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Both are overlooked post industrial cities with their share of issues. But I also feel like both have a lot of good to build on too. I haven't lived in either, but would be interested to hear from people who have. Where would you rather live? Which has a brighter future? Why?
I've heard that the best part about Youngstown is when you can see it in your rearview mirror. With that being said when I was there it surprised me with how nice the downtown was. I certainly preferred it to Scranton.
I dunno about which one I prefer, but Scranton is in better shape overall, and has a more positive outlook.
Scranton has bottomed out in terms of its population decline. Although it lost nearly half of its population, dropping from 143,000 to 77,000, the decline slowed in the 2000s down to 0.4%, and the city is projected to gain population this decade. This is almost certainly due to the same dynamic that have stopped population declines Allentown, the Poconos, and Hazleton - Latinos moving from NYC. Back in 2010 Scranton didn't yet have any majority-Latino neighborhoods, but I'm guessing it will come 2020 on its South Side.
In contrast, Youngstown's population decline was still in double-digits in terms of percentage in the 2000s, and although it's slowed down, it's still losing today.
Another aspect is blight. For a city that lost nearly half it's population, Scranton really doesn't have much in the way of what you'd call blight. Seriously - take a google satellite view tour around the residential neighborhoods of Scranton and Youngstown, and you will see a big difference. Scranton has a couple neighborhoods with scattered empty lots, but you won't find any residential neighborhood which has 50%+ vacant lots.
I also think University of Scranton is better tied into the urban fabric of the city than Youngstown State is for Youngstown. The lack of any highways definitely helps. Plus Scranton has a second private college (Lackawanna College) on the northern fringe of its downtown, along with a small med school.
That said, Scranton has its challenges. I certainly don't expect it will become a "hip" area any time soon. Still, it's basically a stable small city, whereas Youngstown is far from stabilized.
Probably because a lot of the cultural amenities of the Wyoming valley is is Wilkes-Barre (AHL team, main theatre etc)
I've only been to Scranton once but developed a strange affection for the place. The Steamtown National Historic Site was unique, they had a few fun bars downtown, I had a couple really passionate Uber drivers too. I didn't get to go to anything there, but Montage Mountain seems to have a lot going on during nice weather times of year. Parts of the city were really awful for pedestrians but overall I thought it was a hidden gem, if still kinda rough. I had some of the best pizza in my life in Scranton (wish I remembered where I went!).
I’ve never been to Scranton but happen to have been to Youngstown because of a good friend who grew up there and I took a cross crountry road trip to his new assignment in DC and stopped there along the way for a few days to visit his family.
A quick glance on Google Earth Scranton looks to be much larger and spread out and Youngstown appears to be a bit more compact. Coming from an architect’s perspective I could really appreciate the built environment in Youngstown, one could really sense a city with a rich history by the quality and scale of the downtown buildings in the small area. Also, there is a fine collection of beautiful historic houses in the immediate area. The vast green park with the Mill museum is impressive, The Butler Art Institute is fabulous, the Post Modern designed museum of Labor was small but a great peek back into the city’s industrial roots. I even had a chance to tour the brand new French owned (I believe it is sold or scaled back now) awesome steel mill that had just opened because my buddy’s sister was a supervisor there and that just about blew my mind.
Still, one could sense a quiet desperation to the city in its people and the suburbs and surrounding mall/ sprawling retail area is as bad as they come. But overall, especially for its reputation I found myself really impressed and pulling for the small city to make a comeback.
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T. Damon - Scranton looks larger than it is on satellite view because the area is dotted with numerous open-pit mines. If you are zoomed-out the mines look like urban development, but are not.
Youngstown has more impressive architecture in its downtown, but it's a smaller downtown overall, and a lot more marred by surface parking lots. The "good urban form" section in Youngstown is more or less limited to a strip along W/E Federal now. The stuff to the north of Commerce Street is very chopped up - I dunno if it's considered "Downtown proper" or not. Scranton doesn't have many classic prewar midrises, but it's a much more three-dimensional downtown which spreads out around the county courthouse.
The big difference though, is the areas surrounding downtown. Youngstown's dowentown is surrounded by blight on all sides. Scranton's directly abuts intact residential neighborhoods to the east and north, and would to the south/west if it wasn't for railroads and rivers being in the way.
Youngstown has more impressive architecture in its downtown, but it's a smaller downtown overall, and a lot more marred by surface parking lots. The "good urban form" section in Youngstown is more or less limited to a strip along W/E Federal now. The stuff to the north of Commerce Street is very chopped up - I dunno if it's considered "Downtown proper" or not. Scranton doesn't have many classic prewar midrises, but it's a much more three-dimensional downtown which spreads out around the county courthouse.
The big difference though, is the areas surrounding downtown. Youngstown's dowentown is surrounded by blight on all sides. Scranton's directly abuts intact residential neighborhoods to the east and north, and would to the south/west if it wasn't for railroads and rivers being in the way.
The only neighborhoods that ever abutted downtown were on the north side, and there were tracks, and a large hill that weakened that connection. The green band you see just north of Commerce Street was the ROW of the Erie RR. The Erie station is still located at the corner of Commerce and Wick, and has been converted to apartments. Now, YSU acts as an additional barrier between residential neighborhoods and the north side of downtown.
There was/is a band of industrial land--along waterways--on the east, south, and west sides of downtown that has acted as a barrier between downtown and surrounding residential neighborhoods for just about all of the 20th century.
I also think you're overstating the quantity of blight surrounding downtown. But, the blight has been greatly reduced over the last decade, so if you're basing that statement on Google Streetview or a visit you made many years ago, I can understand why you might think that.
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