' effect, and are unsustainable, so while the growth is impressive, it won't last long, much less forever.
I just read part of a whole chapter of Edward Glaeser's new Book, Triumph of the City entitled "Why a Million People Moved to Houston" explaining why it is a model city for future American cities and how it has managed to do what it is currently doing.
The author, teaches city economics at Harvard and is a native of New York City and has no ties, or reason, to promote Houston other than what he sees objectively.
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