Why Are City Boundaries So Weird
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Date: 2026-01-23
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Comments and reviews: 20
andrewtaylor3167
Dang, you missed the third reason for Birmingham's boundaries: environmentalism. In Alabama, municipalities have a stronger ability to prevent development on parcels of land. And that ability to prevent land use is just as much a factor in the area as getting more land to develop. Lake Purdy is a major water source for the area. Court mandates demanded to keep development off the lake, and that was just easier to do if a city annexed the land. (So in that San Luis Obispo example, in Alabama, those would be the exact reasons why that land would be annexed: to better manage it not being developed) With data centers being such a big concern, I wouldn't be surprised if there were another batch of incorporations coming. Edit: more prominent examples would be the area of Red Mountain Park in Birmingham or the area known as Virginia in Hueytown. Those areas were old mining areas, and the land was incorporated after the mining companies closed and development controlled to prevent abandoned mine issues.
In a similar vein, there's also some oddball legal loopholes for incorporating. The suburb of Pleasant Grove only exists because a mining company breached the wells the community was using. To get the plumbing to convert to the waterworks for clean water, the community incorporated to receive the government funding to help do so.
But yeah, a lot of the area's municipalities is due to not wanting to be incorporated by other areas. Indian Springs not wanting to be incorporated by Hoover, Pelham by Alabaster, Center Point by Birmingham, and so on. So there's a notable amount of same race/class avoidance going on too.
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Dang, you missed the third reason for Birmingham's boundaries: environmentalism. In Alabama, municipalities have a stronger ability to prevent development on parcels of land. And that ability to prevent land use is just as much a factor in the area as getting more land to develop. Lake Purdy is a major water source for the area. Court mandates demanded to keep development off the lake, and that was just easier to do if a city annexed the land. (So in that San Luis Obispo example, in Alabama, those would be the exact reasons why that land would be annexed: to better manage it not being developed) With data centers being such a big concern, I wouldn't be surprised if there were another batch of incorporations coming. Edit: more prominent examples would be the area of Red Mountain Park in Birmingham or the area known as Virginia in Hueytown. Those areas were old mining areas, and the land was incorporated after the mining companies closed and development controlled to prevent abandoned mine issues.
In a similar vein, there's also some oddball legal loopholes for incorporating. The suburb of Pleasant Grove only exists because a mining company breached the wells the community was using. To get the plumbing to convert to the waterworks for clean water, the community incorporated to receive the government funding to help do so.
But yeah, a lot of the area's municipalities is due to not wanting to be incorporated by other areas. Indian Springs not wanting to be incorporated by Hoover, Pelham by Alabaster, Center Point by Birmingham, and so on. So there's a notable amount of same race/class avoidance going on too.
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jerrywood4508
The lacework that you see in Houston's boundaries are made up by areas annexed for limited purposes. The general purpose boundaries are more regular, but include areas around the primary airport and the primary water reservoir, Lake Houston. The annexation around Lake Houston was undertaken to prevent the location of homes on septic systems too close to the lake which could cause contamination. The limited purpose annexation areas generally avoid residences, and consist of areas with retail businesses that provide a one cent sales tax that is usually split 50/50 between the city and the local utility service district. Nearby residents do not generally object to the limited purpose annexations because the agreement that allows the limited purpose annexation will include a clause that bars annexation for general purposes of the utility service district. In the early 1980s the city went out of its way to annex areas that were exclaves within the city because of the problem of providing emergency services in these areas. It's actually all more complicated than what I've outlined here, but you get the general idea. General purpose annexation of populated areas became much more complicated and contentious as Texas cities grew, so alternative ways of dealing with the pernicious effects of suburbanization were developed. Detailing the pernicious effects would take a lot more space than this already TLDR explanation.
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The lacework that you see in Houston's boundaries are made up by areas annexed for limited purposes. The general purpose boundaries are more regular, but include areas around the primary airport and the primary water reservoir, Lake Houston. The annexation around Lake Houston was undertaken to prevent the location of homes on septic systems too close to the lake which could cause contamination. The limited purpose annexation areas generally avoid residences, and consist of areas with retail businesses that provide a one cent sales tax that is usually split 50/50 between the city and the local utility service district. Nearby residents do not generally object to the limited purpose annexations because the agreement that allows the limited purpose annexation will include a clause that bars annexation for general purposes of the utility service district. In the early 1980s the city went out of its way to annex areas that were exclaves within the city because of the problem of providing emergency services in these areas. It's actually all more complicated than what I've outlined here, but you get the general idea. General purpose annexation of populated areas became much more complicated and contentious as Texas cities grew, so alternative ways of dealing with the pernicious effects of suburbanization were developed. Detailing the pernicious effects would take a lot more space than this already TLDR explanation.
