Is Houston a world class city (Dallas, Paris: violent crime, private school, place to live)

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by bu2

San Francisco is a top tourist area, but I would not include it with the other 4 ahead of Houston, Miami, Boston, Dallas as "world class." Other than tourism, it really doesn't offer more. Las Vegas and Orlando are bigger tourist cities.

The SF Bay Area is the innovation capital of the world.

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

The SF Bay Area is the innovation capital of the world.

But not SF itself. Most of the innovation comes from the area to the South of SF. SF is actually a pretty small city, with under a million population.

[Nuclear Bear]

Originally Posted by Redlionjr

I agree with everything you're saying but we know Dallas in 84 was completely different than what it is now. LOL It's made some strides that's for sure. And SF has taken some hits since. Still though I don't disagree with anything you're saying. As much as I love Houston and Dallas myself you're not putting those 2 American cities up against other global cities such as London, Paris, Hong Kong, Berlin or a Barcelona.

While that is true....Dallas has made huge strides since the early 1980's....DTD is never going to be on the water surrounded by mountains and hills.

San Francisco is still an amazing looking city.

The city whose urban core has (somewhat) caught up to San Francisco is Los Angeles.

Downtown Los Angeles is kinda similar to Dallas. Both cities downtowns have historically been mediocre to below average for the type of city they represent.

Los Angeles in the 80's and 90's had a very average looking downtown with all the same complaints you hear about Dallas.
-Surrounded by freeways
-Lots of homeless and vagrants
-Nothing to do after 5PM



Since the opening of the Staples Center and the LA Live area they have done a masterful job of revitalizing Los Angele's Central Business District over the past 20 years.

Even with all the improvements.....LA's downtown is still blown away by San Francisco.

[Nuclear Bear]

Originally Posted by bu2

San Francisco is a top tourist area, but I would not include it with the other 4 ahead of Houston, Miami, Boston, Dallas as "world class." Other than tourism, it really doesn't offer more. Las Vegas and Orlando are bigger tourist cities.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...n_areas_by_GDP

Yeah it does.
Silicon Valley, Stanford and Cal Berkeley make the Bay Area world class.

If you put the #4 and #13 together (which I consider San Jose and Santa Clara County to all be the Bay Area) then its total GDP is well over 800 billion.

That would put it only behind LA and NYC.

A metro area that generates that much money and commerce is World Class. Those other cities you mention are just regional.

Look at the GDP that the Bay Area generates (880) and compare it to Houston (478), Dallas (512), Boston (463) and Miami (354)....its not even close.

If you want to break it down its San Francisco/Oakland (548) and San Jose/Santa Clara County (331)

San Jose does almost as much as all of South Florida. This GDP ranking is why in my book that Miami/South Florida is not world class.

World Class cities are also the center of business and commerce. That is one area that South Florida is lacking.

[Nuclear Bear]

Originally Posted by WRM20

But not SF itself. Most of the innovation comes from the area to the South of SF. SF is actually a pretty small city, with under a million population.

I swear...you city data homers kill me with this.

Whenever I'm speaking about a city I'm always talking about the metro area.

In my book the Woodlands, Katy, BayTown and even Galveston are all part of the Greater Houston Area.

Its seems like people that get a little too competitive about their hometowns start trying to denigrate certain cities by only using their proper population.

San Francisco is the most well known city in the Bay Area......just like Dallas is the main city of the DFW metroplex.

The Bay Area is world class. DFW and Houston are not.

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by Nuclear Bear

I swear...you city data homers kill me with this.

Whenever I'm speaking about a city I'm always talking about the metro area.

In my book the Woodlands, Katy, BayTown and even Galveston are all part of the Greater Houston Area.

Its seems like people that get a little too competitive about their hometowns start trying to denigrate certain cities by only using their proper population.

San Francisco is the most well known city in the Bay Area......just like Dallas is the main city of the DFW metroplex.

The Bay Area is world class. DFW and Houston are not.

I would not include all of the Bay Area. The touristy stuff is in SF, the rest is a suburban wasteland of endless single family homes and corporate campuses, other than perhaps Stanford.

[SanJac]

Originally Posted by WRM20

I would not include all of the Bay Area. The touristy stuff is in SF, the rest is a suburban wasteland of endless single family homes and corporate campuses, other than perhaps Stanford.

San Francisco is not world class.

True World Class cities: London, New York, Paris, Tokyo.

