Best Small City Skylines (Metro Population < 500,000) (size, people, Chicago)

[Raphael07]

I'll throw in my support for my brothers in Des Moines

[awecelot]

The interesting thing about Des Moines is that it has a growing metro - it went from 481,394 in 2000 to 534,230 in 2006 - a growth rate of about 11% over that time. It's got a beautiful downtown!

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Go Ne

I'll throw in my support for my brothers in Des Moines

Originally Posted by awecelot

The interesting thing about Des Moines is that it has a growing metro - it went from 481,394 in 2000 to 534,230 in 2006 - a growth rate of about 11% over that time. It's got a beautiful downtown!

And it's growing faster than Omaha. From 2000-2007 Des Moines added 65,205 people for a 13.5 percent growth rate. Omaha added 62,849 for an 8.2 percent growth rate. Des Moines also has more buildings taller than 100m (4) than Omaha (3). So it looks like Des Moines is the city to beat in the Great Plains.

However, Ogden, Utah is growing much faster. From 2000-2007 Ogden grew by 75,693, or 17 percent.

But Reno has grown the fastest, adding 67,387, or 19.7 percent from 2000-2007.

[El Rhino]

I think the figures for the Des Moines metro area now are 600,000+ due to adding most of the Newton/Pella/Knoxville micropolitian area to our figures. I don't know why these are added in while Ames isn't, to me it makes just as much sense to have Ames included than these places.

For those of you interested, look up the Omaha vs. Des Moines thread in the Iowa forum. It's a pretty fair and detailed discussion of the differences/similarities. Omaha has a lot of slight advantages over Des Moines, but when you factor in the size difference it can get interesting.

Reno does have a nice skyline for a city its size, but from what I remember it looked kind of run down. A little face lift would do it some good, I think.

[steve_holt]

Peoria, IL (metro ~350k): I've always thought Peoria looked great driving in from the east, especially for a city its size.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by steve_holt

Peoria, IL (metro ~350k): I've always thought Peoria looked great driving in from the east, especially for a city its size.

You're right, Peoria does look great!!

[awecelot]

Originally Posted by El Rhino

I think the figures for the Des Moines metro area now are 600,000+ due to adding most of the Newton/Pella/Knoxville micropolitian area to our figures. I don't know why these are added in while Ames isn't, to me it makes just as much sense to have Ames included than these places.

El Rhino - yes, the Combined Statistical Area population is now over 600,000, through inclusion of the Newton and Pella Micropolitan areas
Des Moines metropolitan area - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Peoria looks great! What a surprise...I've never been there, and I didn't think that that city would have such an amazing skyline!

[El Rhino]

Peoria does look pretty good. Another smaller city that looks good driving into it is Duluth, Minnesota at night.

[awecelot]

Duluth:

[Raphael07]

Originally Posted by JMT

And it's growing faster than Omaha. From 2000-2007 Des Moines added 65,205 people for a 13.5 percent growth rate. Omaha added 62,849 for an 8.2 percent growth rate. Des Moines also has more buildings taller than 100m (4) than Omaha (3). So it looks like Des Moines is the city to beat in the Great Plains.

However, Ogden, Utah is growing much faster. From 2000-2007 Ogden grew by 75,693, or 17 percent.

But Reno has grown the fastest, adding 67,387, or 19.7 percent from 2000-2007.

We are actually getting a new condo tower that will be 373 ft in Omaha too.

Also the estimates for cities like Omaha and Des Moines are always lower than the actual number, so I'm guessing by 2010, Des Moines could go over the 700,000 mark and Omaha could be around 950,000. Who knows