Dallas in the 21st century

Like many major US cities, Dallas has experienced an "urban renewal" in the 2000s. From the mid-1980s to 2005, not a single highrise structure was built within the downtown freeway loop. In 2005, three towers began construction amid tens of residential conversions and smaller residential projects. By the year 2010, the North Central Texas Council of Governments expects 10,000 residents to live within the loop. Just north, Uptown is one of the hottest real estate markets in the country. At the beginning of 2006, nine highrise residential buildings or hotels were under construction in that area. Leading the way is the $500M phase two of Victory, a ^US$3B+ project. At full build-out, it should contain more than 4,000 residences and 4M ft² of office and retail space.

The Arts District in downtown is also expected to become a major point of growth. As the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts Foundation implements construction on several new projects in its master plan for the area. When the new Winspear Opera House (Norman Foster and Partners) and Wyly Theatre (Office for Metropolitan Architecture-Rem Koolhaas) join the existing Nasher Sculpture Center (Renzo Piano) and Meyerson Symphony Center (I.M. Pei and Partners), Dallas will be the only city in the world that has four buildings within one contiguous block that are all designed by Pritzker Architecture Prize winners.

Geography and climate

The DFW metroplex at night, photographed from the International Space Station in early 2003. Dallas is the larger nexus of light on the right (east), Fort Worth the smaller on the left (west). Blurriness over parts of the image is caused by clouds. Courtesy NASA.

Dallas is the county seat of Dallas County. A small portion of the city also extends into the neighboring counties of Collin County, Denton County, Kaufman County, and Rockwall County.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 997.1 km² (385.0 mi²). 887.2 km² (342.5 mi²) of it is land and 110.0 km² (42.5 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 11.03% water. These statistics are only for the city of Dallas proper. In fact, Dallas is a relatively small part of the much larger urbanized area known as the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. About one in four Texans lives in the DFW metroplex.

Dallas, and its surrounding area, is mostly flat and lies at an elevation ranging from 140 to 170 m (450 to 550 ft). The western edge of the Austin chalk formation, a limestone escarpment, rises 60 m (200 ft) and runs roughly north-south through Dallas County. The uplift is particularly noticeable in the neighborhood of Oak Cliff and the cities of Cockrell Hill and Cedar Hill.

The Trinity River is a major Texas waterway that passes from the city of Irving into West Dallas, where it is paralleled by Interstate 35E along the Stemmons Corridor, then flows alongside western and southern downtown, and ultimately between South Dallas and Pleasant Grove, paralleled by Interstate 45, where it exits into unincorporated Dallas County and heads southeast to Houston. The river is flanked on both sides with a 15 m (50 ft) earthen levee to keep the city from flooding. Several bridges traverse the river connecting southern Dallas to downtown Dallas. From the early 2000s to the 2010s, the Trinity River Project, a major public works project undertaken by the city of Dallas, will improve the river along its length.

White Rock Lake is Dallas' other significant water feature. The lake and surrounding park is a popular destination among boaters, joggers, bikers, and skaters in the Lakewood/Casa Linda neighborhoods of East Dallas. The lake also boasts the 270,000 m² (66 acre)  Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden on its shore. Bachman Lake, just northwest of Love Field, is a smaller lake and surrounding park that is also used for recreation. Lake Ray Hubbard, a 92,000,000 m² (22,470 acre) lake is a vast and popular recreational lake located in an extension of Dallas between Garland, Rowlett, Rockwall and Sunnyvale. Mountain Creek Lake is a small lake along Dallas' border with Grand Prairie and is home to the (defunct as of 1998) Naval Air Station Dallas (Hensley Field). North Lake, a small lake in an extension of Dallas surrounded by Irving and Coppell, serves primarily as a water source for a nearby power plant.

Dallas lies near the southern end of Tornado Alley, which runs through the prairie lands of the midwest. In the spring, cool fronts moving from Canada collide with warm, humid air streaming in from the Gulf Coast. When these fronts meet over Dallas, severe storms are generated with spectacular lightning shows, torrents of rain, large hail and, at times, tornadoes.

