Let’s be honest – unless you’re a rocket scientist (literally) or an Oil Man, you fall into the large category of people who describe Houston as “humid.” At best. We don’t have a national reputation for creativity, forward-thinking or hipness. (Up front, let us say that we LOVE Houston and believe otherwise… we’re just talking about a general impression.) Inspired by a Culture Map article that pitted us as “Austin’s frumpy sister,” we collected information about how our city stacks up in certain metrics, and this is what we found.
The case AGAINST Houston.
Social (Media) Studies. In a recent compilation by Oxford Communications, Houston ranks among the least social cities in the nation, despite its large population. Who knew our city was so introverted and off-line? The influencers of this map includeincome, gay index, technology, foreign-born, economic output, bohemian index (see below), human capital, creative class, innovation and working class (negatively).
La Vie Boheme. Richard Florida, renowned economist and leader of the “creative class” movement, put together a list of cities in terms of their “boho index score” which charts the concentration of working artists, designers, and all-around creative types. Houston turned up in the bottom 10, making it one of the least bohemian (and presumably least creative) cities in the U.S. and Canada.
Smarty Pants. According to The Daily Beast, Houston also ranks embarrassingly low in intelligence compared to other metropolitan areas, coming in at 52 out of 56 and earning the title of “4th dumbest U.S. city. “
The case FOR Houston.
Social (Media) Studies Revisited. They say numbers don’t lie, but that doesn’t mean they’re not misleading. Looking at their metrics, we can say that in terms of income, gay population, technology, economy, foreign-born population, we’re doing pretty well, so we guess it comes down to the number of “creative” professionals. But do people Tweeting for a living define a city’s sociability? There’s no question Houstonians use social media as an important communication device. PLUS, we support each other in all our professional and non-professional endeavors, and we have established a community that eschews competition for the greater creative good. Institutions like Caroline Collective and #SLGT are obvious advocates for this tight-knit mentality, and local agencies (like us!) are backing causes started by other creative entities. For instance, the Primer Gray and Colab Block Party (please come!), and our Black Sheep Shin-Digs serve no other purpose but to bring people together – competition or not. We think that’s way more important than being a city overrun with antagonistic marketers and spammers.
Bohemian Rhapsody. Here’s the thing about Houston. We may not have as many WORKING artists as other cities, but that doesn’t mean we’re not fans of the arts. It also probably means that our artists have full-time jobs working in industries like engineering or medicine, or starting up a business or non-profit. Furthermore, we have an impressive museum district, several great music venues bringing in respectable talent, a recurring and growing music festival, a world-class theater district and a substantial street art scene, not to mention the best food in the world. Our bohemian tendencies may still be nascent, but look out. Houston is on the upswing.
Brain Food for Thought. Perhaps we scored so low on those rankings because our city is filled with young people (18th bullet). Yet, we’re also ranked among the best places to live as a recent college graduate. Houston is also home to the UP Experience, TEDx Houston, and numerous outstanding educational institutions. It’s stupid to believe Houston is nothing more than a lazy cow town.
We don’t mean to sound defensive, and frankly, we don’t mind being the nation’s underdog. In fact, we like that this city is one of the best-kept secrets around. But that doesn’t mean we can sit back and relax. Houstonians, it’s up to us to keep growth moving in the right direction, to build our creative class and to continue fostering our community. Pretty soon, other cities will be looking to us, and it’s important that we don’t let the amount of water vapor in the air fog perception.