<p>Yeah, jmanco is the known Rice troll. I think of Rice as a top LAC with engineering and great Pre-med (kinda like Emory but slightly better). Wouldn't say it is better than any other school unless its for premed.</p>
<p>Does Houston have the world's busiest airport? Nope. That's in Atlanta. Atlanta also has a significant number of foreign consular offices.</p>
<p>I'd take Atlanta over Houston any day. Houston is bigger but Atlanta is probably more "hip". Atlanta has significantly higher percentage of people with bachelor degree or higher. It is also nicknamed the gay mecca of the South; these should tell you which one is more progressive. ;)</p>
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<p>Sorry to go off topic, but this one really isn't even debatable. Houston wins by a longshot in terms of international significance and influence. Houston is the center of the world energy industry, has the world's largest medical center, and the nation's second busiest port. These 3 main factors, along with significant biotech and aerospace industries (not to mention being the nation's center of manned space flight and the International Space Station) are the reason Houston has a much larger and diverse international population and footprint than Atlanta. </p>
<p> [quote=] Does Houston have the world's busiest airport? Nope. That's in Atlanta. Atlanta also has a significant number of foreign consular offices.
</p>
<p>Size of airports do not tell the full story. By your logic, Atlanta is the most significant city in the world since it does have the world's busiest airport. The majority of this (like most US hub airports) is domestic connecting traffic. Atlanta's airport is only as big as it is because Delta is a very large airline that chose to make it its primary connecting hub, unlike other large carriers that aren't as concentrated in one major hub city (e.g, AA with Chicago, Dallas, and Miami vs. Delta's much smaller Cincinatti, Salt Lake City and (relatively) JFK hubs compared to Atlanta). There are international flts to more destinations from ATL, for sure, but 99% are on Delta because Delta feeds them with its massive domestic hub. However, more foreign carriers actually serve Houston, and with more frequencies. Per census #'s, Houston has a much larger international population in number, as well as percentage.</p>
<p>Houston is 2nd to NY in # of F500 companies. It also has more foreign consulates (~80) than Atlanta (~50), making it #3 in the US.</p>
<p>Since many sources are available to verify everything I've written, I'm really not even going to bother citing here. Feel free to check!</p>
<p>By the way - Houston also achieves this international prominence and superiority while having another major in-state rival with Dallas/Ft. Worth, something Atlanta doesn't contend with as the primary center of Georgia and the South.</p>
<p>Houston has "international prominence"? That's new to me as someone from Asia. Oh, I forgot, people now know it exists because of Yao Ming. ;)</p>
<p>
[quote]
Houston has a much larger international population in number, as well as percentage
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</p>
<p>Do most of them come from Mexico?? That's different from real international cities like NYC, Hong Kong or London where the internationals come from all over the world, instead of predominately one country just across the broader.</p>
<p>Houston has international prominence to people in the oil, medical, aerospace, international shipping, immigration, legal, etc. business.</p>
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[quote=]
Houston has "international prominence"? That's new to me as someone that came from Asia. Oh, I forgot, people now know the city because of Yao Ming.
