LAcharm

as far as density, yes dallas and houston are more dense, but atlanta has more residents downtown (even when you exclude public housing), entertainment venues and options, etc... but in the same respect, you may be right, they may just be catching up.....i will have to do the research to see. that was only my opinion

personally, im one of the few that think all three cities are different. i honestly think they share more differences than similarities, and the similarities they share are more common with most american cities. the major difference is perception of each city. i honestly think this is where houston catches the short end of the stick. i think houston is just as great as any of the other cities, but most people associate houston with oil and energy. not that fat city crap, not space (which goes to fla. because thats where most take offs and landings are, the only thing people know houston for is for that quote, i think we have a problem houston...other than that, no one associates houston with space) or any of those other stupid things yall mention. unlike atlanta and dallas, houston is much more of an industrial city and gets unfairly hammered for being such. i also think that 4th largest city thing hurts houston, because they dont have anything to back it up. when you say 4th largest city, most people think ny, la, chi, then.....................................houston. it isnt like the other three, and most people upon visiting houston are expecting to see the 4th largest city (in which the average joe blow thinks of as metro) in the nation. i thought houston did themselves a great disservice by not fighting for the hp headquarters. this was yalls only chance to grow a diverse economy. majority of houstons economy consist of oil and energy. personally, despite dallas' claim to be the largest, i think atlanta has the brightest future, as far as infill development. many of its newcomers are from the noreast, and want to live within an active setting, unlike the many californians moving to texas looking for more suburban homes. in the future i think they will have many more entertainment options, and create that true sense of new age urbantry (especially with their large downtown college population). they will have to lose that negative hip hop image though, because this is pushing many white as well as black professionals away. i honestly think that atlanta and dallas have much more in common out of the three, especially with both having diverse economies and being land locked due to suburbs, so both can only go up. also these "trendy" projects are passing through both cities. dallas is a bit more cosmo because they have sold that to themselves, so they act as such. same thing with them being better than houstonites, because they grew up believing it, and acted as such, even though they arent. dallas problem is its suburbs (and will soon be atlanta's problem). other than l.a. and phoenix, its one of the only other large cities that has to compete extensively with its suburbs. every city has a convention center, hotels, airport,mall, sports stadium, same set of restaurants, and some sort of skyline. if dallas can find a way to control that growth, they will be alright, but that city keeps going farther north, and southwest. weather is also a huge issue. they have the most extreme summers and winters. no in between really. i would give atlanta the edge for weather, although there winters are a little harsh. i have a friend whose a nurse in lewisville, that strongly considered moving away because of their lack of trees and forest as well. she wanted to move to atlanta (but was hesitant because of the negative hip hop image, and she is black). she told me that everytime theres a park or forest, or some kind of trees, they tear them down to build a strip center, and she was tired of it. she loved the natural beauty of atlanta. one thing i personally love about dallas is their business climate, which i think can propel it above many, and the fact that they are attracting huge chunks of black professionals (which is important to me) but thats it, sorry for ranting.

do i sense *cough* .....................jealousy

i think willy1 hit the nail on the head by what he said. i think dallas' diverse economy also helped them out a little bit too. houston may have mor f500 co., but all but 6 are oil or energy related. i think dallas and atlanta has some of the most diverse economies in the south. also, because of this correlation to oil and energy, houston seems kinda blue collar, and dallas has rid itself of that image dallas just says....TEXAS, when someone mentions texas is one of the fastest growing states, they automatically think dallas first. also, their airport being in the top ten in the world did not help houston out.