Geology

SeaWIFS (2003) satellite image looking east over the southern USA, showing the location of Dallas and Fort Worth

North Texas sits near the edge of the North American craton of Precambrian age. The oldest rocks in Texas date from the Mesoproterozoic, about 1600 million years old. The greater Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex sits on gently tilted sediments. The region west of Weatherford, Texas consists of Pennsylvanian sediments that tilt a few degrees west. These sediments were deformed when Gondwana collided with Laurasia to form Pangea about 300 million years ago (Ma). A great mountain range formed, the Marathon-Ouachita-Appalachian-Variscan cordillera. This collapsed during the Triassic and Jurassic to form the Atlantic Ocean-Gulf of Mexico basin. Sea level rose as the supercontinent Pangea broke up. The Pennsylvanian mountains of DFW were eroded for about 190 million years until the mountains were worn down.

The DFW metroplex sprawls across a 100 km (60 mi) wide N-S trending belt of Cretaceous sediments. Fort Worth in the west is neatly built on Early Cretaceous (Comanche Series) and Dallas in the east is built on Late Cretaceous (Gulf Series) sediments. DFW lay on the beach about 110 Ma, during early Cretaceous time. The water kept rising for another 30-50 million years, so that by the time the coccolithophorid Austin chalk was deposited, the "Octopus Garden" that became DFW lay 100 m (330 ft) or more below the sea surface. The inexorable rise in sealevel was only interrupted by tectonic rumblings in southern Arkansas and Oklahoma, shedding copious amounts of Woodbine Sandstone to the south. These sandstones underlie the cities of Denton, Grapevine, and Arlington, Texas. The Cretaceous sediments dip a degree or so to the east, so the Cretaceous sediments get younger towards the east. Sediments deposited during the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event, when the dinosaurs were killed, lie near the town of Terrell, at the eastern edge of the DFW metroplex.

People enjoy searching for fossils in the rocks around Dallas. Remnants of dinosaurs and Late Cretaceous marine reptiles such as Mosasaur are found. Evidently, one species of Mosasaur was named after the city: Dallasaurus.

A simulated-color satellite image of Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, taken by NASA's Landsat 7 satellite. Dallas makes up much of the right half of the urbanized area. Red is vegetated area surrounding DFW. Notice also the many reservoirs in the area.

The Trinity River has been important in shaping the DFW metroplex. Dallas was situated at the best ford, downstream from where the Elm Fork joins the main stream, where the river flows southeast over the chalk. This provided a place where travelers need only cross the river once, at a place with relatively firm landings and bottoms. This was the best place to cross the Trinity from the earliest days, best for fordings, ferries, and bridges. During the days of the Republic of Texas, the DFW metroplex was mostly uninhabited by Europeans, but settlers began to find their way north in the 1840s. The route north naturally followed the low hills and gentle ridges of Austin chalk hills to the river ford that soon became Dallas. The future site of Dallas was selected by Bryan as the place for his trading post to overlook the ferry that he operated at the crossing.

Dallas was also affected subtly by much younger geologic formations related to an older, more vigorous Trinity River. Changing Pleistocene-Holocene climate had two effects on the Trinity River: It caused downcutting (few people know that there is a 100 m (330 ft) deep buried canyon beneath the Trinity in Dallas), and a wetter climate caused much more water to flow in the river. The greater river flow generated great sedimentary terraces. From time to time these terrace deposits reveal bones of extinct giant mammals, such as Mastodons and Mammoths. The Pleistocene terraces affected the development of Dallas, providing a rich alluvial soil and a perched aquifer, very useful indeed during the early years. Downtown Dallas is built on a series of these terraces, rising subtly eastward from the Trinity river.

The DFW metroplex had an additional, if subtle, geologic advantage. The Trinity is not good for navigation by boats but is great for drinking. Trinity River water is better than either of the larger rivers to the north and south, the Red River and the Brazos River. The larger rivers are longer and flow over salt-bearing Permian sediments, well west of the Trinity headwaters. The Trinity is consequently sweeter water than either the larger Brazos or Red rivers.  Life was better near sweet water, and this simple fact helped DFW prosper relative to settlements on the larger rivers to the north and south. Because the Trinity is not suitable for navigation, Dallas could not have grown to be a large city until the railroad arrived, which happened early in Dallas' history, in the early 1870s. (See: 19th Century) Dallas is thus truly a modern city, because it could not have grown so large until mechanical transportation systems made the Trinity disadvantage in river navigation insignificant.

