Houston: City Gone Wrong or Model of Urbanity for the Future?

[Spartan65]

Huh-what? So parking garages and green space are suburban things?

OK then I suppose Houston isn't a very urban city at all in that case. You guys win. 

[GuyInLenexa]

I lived in Houston for five years, during the oil boom and bust in the 80's.  I worked downtown in Two Allen Center. 
Unlike most people on this forum judging it by a visit or going to a game, I lived there and KC.
To even speculate that KCMO or Clayton is more urban than the city, or even just the Galleria/Post Oak area is totaly a belly laugh.  Houston is far more urban and cosmopolitan than KC, any denial of that is DENIAL.
There are more housing units under construction inside the loop in Houston than all of DT KCMO.
Don't get me wrong, I am not knocking KCMO, but I must say Houston is one of the most remakable cities I have ever lived in or been in for that matter.  KCMO is not in the same class, apples and oranges.  Both great cities, both totally different.
Post WWII Houston brought it from a mediocre town to fourth largest city in the nation.  I doubled its size from 1960 to today.  Even though there is not zoning, the developers or the planners did a great job. 

[ddw334umkc]

Houston is a very dense urban center. With so many highrise condos going up, Houston is experiencing a Manhattanization within it's very inner core especially within the Galleria/Post Oak district.  It's no more sprawled out than KC.

[anniewarbucks]

Houston is nothing but sprawl lets face it. If there is no zoning then you can build just about anywhere you want.

[GRID]

Look, I realize that Houston is a very large city that it's "urban" as in being built out and it has dense areas including a very large downtown office district.  All I'm saying is that the city is lacking in hard core urbanity for a city of its size.  That is changing, but compared to other towns of that size or even smaller towns, like Dallas, the city still feels more suburban than urban in most of the city, including the city of Houston itself.  It's a fine town, the size of the city alone is going to create a city that is cosmopolitan, has a great sports, arts, nightlife scene etc.  I also realize that comparing KC to Houston is somewhat ridiculous and really doesn't even make sense.  Houston is a very "suburban" town, it's a gigantic KC.  Good or bad, that's what it is.

Here are some photos of the Galleria area where most of Houston's "urban" housing is going up.  All I'm saying is this area is more like Overland Park than Chicago.  That's all I'm saying.

And Downtown Houston does not have much residential going on.  They are about to break ground (or may already have) on the first highrise residential tower to go up in decades there, much like KCMO.

[chrizow]

the other day my dad mentioned that, before he went to vietnam, he did training or boot camp or something in or near houston.  he said he would sooner go back to vietnam than houston. 

[49r]

Dear Christ...soo many words...

...what started to be a relatively interesting discussion has just gotten pissed all over on.  Why is it this happens repeatedly in this discussion room?  Why do the skyline pictures start to fly in these threads?

WHY?????

[cdschofield]

I would agree that Houston is denser than most make it out to be but considering Galveston as the southern tip of the CMSA also makes the case that it is sprawly. I would never argue that Houston is not urban, cosmopolitan or even a not a world class city. There's just nothing endearing about it. It's just BIG.

Speaking of the Galleria and a bit off topic. I worked in Dallas during the boom days of the 80's and the last time I was in Dallas a few months ago I started noticing how a lot of the glossy new development from those days are really not aging well. When I pulled into a parking garage at the Galleria mall in Houston about 6 months ago it hit me how much it was showing it's age. Inside the mall it's still nice with upscale shops and all but it just wasn't as impressive as it was in the 80's. My point being, in the 80's it was downright exhilaratingly to live in Dallas or Houston with so much new and exciting stuff going on. Now it's all kind of maturing. I'm not predicting the demise of these cities but just considering that a perfect urban environment is not the only source of growth and prosperity for a city like Richard Florida theorizes. I'm also no fan of Kotkin theories either. As usual the reality of what cities need is probably somewhere in the middle.

[Spartan65]

WHY?????

Because apparently someone just compared the Galleria to Overland Park. Oh and pigs now fly.

And Grid's suggestion that most of Houston's urban infill is occurring in the Galleria is completely and utterly laughable, and oh so incredibly wrong. By the way Grid, nice pics as always, but I like these a little better:

[49r]

Oh great, and with yet another 6 meg post, Spartan65 saves the world...

[Spartan65]

You could save megabytes by sparing us the shitless posts as always.

[KCPowercat]

Spartan....do you know what a megabyte is?  hint:  15 words isn't a megabyte.

Also, can you tell us all cities, topics, colors, music, religions, teams, and/or numbers you support?  That way we can steer clear of those subjects here so we aren't subject to your attacking, rude posts.  Thanks in advance.

[ComandanteCero]

I think fundamentally, what the article asks is: can we learn something from Houston? 

So far I haven't seen anything that shows a compelling reason to imitate Houston.  I'd love to have their energy/chemical based economy, but other than that I don't see how their land use non-policy has created a particularly attractive or noteworthy city (beyond its economy driven size, and all the cultural and entertainment options that provides).

[kcmetro]

What Portland is to liberals is what Houston is to conservatives. No zoning, oil mecca, Bush state, etc. 

[Spartan65]

Spartan....do you know what a megabyte is?  hint:  15 words isn't a megabyte.

Also, can you tell us all cities, topics, colors, music, religions, teams, and/or numbers you support?  That way we can steer clear of those subjects here so we aren't subject to your attacking, rude posts.  Thanks in advance.

Oh and this isn't attacking at all. ^ and V

Oh great, and with yet another 6 meg post, Spartan65 saves the world...

[KCPowercat]

you get what's coming to you.  1300 members here and 99% of them have no issues....that could be a hint.

[Spartan65]

A lot more than that have issues and of those, 99% of them sure as heck don't post. Come on, you used to run this site. You know all about the pesky lurkers that account for most of that 1,300 number of yours.

So do we have anything besides nagging for us out-of-towner posters today?

What Portland is to liberals is what Houston is to conservatives. No zoning, oil mecca, Bush state, etc. 

WELL. Even though I regrettably DID vote for Bush (lesser of two evils; moron vs. twit) the City of Houston was actually a narrow Kerry victory.

[BVC]

What Portland is to liberals is what Houston is to conservatives. No zoning, oil mecca, Bush state, etc. 

Oh boy...

[KC0KEK]

I guess I'm the exception, but I actually appreciate Spartan's pix. Nice to see more views of the city, regardless of whether the pix are supposed to be arguing some point.

[Spartan65]

My point is just that these are the images of what Houston was to me while I was living there and whenever I go back "home." These are obviously the pictures that paint areas even like the Galleria in a more urban light, as with the rest of the entire Inner Loop as well. What you have to remember is that the Galleria is not EVEN in the Inner Loop. Obviously, while the Galleria IS a very rapidly growing uptown district, it is not representative of Houston urbanity. That would have to be Montrose or the Heights.