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Inspired by the thread for the Northeast and Midwest, I thought to create one for Southern cities and Midwestern ones. Here's what I came up with and why:
Atlanta - Chicago or Detroit. Chicago because it's the the de facto capital of the region, but also Detroit because of it's reputation of high crime and a large AA population, and a Delta hub.
Miami - Chicago is the closest match I could think of. Also a dominant city within the region, and large skylne/skycrapers
Dallas - Minneapolis. How it has the twin city of Fort Worth just like how MPLS has St. Paul. Also modern looking downtowns.
Houston - also Chicago. Can't think of a closer match.
Memphis - also Detroit as they are about the same population and once thriving cities about 50+ years ago now decaying. Also potentially KCMO or St. Louis, the latter especially since they are both on the Mississippi River.
New Orleans - St. Louis or Detroit. Also a city plagued with crime
Nashville - Columbus. Growing state capital cities.
Charlotte - maybe KCMO. It has a good size finance industry and clean looking downtowns.
That's about all I can think of. I can't really think of one for Austin other than Columbus, and I'm not sure what the Southern Cleveland is except maybe Atlanta is the closest.
Miami - Chicago. Both flat urban cities with tons of skyscrapers (Chicago is #2 and Miami is #3 in skyscrapers in America). Also, both are water based cities (Miami River, Atlantic Ocean, Chicago River, Lake Michigan). Both have beaches, both are massive tourist destinations, both have tons of culture. Biggest cities in their region. Both have ethnic enclaves (something other southern cities lack , Dallas or Atlanta don't have a Chinatown etc., but Miami has Little Havana, Little Haiti, etc.). Both have premier shopping streets (Michigan Ave, Lincoln Rd)
There is no real Chicago of the South. Dallas and Fort Worth are a half hour apart, with more opposites than Minny and St Paul have...
The real Twin City comp of the South has to be either Virginia Beach/Norfolk or Tampa/St Petersburg. I'd say Virginia Beach/Norfolk though, as Tampa/St Pete are separated by miles of bay. VB/Nfk share a land border that is uninterrupted for ~7½ miles, the two cities bleed into one another seamlessly...
And after spending the previous 5 weeks working in DFW, there are more marked contrasts between Dallas and Fort Worth, than Virginia Beach and Norfolk, but that's not unusual to me. Again, Dallas and Fort Worth are a half hour apart. VB and Nfk are not apart at all, they run right into each other...
The only real "twin city" region of the South is Southside Tidewater, the VB/Nfk metro...
I'd also say the lake culture in MSP has to have some parallel to the water culture in HR, though I'm not positive on that...
I would say there are South Carolina and Ohio parallels, as two states that revolve around three primary large cities---->but I'm making no claim that the cities in either state are particularly alike...
Nashville and Raleigh and Austin probably fit Indianiapolis and Columbus in various ways. Memphis and Little Rock are displaced Midwest cities that are both influenced by Missouri cities to varying degree (St Louis, Kansas City)...
It's a lot harder to name matches for the South and Midwest but I'm sold on the MSP/HR one...
Agree with Miami and Chicago. Another component is that both cities are seen as very non-representative of their states, in a way that isn't true with Detroit/Michigan or the Twin Cities/Minnesota.
The deep Appalachia/Mississippi Delta of the Midwest might be far-southern Illinois (centered on Cairo). Or the reservations out in the Dakotas.
-Both are about 90 miles/min from the major city in their region/state
-Both have kind of rough areas with crime issues
-Both are located off a major interstate (I-90 and I-75) with connections to a significant minor highway (I-39 to Bloomington and I-16 to Savannah)
-Both have downtowns near a river (Rock river in Rockford and Ocmulgee river in Macon)
- Both produced well known 1970s bands (Cheap Trick- Rockford and the Allman Brothers Band--yes I know they officially formed in Jax,FL but they didn't get traction until they moved to Macon and have a musuem dedicated to them there now)
Inspired by the thread for the Northeast and Midwest, I thought to create one for Southern cities and Midwestern ones. Here's what I came up with and why:
Atlanta - Chicago or Detroit. Chicago because it's the the de facto capital of the region, but also Detroit because of it's reputation of high crime and a large AA population, and a Delta hub.
Miami - Chicago is the closest match I could think of. Also a dominant city within the region, and large skylne/skycrapers
Dallas - Minneapolis. How it has the twin city of Fort Worth just like how MPLS has St. Paul. Also modern looking downtowns.
Houston - also Chicago. Can't think of a closer match.
Memphis - also Detroit as they are about the same population and once thriving cities about 50+ years ago now decaying. Also potentially KCMO or St. Louis, the latter especially since they are both on the Mississippi River. New Orleans - St. Louis or Detroit. Also a city plagued with crime
Nashville - Columbus. Growing state capital cities.
Charlotte - maybe KCMO. It has a good size finance industry and clean looking downtowns.
That's about all I can think of. I can't really think of one for Austin other than Columbus, and I'm not sure what the Southern Cleveland is except maybe Atlanta is the closest.
New Orleans and St. Louis also have a French influence in common. Pierre Laclede and Auguste Chouteau established the settlement of St. Louis in February 1764. New Orleans was founded by the French in 1718.
Probably everyone would agree that New Orleans Mardi Gras is the most popular Mardi Gras in the country, but St. Louis also has a huge Mardi Gras that often comes in second or third (along with the Mobile, AL Mardi Gras) in the country.
Plus, both cities are located on the Mississippi River.
Like others have said, Midwestern cities and Sunbelt cities are very, very different. Very different densities, layouts, and ages of architecture...Chicago obviously has no Southern counterpart that's even remotely similar (maybe Miami with the waterfront skyline, but not urbanity or layout).
I will say, however, I think MSP and Orlando are vaguely similar in terms of natural landscape and the proliferation of interconnected lakes/wetlands that affected how the metro areas developed. You don't really see that kind of layout in other major US metros. The suburban areas of both metros look eerily similar.
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