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</p>
<p>Funny the Asian population in Houston is one of the largest in the country after California and NY, then, right? Same for the Indian sub-continent and Middle East. What's the Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai, Indian, and Pakistani population of Atlanta vs. Houston? Which city does Singapore Airlines, Emirates, and soon Qatar serve? Which city does British Airways, Air France, and KLM serve twice daily? Not Atlanta.</p>
<p>Whatever you may feel about energy, heavy port, and biomedical industries, the reality is they have more direct actual international impact than Coca-Cola and CNN.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, Houston also has better museums and performing arts venues. Does Atlanta even have recognized resident companies in all the major performing arts (opera, ballet, symphony, theater)?</p>
<p>Atlanta has an entire area that has become an Asian mecca from Chamblee down to Decatur. It also has far more nice neighborhoods and nicer scenery with rolling hills rather than humid swampland. The weather is much better and there are more walkable areas with beautiful parks.</p>
<p>Atlanta has the central hub, its international airport is the most busiest in the WORLD. Have you ever been on an airplane? Have you ever seen the amount of airline companies with HQs based in Atlanta, Georgia?</p>
<p>Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is simply world famous fo the amount of air traffic it has over its skies and runways.</p>
<p>Size doesn't matter, its all about volume of transit, amount of airplanes arrival/departure, number of passengers, number of destination served, number of aircraft movement...</p>
<p>Atlanta.....1996 Olympics.....You can't get more international than the World Olympics.</p>
<p>I think that it's been firmly established that Houston much more international than Atlanta and is a site of more international significance; preferences to live in either city is another story full of subjective opinions.</p>
<p>Unless someone has extensive knowledge of BOTH cities, I would advise against people casting sweeping generalizations of either city--I myself am not that knowledgeable about Houston (though I will be heading there in a couple months), but last summer I visited Sugar Land, TX and the living there is EXTREMELY GOOD. In 2006, Money magazine rated it one of the top 10 best places to live. </p>
<p>The living standards are EXCELLENT and everything is so much cheaper (financially, not qualitatively)--a house that would cost a million dollars where I live (rich suburb in DC metropolitan area) would cost 1/3 or even 1/4 the price in Houston (qualities being all equal). And my friend from Atlanta marvelled at how things were so much cheaper in Houston than in Atlanta as well--his aunt just bought a house in Houston slightly bigger than his at a cost half the price it was half a decade ago.</p>
<p>I have absolutely no clue about Atlanta, however, so I will not say anything for or against it.</p>
<p>Each city has its good and bad points, and to one person Houston may be more preferable than Atlanta, but to another it might be vice versa. At any rate, though, Houston indeed is more international than Atlanta... I'm not quite sure how relevant this is to the OP's original post though.</p>
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[quote=]
Do most of them come from Mexico?? That's different from real international cities like NYC, Hong Kong or London where the internationals come from all over the world, instead of predominately one country just across the broader.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes, Mexico... and Central America, and South America, and Africa, and Europe, and Asia. Check the demographic #s between Atlanta and Houston. A higher percentage of Houston's growth is international migration. And, I didn't think we were comparing Houston to Hong Kong, NYC, or London</p>
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[quote=]
Atlanta has the central hub, its international airport is the most busiest in the WORLD. Have you ever been on an airplane? Have you ever seen the amount of airline companies with HQs based in Atlanta, Georgia?</p>
<p>Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is simply world famous fo the amount of air traffic it has over its skies and runways.</p>
<p>Size doesn't matter, its all about volume of transit, amount of airplanes arrival/departure, number of passengers, number of destination served, number of aircraft movement...</p>
<p>
[/quote]
No, overall airport size doesn't matter. Please read above. I already addressed how these have no bearing on how Houston is a more international city. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta is a massive CONNECTING hub - the vast majority of traffic - like all major US hub airports - is CONNECTING traffic. Delta has just done it bigger in Atlanta than anywhere else. NY, Chicago, London, Paris, and Tokyo all have smaller airports than Atlanta too. Understand? Atlanta did recently pass Houston in international traffic since Delta keeps adding international flts, but Houston still has more international carriers/frequency... it just is not relying on as massive a domestic connecting operation to feed it.</p>
<p>By the way, I actually happen to really like Atlanta and agree it's 'prettier' than Houston. But we're talking about which is more international in both population and global influence.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Global Cities [7]</p>
<p>Well rounded global cities
Very large contribution: London and New York City.
Smaller contribution and with cultural strengths: Los Angeles, Paris, and San Francisco.
Incipient global cities: Amsterdam, Boston, Chicago, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, Toronto.
Global niche cities - specialised global contributions
Financial: Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo.
Political and social: Brussels, Geneva and Washington, D.C.
World Cities</p>
<p>Subnet articulator cities
Cultural: Berlin, Copenhagen, Melbourne, Munich, Oslo, Rome, Stockholm.
Political: Bangkok, Beijing, Vienna.
Social: Manila, Nairobi, Ottawa.
Worldwide leading cities
Primarily economic global contributions: Frankfurt, Miami, Munich, Osaka, Singapore, Sydney, Zurich
Primarily non-economic global contributions: Abidjan, Addis Ababa, Atlanta, Basel, Barcelona, Cairo, Denver, Harare, Lyon, Manila, Mexico City, Mumbai, New Delhi, Shanghai.
