Houston would be unbearable in the summer without AC. No one is suggesting we do away with indoor heating.
Swamp coolers. When I lived in Houston, they were very common.
But there's a good argument that AC lead to the rapid growth of a lot of southern and sun-belt cities. I know if it didn't exist, I would take a hard look at living here.
https://www.citylab.com/life/2012/06/cities-might-not-exist-...
But really, how would northerners react if the Houston Chronicle wrote an article entitled "Do we really need heating?" suggesting that people get thick blankets and wear warm coats indoors. A few people in the comments might have a few provocative things to say about the kind of lifestyles of people who live up north, and suggest they move to the kind of place that doesn't need extensive heating.
Would you take it?
And yet, in my experience, it’s like Americans are allergic to insulation and building houses appropriate to the climate. Something is very weird when houses in SF look just like houses in Portland which look just like houses in every suburban photo of the US I’ve ever seen.
In Europe architecture changes with the climate, in the US it doesn’t seem to (or at least I haven’t noticed and please tell me that i’n wrong)
Basically, the US abandoned their regionally different architecture once AC became common.
Those places also probably don't routinely hit 90% humidity levels. You sweat profusely even in the shade here (think Florida in the summer if you've ever been).
In places as hot an humid as the American south, pretty much everyone gets AC as soon as they can afford to do so. If they do not have AC, it is because they are too poor to afford it.
I'm actually kind of a hippie minimalist at heart. I'm willing to give up my car and bike everywhere. I'm willing to go vegan to save the environment. I'd even be willing to crank the AC up to 80 degrees to reduce power consumption. But I would never live in a place with no AC whatsoever, no matter how the building was built. It's one of the last luxuries I'd give up, along with daily showers.
Portland and SF have similar climates, so you would expect them to look similar. Portland has rain instead of fog, but both rarely get notably hot or cold.