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Yes desertsun, Albuquerque does sprawl. So does Phoenix. So does every other American city that has had significant development since 1950. While other cities are sprawling, it's the scale that sets Phoenix apart. ABQ will never become Phoenix for a large number of reasons - among them lack of water, lack of land, and economics that are rendering sprawl housing developments unfeasible for the foreseeable future.
Actually, I shouldn't be using the present tone when I talk about sprawl. For the past year or so, there has been hardly any sprawl development in Phoenix, ABQ, or most anywhere else. If you look at the number of building permits issued for 2009, it's as if ABQ growth has halted altogether. Some estimates suggest Phoenix may in fact be losing population. It will be interesting to see what happens after the recession lets up - and whether or not we are truly seeing the end of sprawl as some development/planning/architecture related-editorials are predicting.
yes, it is frightning that ABQ appears to be modeled after PHX and you keep up the bragging, you might actually convince someone that we have a decent downtown.
It's just that we do have a nice little downtown...
Having moved here from Phoenix, I see very very little in common between the main "hang out" areas for the young over 21 crowd in the two cities.
The two nightlife hot spots in the Phoenix area are Phoenix downtown ( a very large entertainment area around USAirways Center ) and the ASU area of Tempe ( Mill Ave. ) either of which is larger than the ABQ downtown scene or that around UNM. With so many areas, there are also smaller areas that draw crowds ( I'm thinking of Scottsdale's 5th Ave area Martini Ranch, Mickey's Hangover, etc )
The ABQ downtown scene seems ( and we hardly frequent it ) more fraught with problems than either of the two Phoenix areas and the UNM scene is much much smaller than that in Tempe
Yes desertsun, Albuquerque does sprawl. So does Phoenix. So does every other American city that has had significant development since 1950. While other cities are sprawling, it's the scale that sets Phoenix apart. ABQ will never become Phoenix for a large number of reasons - among them lack of water, lack of land, and economics that are rendering sprawl housing developments unfeasible for the foreseeable future.
Actually, I shouldn't be using the present tone when I talk about sprawl. For the past year or so, there has been hardly any sprawl development in Phoenix, ABQ, or most anywhere else. If you look at the number of building permits issued for 2009, it's as if ABQ growth has halted altogether. Some estimates suggest Phoenix may in fact be losing population. It will be interesting to see what happens after the recession lets up - and whether or not we are truly seeing the end of sprawl as some development/planning/architecture related-editorials are predicting.
I know every city sprawls, but Im saying ABQ mimics PHX in the way that they dont attract businesses or people downtown, the cities are suburban with suburbs.
for instance, some cities have a downtown that attracts businesses and people, some to live and some to visit and work, then you have uptowns or midtowns that have more entertainment and lofts/condos/apartments.
ABQ has a tiny city center, not much hotels,business,entertainment,amenities or much of anything really and that makes the city feel suburban.
" Im saying ABQ mimics PHX in the way that they dont attract businesses or people downtown "
When were you last in downtown Phoenix?
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