interesting article interesting article especially since came britain mention enron next global city blob ate east texas jun 21 st 2001 houston economist print edition june 23 2001 outsiders texas foreign country biggest city though might surprise rest world texan big hat tells wonderful home town reach salt bob lanier former mayor houston actually wearing stetson gazes penthouse city sprawls 25 miles away every direction metaphorically houston claims could become one great cities world remarkable thing might right time city founded 1836 1970 houston doubled size almost every decade despite one deepest slumps city experienced since 1930 metropolitan area managed add lm people 1990 grow 4 7 making houston fourth largest city america already bigger berlin gdp around 215 billion year larger economy hong kong nearest metropolis cities northern mexico may attract another 2 people next two decades would give almost size population london global city far houston hardly dream becoming global financial centre like london new york tokyo business leaders think could become cosmopolitan entrepreneurial hub hong kong san francisco even new los angeles shares la smog sprawl latino culture even ugly hubris measures surpasses la ability reinvent economy use adaptability turn properly international place oil hopes still depend disproportionately global industry energy accounts half houston economy 1970 rest america stagflated houston boomed high oil prices sucked billions country oil capital decade alone city built almost much new office space total amount commercial property available san francisco money lent business plans formed assumption oil would go 50 barrel height boom 80 city economy oil related bust traumatic mid 1980 new office space stood empty every big local bank taken one property developers business left unsurprisingly certain paranoia lingers city oil business greater houston partnership main business lobby spent past 20 years frantically encouraging city diversify yet fact energy business houston emerged stronger terrible bust company company forced cut back collapsed operations back houston seem unlikely dispersed 1999 oil slumped 10 barrel number oil rigs america fell lowest point living memory houston still managed add energy jobs another boom prospect oil prices high matt simmonds head local energy consultancy argues america past reluctance build new power plants force increase energy capacity around 30 next ten 15 years rig count already 50 last year natural gas exploration soaring oil prices stay high big countries share america energy worries houston grow importance hampered wild catting reputation fact energy business changing three significant ways houston centre first technology long ago oil drills went 1 500 feet 457 metres go 15 000 feet companies use four dimensional computer imaging plan new fields time fourth making oil information intensive business puts premium kinds skills available houston second cost new oilfield exploration development risen far even newly merged behemoths always finance alone makes deal making vital good city deals made attending say lunch houston petroleum club loop third important oil part bigger energy business includes electricity divided self contained regional markets run local utilities electricity business changed gradual emergence national grid dominated power producers traders big users decide whether buy power long short term rates rather arrange financing new business energy arbitraging emerging itscentre houston three five new skyscrapers going downtown main tenants energy companies exist ten years ago one enron building 50 000 square foot trading floor single company answer chicago board trade enron probably houston successful energy company past ten years never explored pumped refined single drop ofoil black stuff however well placed houston take advantage energy business never great city one trick pony boosters point strengths trade houston america ssecond largest port remarkable considering 50 miles sea computers city home compaq america third largest pc maker include dell based austin two america four big computer firms south east texas silicon valley space national aeronautics space administration centre houston thanks lyndonjohnson native son medicine houston home probably largest medical complex world moment extraordinary optimism city set aside 700 acres middle town medicine hospitals clinics research centres texas medical centre employ 55 000 people deal 70 000 patients day st luke performed heart surgery hospital world md anderson texas children hospital among top two respective specialities cancerand paediatrics list holes houston real financial services mainstay biggest global cities pharmaceuticals despite medical centre new industries less robust boosters claim port success depends vagaries mexico economy space employ many people unlikely grow far day commercialisation space arrives texas medical centre set profit basis able commercialise activities hence lack drug firms though new biotechnology park may help fact houston main hope diversifying lies much particular sectors something intangible stunning ability create new firms past three years houston created new companies city america almost certainly best place either start business find first time job reasons real driving forces behind success beauty entrepreneurialism first unmeasurable holds barred optimism old school one survey shows two thirds