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jakeryan4545
Interestingly enough, the ability of southern and western cities to annex surrounding land compared to the strong home rule system that takes place in much of the Great Lakes region and the Northeast also leads to weird statistics. In all the regions you get funky municipal boundaries. But how these funky boundaries play out is very different in different regions.
Crime statistics are an easy one with this. At the county and metro level, much of the cities with the highest murder and violent crime rates are in the South. At the municipal level, much of the most violent and least violent cities are in the Midwest. Crime happens at the neighborhood level, southern metros often have more high crime neighborhoods or higher crime neighborhoods than Midwestern metros but the rates are diluted at the municipal level because more people live in a single municipality (or in unincorporated county land. It's not a hard and fast rule but it's something that is pretty noticeable once you look but not many people talk about it.
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Interestingly enough, the ability of southern and western cities to annex surrounding land compared to the strong home rule system that takes place in much of the Great Lakes region and the Northeast also leads to weird statistics. In all the regions you get funky municipal boundaries. But how these funky boundaries play out is very different in different regions.
Crime statistics are an easy one with this. At the county and metro level, much of the cities with the highest murder and violent crime rates are in the South. At the municipal level, much of the most violent and least violent cities are in the Midwest. Crime happens at the neighborhood level, southern metros often have more high crime neighborhoods or higher crime neighborhoods than Midwestern metros but the rates are diluted at the municipal level because more people live in a single municipality (or in unincorporated county land. It's not a hard and fast rule but it's something that is pretty noticeable once you look but not many people talk about it.
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adamtreco7
I think a simpler answer is, most of the world had cities first and then their power based extended out into what we would call counties.
In America, outside the 13 colonies in particular, the state was created first out of vast territories, the State usually created a capital that was not already preeminent, but the state and counties were sovereign and then later a city applied for status and wanted to conserve a particularness unlike in most places and times were cities expanded in a more imperial fashion.
To simplify
In most places and times, cities expanded and grew like an empire to become a modern state (Rome-Italy) whereas the USA was made of colonial territories where big zones existed before cities did and so cities were now being created as a way of distinguishing themselves rather than projecting power from a central location.
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I think a simpler answer is, most of the world had cities first and then their power based extended out into what we would call counties.
In America, outside the 13 colonies in particular, the state was created first out of vast territories, the State usually created a capital that was not already preeminent, but the state and counties were sovereign and then later a city applied for status and wanted to conserve a particularness unlike in most places and times were cities expanded in a more imperial fashion.
To simplify
In most places and times, cities expanded and grew like an empire to become a modern state (Rome-Italy) whereas the USA was made of colonial territories where big zones existed before cities did and so cities were now being created as a way of distinguishing themselves rather than projecting power from a central location.
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Adiscretefirm
Birmingham also made a lot of suburban areas want to incorporate by making it harder to incorporate. In the 80s a state law made it illegal to incorporate a city within 5 miles of the Bham city limits. This did not incentivize the suburban areas to join the city, pay extra taxes to subsidize the urban core that was still struggling to finance itself after the collapse of the iron and steel industry and be locked into Jefferson county schools forever. What happened instead was areas outside the limit could incorporate and then annex communities inside the limit. It was no longer a choice between staying unincorporated or joining the city it was a choice to join the city, get no benefits and pay higher taxes, or incorporate themselves. Doing that also gave them an option to form a city school system.
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Birmingham also made a lot of suburban areas want to incorporate by making it harder to incorporate. In the 80s a state law made it illegal to incorporate a city within 5 miles of the Bham city limits. This did not incentivize the suburban areas to join the city, pay extra taxes to subsidize the urban core that was still struggling to finance itself after the collapse of the iron and steel industry and be locked into Jefferson county schools forever. What happened instead was areas outside the limit could incorporate and then annex communities inside the limit. It was no longer a choice between staying unincorporated or joining the city it was a choice to join the city, get no benefits and pay higher taxes, or incorporate themselves. Doing that also gave them an option to form a city school system.
