Top cities in the United States that have car-free, dense, urban, pedestrian and transit friendly environs in suburbs? (compared, population)
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Inside the beltway NOVA is very urban. Tysons is next, then on to Reston. Besides that the poster failed to mention the urbanity of the MD suburbs in close connection with the District.
You've said this before. It's bs.
"Very urban" ?
How many walkable areas are there exactly?
Annandale? McLean?
North Arlington (which is huge)
Bailey crossroads isn't a vibrant area either.
If downtwown fallls Church counts, so does many LA suburbs.
I understand why people talk about Boston here, but I kinda disagree. Ok, fine, Somerville, Cambridge, and Brookline are all easy to live in without a car. However, they are really more part of the urban area than true suburbs. In almost any other city, the land mass that make up those three towns would probably just be part of the city. People who live in these places routinely walk into Boston without giving it a second thought. It's basically the same exact place.
The true suburbs of Boston are a different matter. Not a lot of people go car free in Waltham, Needham, or Melrose. Even Newton and Quincy have pretty high car ownership rates, typical of suburbs anywhere else.
I think DC's walkable suburban experience is inferior to NYC, Boston, and Philadelphia. It still might be inferior to Chicago as well - I don't know Chicago that well at all honestly. But given how few and far between swathes of high density in the suburbs are these days, you have to give DC a semi-decent grade for making the effort.
So, how are downtown Silver Spring, downtown Bethesda, Rosslyn and Old Town Alexandria inferior walkable experiences to the suburbs of Boston and Philadelphia?
So, how are downtown Silver Spring, downtown Bethesda, Rosslyn and Old Town Alexandria inferior walkable experiences to the suburbs of Boston and Philadelphia?
I really don't know.
You hit on it with "downtown". You can get by easily without a car in almost ALL of Cambridge, Somervile and Brookline.
I lived in Portland, Or for a number of years and rarely drove my vehicle. In those years I lived both in the city or suburbs. Between all the buses and light rail plus walking I got everywhere without driving. Transit service connects suburbs to suburbs to Portland. I could get to work, shopping, gyms, doctors on transit. Many needs were right by the stations or bus stops. Problem with the Portland area now though, is finding adequate and affordable housing.
So, how are downtown Silver Spring, downtown Bethesda, Rosslyn and Old Town Alexandria inferior walkable experiences to the suburbs of Boston and Philadelphia?
I really don't know.
Two aspects. One is they tend to be islands of high density which quickly give way to typical low density suburbia, This means unless you live in an apartment within the urbanized nodes, or in a house 1-3 blocks away, you aren't really in a walkable area. Admittedly Philly can be pretty similar in that respect, but Boston isn't - there are satellite cities in the Boston metro which keep up a relatively high density (triple-decker or small-lot SFH) for many, many blocks.
The second aspect is traditional neighborhood design. The urban nodes just aren't great from a pedestrian experience for the same reason that modern CBDs aren't. The facades are boring, and tend to go for an entire block, and relatively few of them are "active" - lots of offices and apartment buildings, not too much retail. Street walls aren't maintained consistently as well. This is why even though Philly tends to be not much better than DC when it comes to keeping up the density, it wins in terms of creating a better environment for walking.
I already said that Old Town was an exception in terms of DC development. There's really nothing else quite like it outside of the District until you get to Annapolis or Fredricksburg - both of which are of course much smaller.
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
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Originally Posted by Freddy K
You've said this before. It's bs.
"Very urban" ?
How many walkable areas are there exactly?
Annandale? McLean?
North Arlington (which is huge)
Bailey crossroads isn't a vibrant area either.
If downtwown fallls Church counts, so does many LA suburbs.
Just like i've seen you cherry pick like this before. First off this thread is about car free, non auto usage, which inner beltway Northern VA has plenty of pound for pound. Building urbanity is one thing, but transit usage is its own animal, which is where NOVA excels. You continue to reference LA suburbs, for what idk. To me it doesn't matter if Irvine "looks" more urban than say a Reston or Tysons, not if more people use transit in Reston or Tysons.
Secondly, Old Town is very urban, the Arlington nodes of Rosslyn, Clarendon, and Ballston are each very urban, Crystal City is still urban, and Potomac Yard once redeveloped with its infill Metro station will extend its urbanity to connect Crystal City to Old Town Alexandria. Again though I want to stay on focus because it's not just building urbanity that is being discussed here. Places like Arlington, Alexandria etc are very transit oriented communities even in neighborhoods where there are SFH or Townhomes not just within the Rosslyn-Clarendon-Ballston corridor. Hence why it has some of the highest transit ridership by percentage in the country.
Just like i've seen you cherry pick like this before. First off this thread is about car free, non auto usage, which inner beltway Northern VA has plenty of pound for pound. Building urbanity is one thing, but transit usage is its own animal, which is where NOVA excels. You continue to reference LA suburbs, for what idk. To me it doesn't matter if Irvine "looks" more urban than say a Reston or Tysons, not if more people use transit in Reston or Tysons.
Secondly, Old Town is very urban, the Arlington nodes of Rosslyn, Clarendon, and Ballston are each very urban, Crystal City is still urban, and Potomac Yard once redeveloped with its infill Metro station will extend its urbanity to connect Crystal City to Old Town Alexandria. Again though I want to stay on focus because it's not just building urbanity that is being discussed here. Places like Arlington, Alexandria etc are very transit oriented communities even in neighborhoods where there are SFH or Townhomes not just within the Rosslyn-Clarendon-Ballston corridor. Hence why it has some of the highest transit ridership by percentage in the country.
I don't see any LA suburbs or the city proper for that matter.
LA has a car culture. They wouldn't be on there. It doesn't mean Santa Monica is less urban than alexandria.
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