Dallas vs. Houston vs. Singapore (apartments, credit, school)
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Which do you prefer? Three metros of approximately the same size.
Please do your research about all three cities before dismissing Houston and Dallas.
--Economy: Surprisingly, Singapore actually is one of the world's largest oil refining and energy trading centers, and the largest producer of offshore oil rigs. That, and Singapore's burgeoning fintech and biotech industries. Singapore is also the world's second busiest container port, and the second largest gambling center in the world.
--Education: Singapore's two flagship universities, NUS and Nanyang Tech, rank tops in Asia according to the QS university ranking. But Rice is no slouch, either.
K-12 Education: Ok, fine, I'll admit it, Singapore always scores light-years ahead of the U.S. in Math and Science, BUT--and this is a big BUT--school performance in the U.S. varies much more with socioeconomics/race than it does in Singapore or other countries. High-income students and Asian students in the U.S., for example, were found to score just as high as the average Japanese student in Math and Science on these standardized tests. So, let's compare K-12 education in some wealthy suburbs of Dallas (like Plano) vs. your average Singaporean school.
--Weather: Singapore is hot and humid and rainy all year round (just like Tampa in the summer, but for much longer, although some months average 4-5 degrees cooler than others). Sea breezes greatly moderate the heat, though (temps have never exceeded 97 degrees). There has only been one tropical storm/typhoon in recorded history (category 1 hurricane in 2001, an extreme anomaly). Tornadoes are also exceedingly rare. The air quality is very good except during forest fire season in the autumn (last two years, though, saw minimal forest fire smoke.)
Dallas does get some snow and ice every year, but it's also in Tornado Alley. Houston does cool off much more than Singapore, but hurricanes are far more frequent and severe.
--Food
--Urban planning/infrastructure: Singapore is meticulously planned, with very minimal traffic (at least compared to Los Angeles), because cars are taxed so heavily that even a Corolla can cost over $100,000 USD. Not only are all the roads meticulously maintained and litter-free, the freeways feature landscaped medians with tropical plants. The airport often ranks first in customer satisfaction in the world. The subway, though, has seen some epic breakdowns in recent years. On a more positive note, the subway is already quite extensive and heavily ridden but is rapidly expanding in both stations and ridership, and is very modern (the newer lines feature fully-automated, driverless trains). Plus, trains come every 2-4 minutes during rush hour.
Most suburbs of Singapore, though feature monotonous, cookie-cutter high-rise apartment blocks. Imagine a high-rise version of The Woodlands or Plano, and that would be Singapore's suburbs.
To Dallas' credit, Dallas has the longest light-rail system in the US, including a direct link from Downtown to the airport. Dallas' light rail is also more punctual and reliable than Singapore's, though trains are not as frequent (but not too shabby, every 10 minutes during rush hour).
But I tend to think this is for a reason. Singapore is generally higher on livability, culture, urbanity, food, nature, transit, economic, etc. metrics.
Economy goes to Singapore, though it is inherently reliant on the global economy. Should the next few decades see a massive sea change towards nationalist and populist ideals amongst developed countries then this could be a tremendous weakness. I kinda think Houston and Dallas could weather this on the strength of the US.
K-12 education/weather are more or less even. I don't know, it's not drastic enough of a difference...I'll say I would have had Singapore below the others but the OP convinced me to make it a push.
Food...obviously this is subjective but I think Singapore has the best food in the world. Houston and Dallas acquit themselves quite well but can only outperform SG in certain areas. (I'd put Houston above Dallas)
Planning/Infrastructure: SG is possibly the leader in the world for this. You kinda touched on the car regulations, but I think there is an age limit on vehicles as well? Not sure if that still exists, but they try to make cars breaking down a very rare occurrence. In addition to tolls designed carefully to control traffic flow, there is an incredible amount of planning to ensure vehicular traffic moves with regularity at all times. And yes those residential towers can look mundane, but the govt provides housing to something like 80% of citizens (many of whom own their units) so it's an amazingly successful and effective way to mitigate what would be a major housing crisis similar to Hong Kong.
But I tend to think this is for a reason. Singapore is generally higher on livability, culture, urbanity, food, nature, transit, economic, etc. metrics.
Yes, most apartments in Singapore cost $500 dollars a square foot (of course much higher than that if you're in the Downtown areas). $500/sq foot is three times as expensive as what you'd get in Dallas or Houston, but actually no more expensive than many suburbs of Los Angeles, and for sure cheaper than the Bay Area.
Which do you prefer? Three metros of approximately the same size.
Please do your research about all three cities before dismissing Houston and Dallas.
--Economy: Surprisingly, Singapore actually is one of the world's largest oil refining and energy trading centers, and the largest producer of offshore oil rigs. That, and Singapore's burgeoning fintech and biotech industries. Singapore is also the world's second busiest container port, and the second largest gambling center in the world.
--Education: Singapore's two flagship universities, NUS and Nanyang Tech, rank tops in Asia according to the QS university ranking. But Rice is no slouch, either.
K-12 Education: Ok, fine, I'll admit it, Singapore always scores light-years ahead of the U.S. in Math and Science, BUT--and this is a big BUT--school performance in the U.S. varies much more with socioeconomics/race than it does in Singapore or other countries. High-income students and Asian students in the U.S., for example, were found to score just as high as the average Japanese student in Math and Science on these standardized tests. So, let's compare K-12 education in some wealthy suburbs of Dallas (like Plano) vs. your average Singaporean school.
--Weather: Singapore is hot and humid and rainy all year round (just like Tampa in the summer, but for much longer, although some months average 4-5 degrees cooler than others). Sea breezes greatly moderate the heat, though (temps have never exceeded 97 degrees). There has only been one tropical storm/typhoon in recorded history (category 1 hurricane in 2001, an extreme anomaly). Tornadoes are also exceedingly rare. The air quality is very good except during forest fire season in the autumn (last two years, though, saw minimal forest fire smoke.)
Dallas does get some snow and ice every year, but it's also in Tornado Alley. Houston does cool off much more than Singapore, but hurricanes are far more frequent and severe.
--Food
--Urban planning/infrastructure: Singapore is meticulously planned, with very minimal traffic (at least compared to Los Angeles), because cars are taxed so heavily that even a Corolla can cost over $100,000 USD. Not only are all the roads meticulously maintained and litter-free, the freeways feature landscaped medians with tropical plants. The airport often ranks first in customer satisfaction in the world. The subway, though, has seen some epic breakdowns in recent years. On a more positive note, the subway is already quite extensive and heavily ridden but is rapidly expanding in both stations and ridership, and is very modern (the newer lines feature fully-automated, driverless trains). Plus, trains come every 2-4 minutes during rush hour.
Most suburbs of Singapore, though feature monotonous, cookie-cutter high-rise apartment blocks. Imagine a high-rise version of The Woodlands or Plano, and that would be Singapore's suburbs.
To Dallas' credit, Dallas has the longest light-rail system in the US, including a direct link from Downtown to the airport. Dallas' light rail is also more punctual and reliable than Singapore's, though trains are not as frequent (but not too shabby, every 10 minutes during rush hour).
Well the way you have written the OP and with the criteria listed, kind of makes it hard to vote against Singapore, wouldn't you say? You seem to lean heavily towards it, which is of course fine.
Singapore is what it is by necessity. Densely populated cities could learn from Singapore, I am sure.
Last edited by davidt1; 11-04-2018 at 11:27 AM..
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