Climate

Dallas gets about 760 mm (30 in) of rain per year, much of which is delivered in the spring time. The climate of Dallas is classified a humid subtropical climate, yet this part of Texas also tends to get hot, dry winds from the north and west in the summer. In the winter, the winds are cool, which can cause the region to fall below freezing several times a year. A few inches of snow for a day or two falls about once each winter, and about every other winter the cool air from the north and the humid air from the south lead to freezing rain, which usually causes the city to come to a screeching halt for a day or two if the roads and highways become dangerously slick. Regardless, winters are relatively mild compared to the Texas Panhandle and other states to the north. Dallas winters are occasionally interspersed with Indian summers.

Spring and fall and the pleasant, moderate temperatures accompanying those seasons are somewhat short-lived in Dallas. However short the season is, residents and visitors appreciate the beauty of the vibrant wildflowers (such as the bluebonnet, Indian paintbrush and other flora) which bloom in spring and are planted around the highways throughout Texas. In the spring the weather can also be quite volatile and change quickly in a matter of minutes. The cliché about volatile climates popular in various parts of the US-"if you don't like the weather, wait a little while and it'll change"-applies well to Dallas' spring weather. Many consider autumn, around late September and October, to be the best time to visit the Metroplex. Yet many events are also scheduled for the more volatile season of spring.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture places the city of Dallas in Plant Hardiness Zone 8.

Ongoing comparisons are made between Dallas' summer weather and Houston's. Texans generally agree Houston is significantly more humid and Dallas is slightly hotter, although given Houston's humidity it may have a higher heat index than Dallas.

Economy

Downtown Dallas as seen from Lake Cliff

A portion of the downtown skyline

Dallas and the surrounding metroplex is very important economically. The city is sometimes referred to as Texas's Silicon Valley or the "Silicon Prairie" because of a high concentration of telecom companies. The epicenter of the area's telecom industry is along the "Telecom Corridor" which is home to more than 5,700 companies and regional offices for Alcatel, AT&T, Ericsson, Fujitsu, MCI, Nokia, Nortel, Rockwell, and Sprint. The headquarters for Texas Instruments is also located there.

AMR Corporation (parent company of American Airlines), Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation, Radio Shack, and Pier 1 Imports are based in Fort Worth. id Software is based in Mesquite. ExxonMobil, Michael's Stores, and Zale Corporation are headquartered in Irving. Electronic Data Systems, Frito Lay, Dr Pepper and JCPenney are headquartered in Plano. FUNimation is headquartered in North Richland Hills. Educational Products, Inc. is headquartered in Carrollton. Sabre Holdings, the owner of the Sabre System, is headquartered in Southlake. Halliburton Energy Services was once based in Dallas, but moved to Houston in 2003.

Dallas has more shopping centers per capita than any United States city and metro. There are several malls scattered around the Dallas/Ft.Worth Metroplex.

The city of Dallas is also home to 11 billionaires, concentrated in the Preston Hollow area of North Dallas. This designation places Dallas in 8th place (a tie with Tokyo) among cities in the World with the most billionaires. Nearby Fort Worth holds 11th place with 8.

Demographics

Astronaut photograph of clockwise: Plano-Dallas-DFW airport/Grapevine-Lewisville area. This is the eastern half of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. April, 2005. Courtesy NASA

As of the census of 2000, there are 1,188,580 people, 451,833 households, and 266,581 families residing in the city. The population density is 1,339.7/km² (3,469.9/mi²). There are 484,117 housing units at an average density of 545.7/km² (1,413.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 50.83% White, 25.91% Black or African American, 0.54% Native American, 2.70% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 17.24% from other races, and 2.72% from two or more races. 35.55% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. Hispanics outnumbered African-Americans for the first time in the 2000 census as the largest minority group in Dallas. Many newly-arrived Hispanics have settled in poorer neighborhoods like Oak Cliff that were once predominately African American. While Hispanics have moved in, many African Americans have migrated further south to cities like Cedar Hill or DeSoto that were predominately White communities until recently.

