Do you consider Houston to be world class? (Paris, Center: buy, theater)

[Sunderpig2]

How is Houston NOT a world class city? The population is massive. The Port of Houston is the largest for international tonnage in the United States. It is the energy capitol of the world. (etc).

First of all, we are not the energy capitol of the world. We may be at the national level, but no way are we on the global level.

Just because those elements may exist in Houston, that doesn't automatically translate into a "World Class" city. "Massive population" is about quantity, not quality. The "world" part may be there, but the class isn't. It's just too redneck, southern, and increasingly third-world-ish (poor, uneducated, low pay, etc) to rise to the "class" level. Throw in the excessive heat and pollution, and regressive political environment (cay you say "good ol' boy state"?) and there's a lot to keep things towards the low quality end.

[TimBomb]

Houston has world-class strippers. That's about it.

[pach84]

Originally Posted by TVC15

Houston is certainly world class on many levels. The TMC hands down is WORLD CLASS! IAH, NASA, entertainment, food and sports are definitely world class in Houston.

Houston is very underrated but is surely a fantastic city.

The weather during the summer and the geographic aesthetics are the downfalls.

Where is this world class food you speak of?

[fortyfiver]

Let's face it, Houston is an industrial city in a swamp. You can live well there, if you have money, you can find anything you need, but you should be able to do that in any city of Houston's size. What makes Houston unique is its insecurity, its obsessive need for people to think it's "world-class" (this is never defined, of course), and its fear that outsiders might think Houstonians were, well, o*l f**ld tr*sh - I don't think that is true, btw.

I see that nothing has changed since I left seven years ago.

[testmo]

id call it business city over industrial. certainly any large port city has industry... along the ports. i take offense to "lowly poor people" somehow making a city crap. that person needs a personality adjustment. if anyone has traveled you can see "lowly poor people" in every large city. poor people are good people too

[Jesse69]

I live in Chicago now, but I worked in Houston for 22 months. Houston is sort of world class because it has better shopping than Chicago. More shopping malls and they are bigger. 3 Fry's vs Chicago's 1 Fry's. Better fast food than Chicago but I like Culver's in Chicago. Chicago has better museums, a better downtown, and Michigan Ave. Chicago also has a great Lake Shore Drive to workout or swim at. Houston has a better St John and Chanel store in Galleria. And Houston is a cheaper place to buy or rent housing.

[HtownLove]

So, apart from London, what cities are World Class?
Is the yard stick Just London and what about London exactly are we measuring?

The History?? NY does not come close to London in that case, only Cities like Mexico City on this side of the Atlantic would have interesting enough History.

Finance?? Well NY would place it there.

Culture? A number of American Cities would hang with London there.


But what about other cities?
Madrid, Barcelona, Zurich, Geneva, Amsterdam, Munich, Berlin. These I would all rank on the same tier as Houston and below NY. They all trounce Houston on History and Architecture, but I don't consider those to have much to do with being world class. In fact I am of the opinion that you can build a brand new city and have it be world class.

I think of World Class as being more of an INTERNATIONAL DESTINATION than a place with old buildings. I think what makes London World Class is it being a magnet for millions of people around the World. A Leader in the Arts, Economics, Culture, Tourism and Education.

[rb4browns]

Originally Posted by fortyfiver

Let's face it, Houston is an industrial city in a swamp. You can live well there, if you have money, you can find anything you need, but you should be able to do that in any city of Houston's size. What makes Houston unique is its insecurity, its obsessive need for people to think it's "world-class" (this is never defined, of course), and its fear that outsiders might think Houstonians were, well, o*l f**ld tr*sh - I don't think that is true, btw.

I see that nothing has changed since I left seven years ago.

Really? I've met very few people here who care about people thinking Houston is "world class." When I lived in Dallas people were much more obsessed with it. I guess it depends what kind of circles you travel in. Regardless, any city that is insecure about itself and its place on the world/national stage is not unique. Most places are like that short of NYC or LA.

[SouthernBoy205]

Originally Posted by HtownLove

So, apart from London, what cities are World Class?
Is the yard stick Just London and what about London exactly are we measuring?

The History?? NY does not come close to London in that case, only Cities like Mexico City on this side of the Atlantic would have interesting enough History.

Finance?? Well NY would place it there.

Culture? A number of American Cities would hang with London there.


But what about other cities?
Madrid, Barcelona, Zurich, Geneva, Amsterdam, Munich, Berlin. These I would all rank on the same tier as Houston and below NY. They all trounce Houston on History and Architecture, but I don't consider those to have much to do with being world class. In fact I am of the opinion that you can build a brand new city and have it be world class.

I think of World Class as being more of an INTERNATIONAL DESTINATION than a place with old buildings. I think what makes London World Class is it being a magnet for millions of people around the World. A Leader in the Arts, Economics, Culture, Tourism and Education.

I truly agree with this.

[oceangaia]

Originally Posted by Brewzerr68

Glad to see you brought this over to the Houston forum. Going by what I've seen posted here so far, most Houstonians don't really care whether they are world-class or not. It's just a label invented by status-happy people to establish some kind of tier system that only seems to matter to C-D nerds.

And a label bandied about by factions trying to push their pet project (new stadium, new rail line, port expansion, dome renovation, downtown hotel, etc) to the people by saying "we need [insert pet project here] to be a world class city". And we keep falling for it and giving them what they want and still we aren't quite world class.