[/quote]
Global</a> city - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</p>
<p>1996</a> Summer Olympics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</p>
<p>
[quote=]
A. ALPHA WORLD CITIES (full service world cities)
12: London, New York, Paris, Tokyo</p>
<p>10: Chicago, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Milan, Singapore</p>
<hr>
<p>B. BETA WORLD CITIES (major world cities)
9: San Francisco, Sydney, Toronto, Zurich</p>
<p>8: Brussels, Madrid, Mexico City, Sao Paulo</p>
<p>7: Moscow, Seoul</p>
<hr>
<p>C. GAMMA WORLD CITIES (minor world cities)
6: Amsterdam, Boston, Caracas, Dallas, Düsseldorf, Geneva, Houston, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Melbourne, Osaka, Prague, Santiago, Taipei, Washington</p>
<p>5: Bangkok, Beijing, Montreal, Rome, Stockholm, Warsaw</p>
<p>4: Atlanta, Barcelona, Berlin, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Miami, Minneapolis, Munich, Shanghai</p>
<hr>
<p>D. EVIDENCE OF WORLD CITY FORMATION
Di Relatively strong evidence</p>
<p>3: Athens, Auckland, Dublin, Helsinki, Luxembourg, Lyon, Mumbai, New Delhi, Philadelphia, Rio de Janeiro, Tel Aviv, Vienna</p>
<p>Dii Some evidence</p>
<p>2: Abu Dhabi, Almaty, Birmingham, Bogota, Bratislava, Brisbane, Bucharest, Cairo, Cleveland, Cologne, Detroit, Dubai, Ho Chi Minh City, Kiev, Lima, Lisbon, Manchester, Montevideo, Oslo, Riyadh, Rotterdam, Seattle, Stuttgart, The Hague, Vancouver</p>
<p>Diii Minimal evidence</p>
<p>1: Adelaide, Antwerp, Arhus, Baltimore, Bangalore, Bologna, Brasilia, Calgary, Cape Town, Colombo, Columbus, Dresden, Edinburgh, Genoa, Glasgow, Gothenburg, Guangzhou, Hanoi, Kansas City, Leeds, Lille, Marseille, Richmond, St Petersburg, Tashkent, Tehran, Tijuana, Turin, Utrecht, Wellington</p>
<p>
[/quote]
</p>
<p>notice that not only is Houston a 6 pt, but more importantly, it has to compete with Dallas in the same state/region for this prominence. Atlanta has... Charlotte?</p>
<p>I guess Houston is more international than Atlanta. You learn something new everyday.</p>
<p>My original assumption was that any city that hosts the Olympics should be considered international. It lacks the cultural influence, non economic contribution,etc.. of Houston.</p>
<p>Things are still cheap in Houston because the place was in a DEPRESSION for about 15 years (1983-1998). It was more famous for see-through office buildings and empty shopping centers than anything else.</p>
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[quote=]
I guess Houston is more international than Atlanta. You learn something new everyday.</p>
<p>My original assumption was that any city that hosts the Olympics should be considered international. It lacks the cultural influence, non economic contribution,etc.. of Houston.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes, just like Lake Placid, Turin, Salt Lake City and Nagano, hosting the olympics clearly says "We've arrived on the world stage!" Seriously, I'm not arguing Atlanta is an international city. Clearly it is. It's just that Houston is moreso... in total population and influence. Olympics are nice and so is Coca-Cola! But the reality is Houston's position as the world energy (not just oil) hub is <em>slightly</em> more significant.</p>
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[quote=]
Things are still cheap in Houston because the place was in a DEPRESSION for about 15 years (1983-1998). It was more famous for see-through office buildings and empty shopping centers than anything else.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>And Atlanta's metro was about the same size as Minneapolis and almost completely black and white with little diversity 20 years ago. What's your point?</p>
<p>Cheap and prosperous. How better d'you want it?</p>
<p>Even with the Enron meltdown a few years ago, the economy here is booming in comparison to the rest of the nation. People are struck by how much new construction is going up around here, and our office is backlogged to heck and is still supplying our other offices around the nation with new work on local projects.</p>
<p>Houston's a pretty great place to live right now.</p>