There are 451,833 households out of which 30.3% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.8% are married couples living together, 14.9% have a female householder with no husband present, and 41.0% are non-families. 32.9% of all households are made up of individuals and 6.5% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.58 and the average family size is 3.37.

In the city the population is spread out with 26.6% under the age of 18, 11.8% from 18 to 24, 35.3% from 25 to 44, 17.7% from 45 to 64, and 8.6% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 30 years. For every 100 females there are 101.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 100.5 males.

The median income for a household in the city is $37,628, and the median income for a family is $40,921. Males have a median income of $31,149 versus $28,235 for females. The per capita income for the city is $22,183. 17.8% of the population and 14.9% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 25.1% of those under the age of 18 and 13.1% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

The overall crime rate in Dallas was ranked #1 in the United States for large cities from 1998 to 2003. Violent crime in Dallas was also ranked #1 in the nation during the same time period, though the crime was centered mainly around the city's expressways and run-down apartment complexes. Dallas' homicide rate reached an all-time high of 500 in 1991. It then fluctuated from 227 in 2000 to 223 in 2001, 189 in 2002, 221 in 2003, 275 in 2004, and finally 198 in 2005, the lowest in recent years.

Dallas is located in the "Bible Belt", and there is a large Protestant influence on the community. Methodist and Baptist churches are prominent in many neighborhoods and anchor the city's two major private universities. The Catholic Cathedral Santuario de Guadalupe in the Arts District oversees the second largest membership in the country. There is a vibrant Mormon community, and many members of the Jewish faith have long contributed to the city. Dallas also has a significant Muslim community. Dallas is also home to the Cathedral of Hope, the largest GLBT congregation in the world.

People and culture

Pedestrians in downtown

Tree-lined Haskell Ave

It is said that Dallasites consider themselves more sophisticated than those in other parts of Texas, including nearby Fort Worth. Because of the economic prowess of the region, many who live there had come from other U.S. states or countries worldwide. Dallasites eat out about four times every week, which is the third highest rate in the country. Dallas has two times the number of restaurants per person than New York City. Dallasites are very fond of their local sports teams especially "America's Team," the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys-- five time Super Bowl champions-- are well loved by locals, even during losing seasons, and even if another local team is a leader in its sport. Sports calendars and other memorabilia are very common, and on Sundays people tend to watch sports games on television. Major U.S TV Networks (i.e CBS, ABC, NBC, and FOX) have flagship transmitters in the city which helps the network broadcast well, especially if there is something wrong with electricity in the New York Area it can still be broadcast because of these transmitters. This was especially used during the 2003 North America blackout.

Because Dallas and Houston are the two major economic centers of Texas, they enjoy a friendly rivalry. Selected characteristics of them are often compared. One major comparison is the populations of the two cities. Even though on a world-scale, they are about equal, Houston tends to boast because of a higher, if less dense, municipal population (the city encompasses most of its metropolitan area), and Dallas tends to boast because of a higher metropolitan population (the city of Dallas is bounded by suburbs, so much of the new growth occurs outside of Dallas proper.)

Architecture

Dallas skyline from a levee on the Trinity River

Tallest Structures

Districts and communities

The city of Dallas has many areas, communities, and neighborhoods. To conserve space, separate articles have been written for each.

Major areas

• Downtown
• East Dallas
• North Dallas
• Oak Cliff
• South Dallas
• Uptown
• West Dallas

Education

Colleges and universities

The Dallas, Texas area is home to several institutions of higher learning including:

• Art Institute of Dallas
• Dallas Baptist University
• Dallas Christian College
• Dallas Theological Seminary
• DeVry University, Dallas
• El Centro College
• Mountain View College
• Paul Quinn College
• Richland College
• Southern Methodist University
• University of Dallas
• University of Texas at Dallas
• University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
• University of North Texas at Dallas
• University of North Texas (Denton)

Public schools

Most of Dallas is a part of the Dallas Independent School District.

