Quote:
Originally Posted by phatty5011
Pittsburgh's Most Urban Neighborhoods:
Central Northside
East Allegheny
South Side Flats
Bluff
Oakland
Lawrenceville
East Liberty
Bloomfield
All are very dense with urban business districts.
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I partially disagree with this list. East Liberty is the one which really doesn't belong. The commercial core of it (where it hasn't been urban renewed to oblivion) is pretty urban. The infill projects around Penn Circle are rapidly densifying it as well. But the residential portions of the neighborhood, where the majority of the population lives,
look like this. No different than Highland Park, Friendship, or Shadyside.
Indeed, if you include East Liberty, you have to include Shadyside on this list too. Yes, there are lots of streets of single family houses, but also areas like
this,
this, and
this.
I don't think of Shadyside as a particularly urban form neighborhood. It was built out as a detached SFH neighborhood in the late 19th century, followed by apartment infill in the early 20th century and then again in the mid 20th century. So it has high density, but really isn't good in most places in terms of urban street feel. But someone from Seattle or Portland would probably think of Shadyside as being very urban. Bottom line though is if you include East Liberty (and North Oakland, which is similar, but with more apartment buildings) you have to include Shadyside.
In terms of "old urban" parts of Pittsburgh, I'd also include Allegheny West, Manchester, Troy Hill, and Polish Hill. Admittedly none of them really have business districts, which makes them a notch lower, but Central Northside and Bluff are probably in the same grouping as well for similar reasons.