Would you guys describe the city of Houston as a major city? (Dallas: real estate, price)

[radiolibre99]

I guess the way detractors describe the city I picture Dallas or ATL, cities with an urban center but vast suburban sprawl at the periphery. Houston to me at least driving down its main artery streets; Voss, Richmond, Westheimer, Bellaire, Gesner. It all seem like urban sprawl that's annexed certain neighborhoods. They don't look like traditional suburban areas aka sugar land, Katy, pearland, etc.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by right

^ but is it the 4th most diverse city? that is the only fact that matters to the current day liberal

I disagree. Liberals seem in love with Austin and Portland, two "Whitopias" that are only getting less diverse with time and trendiness.

[westres1]

What Makes Houston the Next Great American City? | Travel | Smithsonian

It's official: Houston is named one of the most diverse cities in USA - CultureMap Houston
there are many articles on the subject of Houston's diversity

[Spade]

Originally Posted by radiolibre99

I guess the way detractors describe the city I picture Dallas or ATL, cities with an urban center but vast suburban sprawl at the periphery. Houston to me at least driving down its main artery streets; Voss, Richmond, Westheimer, Bellaire, Gesner. It all seem like urban sprawl that's annexed certain neighborhoods. They don't look like traditional suburban areas aka sugar land, Katy, pearland, etc.

To be fair, Dallas and Atlanta are just as suburban in nature as Houston. Any dense core you see in Dallas or Atlanta is small and the same size of Houston. Houston's inner loop which is 96 sq miles has a higher density than Atlanta and Dallas at 96 sq. miles. I read that the latest estimate was 490,000 which would put it over 5100 per sq miles. Most of Houston is suburban however the density is increasing. When it comes to diversity, I only put NYC and LA above Houston ethnically. Houston is on par with the next tier. Probably behind DC.

[Wipe0ut2020]

Although this thread seems different in topic, it does call to attention many of the same questions Houstonians can have (why isn't Houston viewed as a major city/why do people think it has nothing to offer/etc). I discussed some reasons here:
//www.city-data.com/forum/44652885-post139.html

1.) Basically, Houston is a foreign city. Americans can't really tell you much about it, or conjure up an image associated with it, the same way they can barely tell you much about places like Mexico City, Florainopolis, Brisbane, or Shanghai. Like a foreign city, alot of the images that Americans think of when Houston comes to mind are just things associated with the general territory it happens to be in, which, unfortunately, happens to be Texas/Southern US, which carries heavy baggage/stigma, for obvious reasons. Like a truly foreign city (especially one that isn't a primate city/capital of a country), one won't really have a good idea what to expect about Houston until they actually see the city at street level.

2.) People often fail to consider the various nuances that can exist between things seen from city to city. For example, in the above comment I linked to, people said that Houston having a latino population wasn't unique, as Albuquerque has a latino population. While it is true that both cities have latino populations, there are obviously strong, significant differences in culture, demographic, etc between the latino populations in Houston vs those of Albuquerque; but people don't consider that.

This is also where a sort of fallacy happens when people argue Houston as "boring" because "everything it has can be seen in other cities:" while true that every city can have things like parks, museums, restaurants... are you really going to get the "exact" same vibe for those things in those other cities as in Houston, a city strongly influenced by its Gulf Coast location?

[Wipe0ut2020]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

I disagree. Liberals seem in love with Austin and Portland, two "Whitopias" that are only getting less diverse with time and trendiness.

Another point I just remembered (although I posted it on the thread I linked): Houston, ironically, is viewed poorly for "not being distinct from the other US cities", even though Denver, Austin, Portland, Seattle can be talked of as clones of each other, and still be well liked. The culture and vibe of Houston is arguably far more different than other US cities than the cultural differences seen between the four named cities.

[radiolibre99]

Originally Posted by Spade

To be fair, Dallas and Atlanta are just as suburban in nature as Houston. Any dense core you see in Dallas or Atlanta is small and the same size of Houston. Houston's inner loop which is 96 sq miles has a higher density than Atlanta and Dallas at 96 sq. miles. I read that the latest estimate was 490,000 which would put it over 5100 per sq miles. Most of Houston is suburban however the density is increasing. When it comes to diversity, I only put NYC and LA above Houston ethnically. Houston is on par with the next tier. Probably behind DC.

We have to define suburban because I consider cinco ranch the typical suburb on the outskirts of town. I don't just count the inner loop. When I go by Westhimer all the way down to hwy 6 I still consider that urban. It just all seems annexed. I remember growing up in Katy before Katy mills mall. It was a small town now half of it especially near Fry Rd it looks as though it's a part of Houston now. It's been taken over by the city and is developing in the similar urban fashion.

When I conjure up the images of McMansion, burbs, trucks I think of Fulshear, old Katy and FT bend which are even further out.

How can one drive down Gessner headed toward the beltway and not think its urban. Maybe not traditionally urban but it sure seems more like Houston than katy.

[PedroMartinez]

Yes, Houston is a major city. The detractors have some weird fetish with hating Houston and will look for ANY reason to put Houston down. They will move goal posts, they will deny reality, they will make up "facts" and they will bad mouth Houston without ever actually experiencing it (no, a cab ride from IAH to downtown for a day or two and back is not experiencing Houston).

[nana053]

Of course, Houston is a major city. There are things it needs to bring it in line with other major cities - more public transportation being the major one. In so far as diversity goes, Houston has so much diversity that it beats out many places, I think. And, in Houston, the fact is that people of different races and ethnicities live close to one another in harmony (this is something I love about it). Even in the burbs, people of different races and ethnic backgrounds live in the same neighborhood. On my street - we have Mexicans, American Blacks, Pakistanis, Chinese and Indians as well as European ethnics.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by PedroMartinez

Yes, Houston is a major city. The detractors have some weird fetish with hating Houston and will look for ANY reason to put Houston down. They will move goal posts, they will deny reality, they will make up "facts" and they will bad mouth Houston without ever actually experiencing it (no, a cab ride from IAH to downtown for a day or two and back is not experiencing Houston).

I think in the national consciousness, Houston has three strikes against it:

1. It's the headquarters of the evil oil and gas industry (which is somehow worse than NYC being the HQ of the finance industry, Detroit being the automobile capital, Los Angeles the movie capital, DC the government bureaucracy / lobbying capital, the Bay Area the tech capital etc. etc.)
   
2. It's in Texas and the South, which have evil histories and too many culturally backward people
   
3. It doesn't have zoning, which is something all "sophisticated" cities have, and this is somehow responsible for its enormous sprawl, lack of walkability, non-distinctive architecture etc. etc.

For the more politically conscious, it's also known as having more politically conservative and libertarian residents than most other really big cities (it shares this notoriety with Phoenix, and to a lesser extent, Dallas), so liberal big-city residents in the rest of the country think it must be horrible.

Given these factors, I think that many folks in the rest of the country are pre-disposed to de-legitimize Houston as a great, large city; even if it embodies many things people like about cities, it's culturally unacceptable to admit to liking Houston.