Cityscape
Houston was incorporated in 1837 under the ward system of representation. The ward designation is the progenitor of the nine current-day Houston City Council districts. Locations in Houston are generally classified as either being inside or outside the Interstate 610 Loop. The inside encompasses the central business district and many residential neighborhoods that predate World War II. More recently, high-density residential areas have been developed within the loop. The city's outlying areas, suburbs and enclaves are located outside of the loop. Beltway 8 encircles the city another 5 miles (8 km) farther out.
Houston, the largest city in the United States without zoning regulations, has expanded without land use planning. Voters rejected efforts to have separate residential and commericial land-use districts in 1948, 1962, and 1993.
Rather than a single central business district as the center of the city's employment, multiple business districts have grown throughout the city in addition to downtown which include Uptown, Texas Medical Center, Greenway Plaza, Westchase, and Greenspoint.
(Source: Wikipedia.org)
