Where Young Graduates Are Choosing to Live

[TexasPlaya]

Originally Posted by Crawford

The point is that Houston is about the least urban city of its size on the planet, and appears to have the fastest growth, so it would difficult to argue some sort of correlation here between urban preferences and relative growth rates.

Strong growth rate drove every major world city. The only thing NYC had going for it, urbanity wise, is the time period in which it had its longest sustained growth.

Originally Posted by mhays

Yes, it's seeing a lot of infill, which is great. Some is even kinda urban. But what cities of 6,000,000 are less urban than Houston? Dallas or Atlanta? Otherwise I'm thinking of Asia, Canada, Australia, Europe, Africa....drawing a blank. Most of the world's cities seem to be at least a few multiples of Houston's density.

DFW is larger and ATL is smaller, they both are about a dense as Houston.

I'm sure most of the world cities' residents would love to live in a place like Houston, DFW, or ATL.

[fflint]

People move to different places for different reasons. College graduates have more leeway than those without a degree, so they can move to Houston for a job, or Portland for the scene, or New York for the amenities...these kinds of decisions are very personal.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by TexasPlaya

Strong growth rate drove every major world city. The only thing NYC had going for it, urbanity wise, is the time period in which it had its longest sustained growth.

I don't know what any of this means.

No, not every major world city on this list has a strong growth rate. Houston is a big outlier.

And your second sentence makes no sense. Urbanity has nothing to do with sustained growth, and NYC isn't an outlier on the list anyways. It's smack dab in the middle.

And its urban form has always been an outlier in the U.S. regardless of local, period-specific growth rates.

Originally Posted by TexasPlaya

I'm sure most of the world cities' residents would love to live in a place like Houston, DFW, or ATL.

No doubt, as most the world is poor, and anywhere in the U.S. would be extremely attractive. But the attraction of these cities has nothing to do with urbanity. If anything, for many poor people from the developing world, the relative lack of urbanity would be quite appealing.

[Leo the Dog]

Why is this turning into a bash on Houston thread?

Houston continues to grow, prosper and evolve into an urban metropolis. Houston is unique. I would expect everyone on here to root for Houston, but instead we see the opposite.

I don't understamd the constant negativity on this site. Maybe because it's in Texas, or the South, or the evil sunbelt?

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I don't know what any of this means.

No, not every major world city on this list has a strong growth rate. Houston is a big outlier.

And your second sentence makes no sense. Urbanity has nothing to do with sustained growth, and NYC isn't an outlier on the list anyways. It's smack dab in the middle.

And its urban form has always been an outlier in the U.S. regardless of local, period-specific growth rates.

^ I thought TexasPlaya's post was pretty simple, really.

All he is saying is that all global cities had a strong growth rate at some point in their history, in order to become that big; and often it is the form of city development in the time period of that growth spurt that defines that city's built form for decades, perhaps centuries, to come.

New York's biggest growth spurt was from the mid 19th to the early 20th centuries, thus its built form will forever be urban and walkable. Houston's biggest growth spurt is late 20th century-present and onward, thus its built form is far more auto-centric.

[mhays]

A large percentage of growth recent decades and currently is high-density and urban, in the US and elsewhere. Sprawl is related to timing, but it's also about growth controls, transportation types, land values, zoning, and so on. The world is full of recent growth done well, often at huge densities.

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by Leo the Dog

Why is this turning into a bash on Houston thread?

Houston continues to grow, prosper and evolve into an urban metropolis. Houston is unique. I would expect everyone on here to root for Houston, but instead we see the opposite.

I don't understamd the constant negativity on this site. Maybe because it's in Texas, or the South, or the evil sunbelt?

It seems that at every opportunity, the same members manage to turn the discussion to their perceived problems with Houston. Some of the information is correct, but these members often work in misinformation or misleading information as well, and often in a condescending manner. As long as it's tolerated, Houston or Texas members will continue to drop out, and lurkers will decide not to join.

[JManc]

Guys, enough with the x city is more urban/ denser than y city bullshit. It has nothing to with the topic. It's always the same few folks who seem to derail these kinds of threads.

[KevinFromTexas]

There are a few reasons why people move to other places, but most of the big ones have to do with things like work and school or their health. Certain climates are no good for certain health conditions. And then there's things like specialized medical treatment they need that can dictate where they can live based on what medical facilities offer the services they need. The biggest reasons though, are work and school. Even on a skyscraper forum delving into everything urban everyday, to suggest that people move strictly on the basis of built environment, is laughable. Not even politics is something that makes people move to or away from a place.

[chris08876]

This thread is no good. It will just be another versus. Similar to the "New York and London vie for crown of world’s top financial centre" or the GDP thread.

Any time there are percentages involved, it leads nowhere. These lists are highly bias and subjective. Often, the way they are calculated is flawed.

[dc_denizen]

people move where the jobs are. you think I would have willingly chosen central NJ? I'd rather be in Houston!

[jcchii]

it seems like a fairly statistically challenged measurement when you are talking about percent growth over an existing city's percentage of young people. You would have to be comparing similar sized cities with similar starting percentages of young people.

comparing a giant NY or Chi to, say, Portland, isn't close to apples to apples mathwise

even rate growth is going to be suspect. If you live in a very small town with 10 young people, and 5 more move there then, yay, you achieved 50 percent growth.

so you are monumentally ahead of San Francisco? ok

reminds me of a guy I knew in college from Augusta, GA, who thought that Augusta, GA, was a major hub airport.
That was because all of his trips began and ended in Augusta, GA

[Shawn]

Originally Posted by jcchii

it seems like a fairly statistically challenged measurement when you are talking about percent growth over an existing city's percentage of young people. You would have to be comparing similar sized cities with similar starting percentages of young people.

comparing a giant NY or Chi to, say, Portland, isn't close to apples to apples mathwise

even rate growth is going to be suspect. If you live in a very small town with 10 young people, and 5 more move there then, yay, you achieved 50 percent growth.

so you are monumentally ahead of San Francisco? ok

reminds me of a guy I knew in college from Augusta, GA, who thought that Augusta, GA, was a major hub airport.
That was because all of his trips began and ended in Augusta, GA

Kevin the Accountant from The Office: "Math is hard."

We are comparing growth rates here. So yeah - contrasting Portland and San Diego to even Boston and Houston is a bit dubious, let alone a place like New York (there are more people within 3 miles of wherever this report defines as "New York City center" than are living in the entire state of Oregon).

Hudkina's numbers are more meaningful to me - the absolute increases in this cohort's numbers. These numbers make Houston look all that more impressive in my mind.