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gonickogogo
9: 55 Very interesting aside about the fact that SLO's northwestern frontier will never be developed. I wonder, why can cities like LA have houses built in canyons and atop steep hills, but it's not considered worth the expense elsewhere Looking at old settlements in Europe, like San Marino, Civita di Bagnoregio, or Mont-Saint-Michel, as well as around the world like Busan, Medellin, Cusco, and even San Francisco, people have chosen to develop into and between hilly/mountainous areas. I think LA is the best example though, as the canyons are a combination of tall/steep, developed, and non-marginalized--those communities aren't a remote village, monastic retreat, or treacherous favelas, but are considered highly desirable real estate.
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9: 55 Very interesting aside about the fact that SLO's northwestern frontier will never be developed. I wonder, why can cities like LA have houses built in canyons and atop steep hills, but it's not considered worth the expense elsewhere Looking at old settlements in Europe, like San Marino, Civita di Bagnoregio, or Mont-Saint-Michel, as well as around the world like Busan, Medellin, Cusco, and even San Francisco, people have chosen to develop into and between hilly/mountainous areas. I think LA is the best example though, as the canyons are a combination of tall/steep, developed, and non-marginalized--those communities aren't a remote village, monastic retreat, or treacherous favelas, but are considered highly desirable real estate.
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brent4adv
Birmingham is my hometown. It's got a complicated history, but the city itself is working hard to overcome this. The city government is strongly supportive of making its communities more walkable, and it has been making some good progress in the last 10-15 years.
It's funny that you brought up the Port of Birmingham. I am an industrial electrician specializing in controls. My company built the control systems for both of the clamshell cranes that load/unload barges at the Port.
I'd love to see the Birmingham Metro area adopt a more regional mindset, but, as you stated in the video, the suburban areas seem to be more fixated on competing with each other (and Birmingham) than working together. Maybe one day.
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Birmingham is my hometown. It's got a complicated history, but the city itself is working hard to overcome this. The city government is strongly supportive of making its communities more walkable, and it has been making some good progress in the last 10-15 years.
It's funny that you brought up the Port of Birmingham. I am an industrial electrician specializing in controls. My company built the control systems for both of the clamshell cranes that load/unload barges at the Port.
I'd love to see the Birmingham Metro area adopt a more regional mindset, but, as you stated in the video, the suburban areas seem to be more fixated on competing with each other (and Birmingham) than working together. Maybe one day.
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aquaticko
Coming from New England--specifically New Hampshire, where there are just a handful of unincorporated areas--to Oregon, it was very confusing to me to have all of these unincorporated areas. How do all these neighborhoods, situated between Portland and Westside suburbs, find themselves technically independent of places whose services they often use, physical infrastructure they're a part of, and macroeconomically speaking they wouldn't exist without It's all part of America's completely irrational and damaging anti-urban animus, as far as I can tell. They're domestic tax havens, first and foremost.
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Coming from New England--specifically New Hampshire, where there are just a handful of unincorporated areas--to Oregon, it was very confusing to me to have all of these unincorporated areas. How do all these neighborhoods, situated between Portland and Westside suburbs, find themselves technically independent of places whose services they often use, physical infrastructure they're a part of, and macroeconomically speaking they wouldn't exist without It's all part of America's completely irrational and damaging anti-urban animus, as far as I can tell. They're domestic tax havens, first and foremost.
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trainguy1792
I spent a summer interning in Vestavia Hills, although our complex was obviously gerrymandered to be in the city of Birmingham. I think much of the land the city of Birmingham bought up has been developed into cheap apartments for young working professionals / traveling nurses and students to avoid the high cost of renting in places like Vestavia Hills due to the better schools. You basically get all the suburban amenities of living near a Trader Joes or Target as long as you aren't trying to send kids to school. I never saw a school bus stop by our apartment either.
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I spent a summer interning in Vestavia Hills, although our complex was obviously gerrymandered to be in the city of Birmingham. I think much of the land the city of Birmingham bought up has been developed into cheap apartments for young working professionals / traveling nurses and students to avoid the high cost of renting in places like Vestavia Hills due to the better schools. You basically get all the suburban amenities of living near a Trader Joes or Target as long as you aren't trying to send kids to school. I never saw a school bus stop by our apartment either.