Other parts of Dallas extend into other districts, including Carrollton-Farmers Branch, Duncanville, Garland, Highland Park, Mesquite, Plano, Richardson, and Wilmer-Hutchins (which has closed for the 2005-2006 year; WHISD students are in Dallas ISD for that year).

A governmental agency called Dallas County Schools provides transportations services and other services to the ISDs in Dallas County.

Transportation

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport serves most passengers flying in and out of the metroplex. It is the primary hub of American Airlines which is headquartered just outside the airport in Fort Worth.

Airports

Dallas is served by two commercial airports: Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (known as DFW International) and Dallas Love Field. In addition, Dallas Executive Airport (formerly Redbird Airport), is a general aviation airport located within the city limits, and Addison Airport is another general aviation airport located just outside the city limits in the suburb of Addison. Two more general aviation airports are located in the outer suburb of McKinney, and on the west side of the Metroplex, two general aviation airports are located in Fort Worth. DFW International Airport is located in the suburbs north of and equidistant to downtown Fort Worth and downtown Dallas. In terms of size, DFW is the largest airport in the state, the second largest in the United States, and third largest in the world. In terms of traffic, DFW is the busiest in the state, fourth busiest in the United States, and sixth busiest in the world. DFW is also home base to American Airlines, the world's largest airline.

Love Field is located within the city limits of Dallas, 6 miles (10 km) northwest of downtown, and is headquarters to Southwest Airlines. Under the Federal "Wright Amendment" and "Shelby Amendment" laws, no large jet air service is allowed from Dallas Love Field to any point beyond Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Kansas, Mississippi, and Alabama. As such, Southwest and Continental Express are the only major airlines flying out of that airport. Ongoing efforts to relax or abandon these restrictions, such as Southwest Airlines campaign to "Set Love Free"; however, almost no efforts have succeeded thus far, although Missouri was added to the list of states direct flights are allowed to as of December 2005. Southwest Airlines announced service to Kansas City and St. Louis. American Airlines is also adding service from Love Field to Missouri.

Mass transportation

Passengers at White Rock Station on DART's Blue Line

Passengers at Union Station

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is the Dallas area public transportation authority, providing buses, rail, and HOV lanes. DART began operating the first light rail system in the Southwest United States in 1996 and continues to expand its coverage. Currently, two light rail lines are in service. The red line goes through Oak Cliff, downtown, Uptown, North Dallas, Richardson, and Plano. The blue line goes through South Dallas, downtown, Uptown, North Dallas, and Garland. The red and blue lines are conjoined in between 8th & Corinth Station in Oak Cliff and Mockingbird Station in North Dallas. The two lines service Cityplace Station, the only subway station in the Southwest. Two more lines will be in service by the end of the decade bringing the light rail transit mileage to at least 93, the orange and purple. This will connect southeast Dallas to far north Carrollton and LBJ Freeway to DFW International Airport; both via Dallas Love Field. The yellow line will meet Denton County's future commuter rail system. Further ambitions include expanding the commuter rail network in the region to over 250 miles; expanding the DART light rail network to over 150 miles with a downtown subway included (which is very small compared to the New York system); expanding the M-Line streetcar; starting a modern streetcar line in Fort Worth; utilizing the elevated Las Colinas Automated Personal Transit system with DART rail connections. The DART light rail system remained the only light rail system in Texas until Houston opened METRORail, its starter light rail system (one line running less than 10 miles), in 2004. Fort Worth's smaller public transit system connects with Dallas' via a commuter rail line, the Trinity Railway Express, connecting downtown Dallas's Union Station with downtown Fort Worth's T&P Station and several points in between. The system of light rail transit, especially through downtown, has skyrocketed land values and has sparked a residential living boom in downtown. Although the system is increasingly popular, most people in the Metroplex still choose to drive their vehicles rather than take public transportation.

Highways

Central Expressway, most beautiful urban freeway in DFW, looking down to downtown Dallas