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Five cities are poised to prosper in the New Economy because of exports, innovation, clean technology, and healthcare.
In Houston, the Texas Medical Center is expanding so quickly that it will soon become the seventh largest downtown in the US.
In Seattle, the erector-set cranes along the waterfront and big forklifts at the airport are loading exports into containers with the constancy of a piston: plywood to Beijing, halibut and crab to Tokyo, Granny Smith apples to Moscow.
In Fort Collins, Colo., town fathers are aggressively transforming the heart of the city into a zone that generates as much electricity as it consumes – making it a showcase for the city’s quest to become the Silicon Valley of clean energy.
Cities such as Huntsville, Ala., which has a greater concentration of PhDs than it does Baptist churches, are becoming factories for the most important product of tomorrow: ideas. Boston, once a textile hub, is the cerebrum of America with all its colleges.
Wow. Interesting thread. I skimmed through the Houston article on your link. I didn't realize Houston's seaport was exporting more goods than it was importing. For an American city, that's an anomaly these days especially for the second largest port in total tonnage in the country. That's a very good sign. Of course, I can't figure out what we could possibly be exporting so much of. Natural gas, medical supplies, and electronics from Dallas and Austin? Maybe?
Location: The land of sugar... previously Houston and Austin
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Originally Posted by wpmeads
Wow. Interesting thread. I skimmed through the Houston article on your link.
"Houston became the No. 1 municipal purchaser of green power in the nation, with 25 percent of the city’s total electricity load coming from wind energy. (Texas leads the US in wind-energy production.)"
I've seen good things on Huntsville, Alabama. In any event I think Alabama tends to have a bad reputation so it'd be nice for them if one of their cities gets known for being educated and up-and-coming. Although the notion that "there's no such thing as stability, there's just constant creation and destruction" doesn't entirely set well with me.
Cities such as Huntsville, Ala., which has a greater concentration of PhDs than it does Baptist churches, are becoming factories for the most important product of tomorrow: ideas.
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Articles like this are always full of gibberish, but this might take the cake.
"Greater concentration of PhDs than it does Baptist churches?" What does that even mean? More PhDs than Baptist churches? A bunch of PhDs living together on one block? How is PhDs per Baptist church or vice versa a remotely relevant statistic?
"Houston became the No. 1 municipal purchaser of green power in the nation, with 25 percent of the city’s total electricity load coming from wind energy. (Texas leads the US in wind-energy production.)"
Who would have thought.
Yeah I'm surprised we beat out LA, SF, and Boston for wind energy. I guess being flat and windy does serve its advantages.
Articles like this are always full of gibberish, but this might take the cake.
"Greater concentration of PhDs than it does Baptist churches?" What does that even mean? More PhDs than Baptist churches? A bunch of PhDs living together on one block? How is PhDs per Baptist church or vice versa a remotely relevant statistic?
Gibberish.
I think it's just a way to use a stereotype of Alabama. One stereotype is that Alabama is highly Baptist, but maybe not too bright. So this reverses it.
Articles like this are always full of gibberish, but this might take the cake.
"Greater concentration of PhDs than it does Baptist churches?" What does that even mean? More PhDs than Baptist churches? A bunch of PhDs living together on one block? How is PhDs per Baptist church or vice versa a remotely relevant statistic?
Gibberish.
I kind have to agree with you. It seems the reasoning behind Huntsville is a large number of PhD's, a large population growth, and a stable economy. Couldn't say the same thing and much much more about cities like San Jose, Austin, and Portland? Not that I don't think that Huntsville isn't on the upswing, but I think the article did a very poor job of explaining why the city is ranked in the top five above other up-and-coming cities. The only reasoning I could think of is that Christian Science was trying to give a very broad spectrum of developing cities from different regions, and they chose to use Huntsville for the Southeast region.
Location: The land of sugar... previously Houston and Austin
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wpmeads
I kind have to agree with you. It seems the reasoning behind Huntsville is a large number of PhD's, a large population growth, and a stable economy. Couldn't say the same thing and much much more about cities like San Jose, Austin, and Portland? Not that I don't think that Huntsville isn't on the upswing, but I think the article did a very poor job of explaining why the city is ranked in the top five above other up-and-coming cities.
From the page on Huntsville: "You should probably leave the rocket scientist jokes at home when visiting Huntsville, Ala. The chances are good (1 in 12, in fact) you’ll meet one here. In a state beset with educational challenges, this mid-size city (pop. 396,000) is an anomaly, a figurative brain soup where intellectual capital is a commodity..."
You're right, it could have been explained further. But do the other places you mention have 1 in 12 rocket scientists? Highly doubtful. Also San Jose and Portland have expensive housing, and the high costs and tax structure aren't the most business-friendly. And I think Austin has already seen its heyday and is now dealing with insufficient infrastructure problems, and possibly a housing shortage within a few years.
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