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Alex-cw3rz
I imagine this is quite unique to America because of how they do taxes, class and race. I'm from Britain and city boundaries will have countryside areas in them. There is no tax incentives for cities and boundaries are decided by central government. Which does mean in the UK it was (and with the devolution is for some places) up to some under qualified civil servants in London, who has never been to the place to decide what the boundaries will be. However if the advise from the local council is persuasive enough the boundaries will make sense.
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I imagine this is quite unique to America because of how they do taxes, class and race. I'm from Britain and city boundaries will have countryside areas in them. There is no tax incentives for cities and boundaries are decided by central government. Which does mean in the UK it was (and with the devolution is for some places) up to some under qualified civil servants in London, who has never been to the place to decide what the boundaries will be. However if the advise from the local council is persuasive enough the boundaries will make sense.
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OhTheUrbanity
This is an interesting difference between the US and Canada. Here in Canada, cities tend to be larger and include more of the suburbs. The City of Calgary covers 90% of the metro area population. A few cities (like Ottawa and Halifax) are so big that they're mostly rural (by land area. Relatedly, municipal boundaries tend to be much more normal shapes. The biggest exception is probably my city of Montreal, which has a few enclaves cut out of it (like Westmount, in part due to language politics. Still not on the level of Houston though.
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This is an interesting difference between the US and Canada. Here in Canada, cities tend to be larger and include more of the suburbs. The City of Calgary covers 90% of the metro area population. A few cities (like Ottawa and Halifax) are so big that they're mostly rural (by land area. Relatedly, municipal boundaries tend to be much more normal shapes. The biggest exception is probably my city of Montreal, which has a few enclaves cut out of it (like Westmount, in part due to language politics. Still not on the level of Houston though.
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city_beautiful
Annexation or amalgamation can be (most often is) bad news for the core city. Core cities tend to be more progressive and definitely are more urban. Residents in the core may live car free using the much more developed transit and cycling infrastructure and being motivated to keep central streets narrow and pedestrian friendly. The population power of the suburbs will try to undo all of that - demanding wider roads so they can impose their noise, stench, pollution and carnage on inner city residents.
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Annexation or amalgamation can be (most often is) bad news for the core city. Core cities tend to be more progressive and definitely are more urban. Residents in the core may live car free using the much more developed transit and cycling infrastructure and being motivated to keep central streets narrow and pedestrian friendly. The population power of the suburbs will try to undo all of that - demanding wider roads so they can impose their noise, stench, pollution and carnage on inner city residents.
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DylanSargesson
In the UK, we don't have the concept of an unincorporated place, everywhere has local government. But we still have plenty of arguments about the boundaries of local government areas.
In England, we're currently going through a process of reorganising many of our local government areas (merging/abolishing them to make them more efficient) which is causing quite a lot of controversy.
Also the word City doesn't mean anything about the powers a local government has, it's just a status symbol.
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In the UK, we don't have the concept of an unincorporated place, everywhere has local government. But we still have plenty of arguments about the boundaries of local government areas.
In England, we're currently going through a process of reorganising many of our local government areas (merging/abolishing them to make them more efficient) which is causing quite a lot of controversy.
Also the word City doesn't mean anything about the powers a local government has, it's just a status symbol.
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aaronsmith9209
The way London and the Home Counties are divided up is enough to cause issues with delivering housing, transport and infrastructure. Looking at some of the American examples, just yikes! LA, Houston and Birmingham AL are ridiculous. In the UK, many counties got tidier boundaries in the 70s but Newmarket, Suffolk is one of the weirdest ones left. Historically, Cromartyshire was one of the weirdest boundaries in the British Isles. Anyone should look up a map of it, it's really interesting!
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The way London and the Home Counties are divided up is enough to cause issues with delivering housing, transport and infrastructure. Looking at some of the American examples, just yikes! LA, Houston and Birmingham AL are ridiculous. In the UK, many counties got tidier boundaries in the 70s but Newmarket, Suffolk is one of the weirdest ones left. Historically, Cromartyshire was one of the weirdest boundaries in the British Isles. Anyone should look up a map of it, it's really interesting!
