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So diversity isn’t important? Got it. We don’t factor being an international city by its international population. That’s why we don’t factor that into New York and LA being where they are.
LA/LB are the biggest ports by value, and guess what, LA was listed as second, and this part of the reason.
Not the 4th by a long shot? What’s your measurement? MSA? That would make it 5th so not a long shot there. CSA? That completely restructures from the MSA list and would make it 9th. The point is it’s up there and population has a lot to do for its position.
Not aware of musicians that make Houston stand out. Okay so you’re not aware music?
Grasping at straws, explain why.
Yes, NASA and Seaport are reasons that I didn’t state. The point was that oil isn’t the single factor in Houston being considered here. If it were, it wouldn’t be a debate.
Diversity is very positive in any city. You didn't read very carefully. I said it wasn't a factor in a city's importance.
CSA or UA would typically be the best measures. But yes even MSA would put it lower.
Yes there are local musicians of note. There are in my city too. I can name a few from my high school you'd know. But I don't consider us a game-changer in music aside from a brief moment in the 90s. Houston isn't particularly known for influencing music.
Shopping...nobody is going to consider Houston's shopping a factor in its importance.
Diversity is very positive in any city. You didn't read very carefully. I said it wasn't a factor in a city's importance.
CSA or UA would typically be the best measures. But yes even MSA would put it lower.
Yes there are local musicians of note. There are in my city too. I can name a few from my high school you'd know. But I don't consider us a game-changer in music aside from a brief moment in the 90s. Houston isn't particularly known for influencing music.
Shopping...nobody is going to consider Houston's shopping a factor in its importance.
In other words, those alone don’t equal lots of importante. But collectively the fact that everything is in place, boosts the importance.
Diversity is very positive in any city. You didn't read very carefully. I said it wasn't a factor in a city's importance.
In and of itself, no. But for a city as large as Houston, its diversity does correlate with its importance to a degree. One example could be the large amount of consulates in Houston.
I'll chime in. Atlanta's influence and dominance over the SE plays a role in it's overall importance. Atlanta also contains the strongest cultural influence out of these cities. (AA). Currently, many people consider the city the black mecca and Black Hollywood as well. Because of those reasons, Atlanta has a strong argument for 6 and should not be lower than 8 because people can argue Boston and Houston as well.
The city that I want to hear about is Philadelphia.
Not to dismiss the role of cultural influence within the AA community, but this doesn't really apply to the vast majority of the population.
I think if we're going to evaluate importance of cities/metro areas objectively, a variable like economic output is indisputably the most critical. And as of 2017 BEA statistics (the latest available), the Philadelphia area's GDP (approx. $445B) is still well ahead of Atlanta's ($385B).
That gap has likely closed at least a little over the past 3 years, but it's still enough to give Philadelphia as solid edge on that measure.
While the Philly profile has gotten much more "due" in recent years, it's still clear to me that the role of importance it plays in the domestic and global spheres tends to be very underestimated, especially given its historic prominence. Even in a less spotlighted modern context, however, Philadelphia continues to be one of the great post-industrial comeback stories of the US, and it's arguably only recently begun on that trajectory.
Add in its lynchpin status as a crucial hub of the Northeast Corridor juggernaut, and you've got a city located in a megalopolis that was always intended to drive the American economy and political system. Among the other cities in this comparison, only Boston shares such a distinction.
Diversity is very positive in any city. You didn't read very carefully. I said it wasn't a factor in a city's importance.
CSA or UA would typically be the best measures. But yes even MSA would put it lower.
Yes there are local musicians of note. There are in my city too. I can name a few from my high school you'd know. But I don't consider us a game-changer in music aside from a brief moment in the 90s. Houston isn't particularly known for influencing music.
Shopping...nobody is going to consider Houston's shopping a factor in its importance.
Urbanity and walkability aren’t factors either. Johannesburg is easily the most important city in Africa and it is to walkability what Candy Corn is to vegetables. LA is the 2nd most important city in the US and isn’t even in the top 10 in walkability. Like diversity those are just nice things to have.
What are factors are economic size, industry dominance, international business prowess, population size, and draw from other countries and other parts of the US. Because of that there’s no way Houston isn’t top 10 in the US in importance. It’s not number 6, I think Boston clinches that. But it’s probably 7 or 8. Philadelphia, Dallas, and Atlanta would join Houston in the top 10. Miami is a tough one. It’s a super international city but it’s overwhelmingly leisure oriented which is why I’d put Atlanta over it.
Not to dismiss the role of cultural influence within the AA community, but this doesn't really apply to the vast majority of the population.
I think if we're going to evaluate importance of cities/metro areas objectively, a variable like economic output is indisputably the most critical. And as of 2017 BEA statistics (the latest available), the Philadelphia area's GDP (approx. $445B) is still well ahead of Atlanta's ($385B).
That gap has likely closed at least a little over the past 3 years, but it's still enough to give Philadelphia as solid edge on that measure.
While the Philly profile has gotten much more "due" in recent years, it's still clear to me that the role of importance it plays in the domestic and global spheres tends to be very underestimated, especially given its historic prominence. Even in a less spotlighted modern context, however, Philadelphia continues to be one of the great post-industrial comeback stories of the US, and it's arguably only recently begun on that trajectory.
Add in its lynchpin status as a crucial hub of the Northeast Corridor juggernaut, and you've got a city located in a megalopolis that was always intended to drive the American economy and political system. Among the other cities in this comparison, only Boston shares such a distinction.
The African American population may not make up the majority, but Atlanta's impact on the culture cannot be undervalued. The African American culture plays a significant role in the American society despite AA only making up 13% of the population. Also, The African American culture also goes abroad...take a trip to South Korea, Japan and several Western European countries to see how the urban style clothing and music appears in the street in those countries.
Atlanta also benefits from being the premier city in the SE without competition.
As for GDP, that along, doesn't make a city more important than another one. Atlanta has continued to close the gap on Philly in both GDP and population. Also, out of all of the cities mentioned in this poll, Philadelphia is the most stagnant city and despite the comeback story, the numbers do not indicate such. I think at one point in time, Philly was the 2nd most important city in the nation, but at this point, It's tough to see how it's ahead of Boston, Atlanta, Houston and Dallas.
Last edited by cdw1084; 03-22-2020 at 09:19 PM..
Reason: !
I kept my OP vague because the threads from 2009 I was copying were also vague. They do mention “cultural importance” in addition to “economic importance”. Between Coke, CNN, the Olympics, and Georgia studios, Atlanta has a pretty huge cultural impact relative to its size and economy. It also has a huge music scene from what I hear, and acts from Atlanta always seem quick to rep the city. The same is true of Houston.
Boston’s has a lot of great actors and comedians from the area get famous over the last few decades. The Super Bowl commercial with Chris Evans and John Krasinski putting on fake Boston accents to talk about a car was great. Evans’ role in Knives Out (as the privileged kid of a wealthy MA family) was also pretty funny considering that he grew up in Sudbury. Otherwise, beyond the Afflecks, Damon, and Walhberg you don’t here Boston celebrities like Amy Peohler, Mindy Kaling, or Steve Carell repoing the city as much or as often as Atlanta’s musicians rep it (I don’t think??).
Miami is another city with a huge cultural significance despite a less important economic significance. Not sure if it’s enough to be #6, but it’s probably enough for the consideration at least.
Not one of those people is from Boston except Wahlberg that’s why they don’t rep it like that.
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