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My personal opinion, not ever having been to any of the four is that Salt Lake City, the host of the 2002 Winter Olympics is a monster in the making. It looks like such a beautiful city, with good urban bones and impressive planning going forward. Honolulu is a massive leisure destination, although I get the impression nightlife there would probably be on the sleepy side, it still seems to have beyond breathtaking scenery compared to anywhere in North America and has some unique geographical sites to see. San Juan is a very urban, walkable, and historic city full of culture, yet it's never apart of any "most urban" threads. Or most historic threads or any of that. Las Vegas, the name itself is so famous and it's a bigger deal in real life than it's ever come close to being on this forum. One of the world's most famous destinations and one of the world's most recognizable sets for films, television, and music.
I mean these are all places in the United States, after all. Yet they seem to get the least vocal supporters or critics in City vs. City.
Anyone care to share experiences, stories, or plans related to these cities? Stuff that's interesting. I'm genuinely curious about all four of them.
Also, what's the reason for why they're so under-represented here?
Last edited by Trafalgar Law; 10-03-2013 at 09:24 PM..
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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I'd agree upon Salt Lake City's being under represented. It has just under 200,000 people so it's a bit small but the Wasatch range corridor has around 2,000,000 meaning more than the lions share of its population is in the suburbs and is more of a family orientated place. That said Salt Lake City has some of the best urban planning infrastructure to accommodate future growth in the 21st century, perhaps more than any other city I can think of with several light rail lines, streetcars, commuter rail, and very large and modern freeways which is very impressive for a medium sized city/metro and very progressive especially for being in one of the most deeply red states in the country.
I think Salt Lake City is sill under the radar with many urbanites and also here in these threads is due to its relative isolation and the Mormon stereotypes and stigmas that are not necessarily deserved though as that has been changing a bit. It's even been mentioned by gay media and publications as having a fairly large gay community. It seems like a prosperous and evolving modern city that will be a place to watch in the coming decades.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
10,721 posts, read 23,642,132 times
Reputation: 14561
In C-D city vs. city threads Salt Lake City also doesn't have a lot of (if any) peer cities to be compared to. Denver and Salt Lake just don't relate well to eachother, and it doesn't really compare well with Southwestern cities (ABQ/Tucson/Phoenix). It is somewhat similar to Boise, though Boise is substantially smaller.
Should add Tampa and Orlando to that list. Orlando is the 18th largest CSA, Tampa is the 18th largest MSA; yet barely that many people here talk about them.
But I disagree with Honolulu though. For a city it's size it gets more than enough attention and love including the rest of Hawaii. If anything I think they are on the overrated side even in here.
Yes Mezter, they are. Every city (well, metropolis) in the United States, despite their problems and political chagrins, are nice places to live. More or less.
I don't think a lot of people on this forum either care or will admit to it but every city has it's plus points. San Juan for example is a compact, very dense, urban, cultural city. Always left out of urban discussions, when we say there is a top five for urbanity in the United States, what do we really mean? Top five, maybe in the continental United States, not the nation as a whole. Great transit or not.
What in the world compares to Honolulu? Oahu is insane! Very third-world-ish.
Honolulu and Hawaii in general rank as having one of the highest quality of life's in the US and world. Far more cities and states are more "third worldish" than Honolulu and Oahu.
My personal opinion, not ever having been to any of the four is that Salt Lake City, the host of the 2002 Winter Olympics is a monster in the making. It looks like such a beautiful city, with good urban bones and impressive planning going forward. Honolulu is a massive leisure destination, although I get the impression nightlife there would probably be on the sleepy side, it still seems to have beyond breathtaking scenery compared to anywhere in North America and has some unique geographical sites to see. San Juan is a very urban, walkable, and historic city full of culture, yet it's never apart of any "most urban" threads. Or most historic threads or any of that. Las Vegas, the name itself is so famous and it's a bigger deal in real life than it's ever come close to being on this forum. One of the world's most famous destinations and one of the world's most recognizable sets for films, television, and music.
I mean these are all places in the United States, after all. Yet they seem to get the least vocal supporters or critics in City vs. City.
Anyone care to share experiences, stories, or plans related to these cities? Stuff that's interesting. I'm genuinely curious about all four of them.
Also, what's the reason for why they're so under-represented here?
For San Juan case it's pretty simple. Puerto Rico may be a US territory but it's not a US state. Many don't view San Juan as a true American city like the others.
B/C Utah is very conservative in general and SLC is in the middle of nowhere.
3.2% state mandated alcohol in beer? Everything shut down at 1am state wide? That's a deal killer right there!
San Juan and Hawaii are both way off the mainland and living on an island.
Las Vegas is pretty popular and was booming until the recession, like a mini Phoenix. I'm sure it will grow more in the future.
I consider San Juan, PR a foreign country and off limits to talk about in city vs city...
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