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Twoflower-b4d
FYI often the people dont want to and have zero say if they want to be part of the city. The state forces them because the city need more tax revenue and they can get new loans if they expand. Most modern cities when averaged out year over spend far more than they take in. That's also the reason most cities when they run out of county land to expand in to start an irreversible decline. Most modern cities are so expensive and wasteful to the money they are simply parascitical in nature.
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FYI often the people dont want to and have zero say if they want to be part of the city. The state forces them because the city need more tax revenue and they can get new loans if they expand. Most modern cities when averaged out year over spend far more than they take in. That's also the reason most cities when they run out of county land to expand in to start an irreversible decline. Most modern cities are so expensive and wasteful to the money they are simply parascitical in nature.
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josephfisher426
Conversely, Baltimore's very regular border is enforced by the same issues: it was frozen at the last expansion in 1912 as a condition of approval. At the beginning the motivation was classism, more or less (also Mobtown, and it evolved from there.
The examples featured here seem to be driven by utility service, which is also related to their age: they have expanded relatively a lot relatively recently. For the same reason the nominal limits of small towns are often silly shapes.
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Conversely, Baltimore's very regular border is enforced by the same issues: it was frozen at the last expansion in 1912 as a condition of approval. At the beginning the motivation was classism, more or less (also Mobtown, and it evolved from there.
The examples featured here seem to be driven by utility service, which is also related to their age: they have expanded relatively a lot relatively recently. For the same reason the nominal limits of small towns are often silly shapes.
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jwbrooks55
As someone who has lived in both Houston and Birmingham, I feel that they are very similar although Birmingham is more compressed. The joke I used to tell people about Birmingham is if you move a few hundred feet, you are now in Insley, now you are in Pratt city, now you are in Bessemer. Move the other direction you are now in Vestavia, then you’re in Mountain Brook, then you are in Homewood, then you are in Hoover. Houston has similar set ups, but all inner mixed like Birmingham.
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As someone who has lived in both Houston and Birmingham, I feel that they are very similar although Birmingham is more compressed. The joke I used to tell people about Birmingham is if you move a few hundred feet, you are now in Insley, now you are in Pratt city, now you are in Bessemer. Move the other direction you are now in Vestavia, then you’re in Mountain Brook, then you are in Homewood, then you are in Hoover. Houston has similar set ups, but all inner mixed like Birmingham.
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javierpowell4705
did some reporting on my local Lafco. A developer in town wants to build suburbs in the city outside of the approved SOI, (last approved in 2004) and seems really into it. LAFCO just completely disagrees that the city should grow that way. It's a background conflict for now, just the initial non-public designs, but as the next few years roll on- the school district is beginning to bet on it being done and annexed as the spot for their next elementary.
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did some reporting on my local Lafco. A developer in town wants to build suburbs in the city outside of the approved SOI, (last approved in 2004) and seems really into it. LAFCO just completely disagrees that the city should grow that way. It's a background conflict for now, just the initial non-public designs, but as the next few years roll on- the school district is beginning to bet on it being done and annexed as the spot for their next elementary.
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frogandspanner
I live in Birmingham, UK, and am not impressed by tall buildings - the penis extension of corporate arrogance.
The boundary is strange in that unlike many UK cities it has not developed circularly from a centre (e. g. Leeds, London, Manchester, but is more like a sausage from south west to north east. This has possibly been the result of the densely populated _Black Country_ (to the north west) and Solihull (to the south east) constraining growth.
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I live in Birmingham, UK, and am not impressed by tall buildings - the penis extension of corporate arrogance.
The boundary is strange in that unlike many UK cities it has not developed circularly from a centre (e. g. Leeds, London, Manchester, but is more like a sausage from south west to north east. This has possibly been the result of the densely populated _Black Country_ (to the north west) and Solihull (to the south east) constraining growth.
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bjdon99
Canadian cities used to look like US cities, with a large # of inefficient suburban towns and cities around the big one. A lot of their biggest cities like Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City have all amalgamated bordering suburbs into one larger metro city in recent decades.
It’s common sense as the metro area is one big economic unit. But in Murica those surrounding suburban towns will squawk like no tomorrow if you try to annex them.
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Canadian cities used to look like US cities, with a large # of inefficient suburban towns and cities around the big one. A lot of their biggest cities like Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City have all amalgamated bordering suburbs into one larger metro city in recent decades.
It’s common sense as the metro area is one big economic unit. But in Murica those surrounding suburban towns will squawk like no tomorrow if you try to annex them.
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