Toronto, Sydney, Berlin, et. al. are all next level down. Why would anyone think Barcelona is World class? All the Gaudi art?

[Chi-town]

Originally Posted by SanJac

San Francisco is not world class.

True World Class cities: London, New York, Paris, Tokyo.

Toronto, Sydney, Berlin, et. al. are all next level down. Why would anyone think Barcelona is World class? All the Gaudi art?

I'm basically replying because your TRUE World Class list of Intn. cities IS A TOP 4 GLOBAL CITY LIST right out of - Kearney that puts out a respected GLOBAL RANK of the world's cities by their placement in the GLOBAL ECONOMY.

Still GLOBAL and World Class are not fully interchangeable. World Class is MUCH more broad and not meant to rank cities by a GLOBAL rank in significance in a global economy. Having world class traits claimed in rise and arrival. Are great to attain. Just do not raise a city to anywhere close to global significance.

I do believe Houston has world class traits, but can we really place it above a USA city that ranks top 10-15 globally?

So since your ONLY 4 city World Class list is so narrow. Yet coincides with - Kearney's rank of GLOBAL ECONOMY CITIES BY RANK.

If we extended to the TOP 10 or 15 GLOBALLY SIGNIFICANT city/metros OF THE WORLD ECONOMY. It includes other US cities other than NYC even in the top 10.

#1 NEW YORK
#2 London
#3 Paris
#4 Tokyo
#5 LOS ANGELES
#6 Beijing
#7 Hong Kong
#8 CHICAGO
#9 Singapore
#10 Shanghai
#11 SAN FRANCISCO
#12 Melbourne
#13 Berlin
#14 WASHINGTON DC
#15 Sydney

#20 Toronto
#22 Boston

So if YOUR World-Class cities are ALSO THE TOP GLOBALLY SIGNIFICANT ECONOMIES. The USA may have a couple more WORLD CLASS CITIES.

2021 TOP 10 - Kearney GLOBAL WORLD CITY RANK. Also gives top 30. The full 156 city rank is another link.

https://www.kearney.com/global-cities/2021

What Kearney uses in criteria.

The Global Cities Index (GCI) measures how globally engaged cities are across five dimensions:
business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement. The Index seeks to quantify the global connectedness of a city and assess the competitiveness of 156 cities across these five dimensions by considering factors such as the city’s market dynamics, education levels, information access, culture and entertainment options, and presence of international civic organizations.

The Global Cities Outlook (GCO) is a forward-looking evaluation of how the same cities are creating conditions for their future status as global hubs. This is measured across four dimensions: personal well-being, economics, innovation, and governance. We use 13 indicators to evaluate the city’s potential for long-term success, such as healthcare, inequality, ease of doing business, infrastructure development, and investment.

Sadly, Kearney's GLOBAL FUTURE OUTLOOK RANK. Is not good for America. NYC is #22 all other US cities below #30.

We have all these fast growing cities and states. By stealing for the cheaper even NYC's glory and from all our Northern and Western Legacy cities and spreading it into the sunbelt and beyond. We do not get them cities in any significant GLOBAL rising to any top tier. Just our Legacy cities dropping out. Hopefully, National Rank stays top tier unless we divide as a Nation or worse.

[spacecitytx]

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

Does Kansas or Cleveland have a Prada store? That was a dumb comparison ngl. Houston having more things to do than Cleveland/Kansas mostly come from its size but regardless of the reason and as it relates to this thread that’s a bit difference.

The comparison seems "dumb" until you realize that the vast majority of people are NOT shopping at damn PRADA.

If I lived right across the street from Prada, or Neiman, or Saks...but lived check to check and struggling to pay rent...then those stores might as well be abandoned buildings to me. And that goes for the vast majority of Americans. Hell, I do pretty well for myself and STILL have no desire to shop at Prada or any other high end store. Get real.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by spacecitytx

The comparison seems "dumb" until you realize that the vast majority of people are NOT shopping at damn PRADA.

If I lived right across the street from Prada, or Neiman, or Saks...but lived check to check and struggling to pay rent...then those stores might as well be abandoned buildings to me. And that goes for the vast majority of Americans. Hell, I do pretty well for myself and STILL have no desire to shop at Prada or any other high end store. Get real.

This isn’t a “best cities for middle class Americans” thread. Most people don’t want to pay to shop at designer stores, buy Bentleys. Most people can’t be on the board of a Fortune 500 company. Most people can’t get admitted to an elite private schools. Them existing adds world class traits.