americans agree assertion work hard city eventually succeed houston figure even bottom city recession 75 88 highest ever says survey author stephen klineberg rice university highest bigamerican city may true anything possible houston people act bill gilmer chief economist houston branch federal reserve system argues explains houston recovered fast oil bust unemployed engineers went set firms aerospace engineers los angeles end cold war put business second advantage technical uniquely american metropolis houston citywide zoning ordinances planning decisions made made developers land would entrepreneur thus easier cheaper find place set shop houston city america lack zoning laws hands power developers insist new developments large capture economies scale expand leapfrog fashion ignoring small 20 acre plots near city centre favour vast planned towns drives land prices sharply especially go centre top aversion red tape makes easy get building permits barton smith land economist university houston reckons lack red tape least important keep costs low lack zoning laws lack zoning also makes neighbourhoods slightly mixed terms usage residential commercial muddled elsewhere racially zoning laws force say bankrupt restaurant open restaurant areas change shape quickly time houston less segregated racially city bymost measures one impressed whites houston may likely peers elsewhere conversation someone different race previous week stopped heading suburbs much racial mixture downtown blacks latinos asians city america second largest vietnamese settlement southern california zoning laws enable local groups keep poor people example requiring housing plots huge houston remains racially desegregated american standards helps draw immigrant workers creating pool labour leads third houston main characteristics prove advantage 21 st century racial tolerance houston looked like southern town 1970 white large black minority generation later population roughly one third white one third black slightly one third brown cities similar profiles none went bi racial amulti racial city quite abruptly even strikingly peacefully houston race riot since 1914 largest southern city gone civil rights era aftermath without upheaval remarkable comment politics minorities long fully represented city council county commissions texas state legislature bob stein rice university argues unlike growing cities houston reinventing tradition powerful group civic minded business leaders fate whose companies closely tied city ken lay enron chairman example driving force behind building two sports stadiums pet project boost child literacy rumour may run mayor effect sort civic minded activism showed late 1990 time america busily abolishing affirmative action programmes houston went way new one approved city wide referendum better worse showed racially tolerant much longer many ways houston thriving kept alive old fashioned industrial mode growth built cheap land low taxes immigrant labour unfettered pro business policies model may enough next decades houston ugly hardly charming begin pulled many old buildings may pull even recent floods caused 2 billion worth damage also al gore rudely pointed presidential campaign polluted since cities attract skilled workers quality life benefits big problem one overcome cheap housing business leaders frantically trying catch unusual example bipartisanship fervently conservative property developer joined forces former member clinton administration back 500 bond issue plant lm trees greater houston partnership executed turn pollution argued last year new pollution controls damage growth crash course cut ozone creating emissions fast sudden change mind real poses tough question zoning houston 2 300 people acre compared 6 000 los angeles 20 000 new york end scale extraordinary extensiveness expensive one point early 1990 houston alone spending roads state except california course texas doubts much sprawl go three quarters best paid jobs still within inner ring road new suburbs 50 miles away city continue burst outwards attracting skilled people whose jobs downtown surely means introducing zoning lastly houston faces severe problem one area national reputation high education run number one priority mr bush picked secretary education rod paige former head houston independent school district president claimed correctly mr paige overseen substantial improvements city education especially among minorities say improvements nothing like enough despite successes individual schools half latinos fail graduate high school compared 10 whites 20 blacks whites abandoning houston public schools represent 12 pupils 54 latino quarter today schoolchildren likely dropout world good job depends college degree alarming rice university mr klineberg argues new immigrants mexico arrive lagging behind rest country educationally wave immigrants early 1900 first wave took several generations catch today immigrants close bigger gap quickly may end underclass could scratch houston sracial harmony houston houston make city experienced three big transformations affect america purest form change raw material economy services change bi racial multi racial place moderation holds barred pro business culture take account environmental social costs elsewhere changes occurred 50 years houston lived 20 next 20 years probably dramatic successful hold onto stetsons copyright 1995 2001 economist newspaper group ltd rights