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Very few Southern or Northeastern counties are as sparsely populated as the Plains or areas of the West. So to me, the South and Northeast are not that rural.
Very few Southern or Northeastern counties are as sparsely populated as the Plains or areas of the West. So to me, the South and Northeast are not that rural.
My understanding is that the empty areas of the west are not known as rural, but frontier. In frontier you might have one city than emptiness.
Rural is more there are always people around, but the population density is incredibly low.
Not really. There's plenty of urban, dense places in PA outside of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
You're not referring to your home; you're referring to somebody else's.
Calling a city or other urban area rural is in fact an insult. You're taking away somebody's right to that identity and discrediting their personal experiences and upbringing if they grew up there. A place that sprung up around industry and is mainly working class and has an older, urban downtown is in fact not rural. A place full of rowhouses or smaller, working class houses near whatever industry it came up around is in fact not rural.
Those classifications have definitions, and I see people use those classifications incorrectly pretty often.
If I called MN urban just because Minneapolis and St. Paul were in it, I'd deserve the ridicule that was to follow.....as does anyone.
Suburban can't be urban. A suburban place is one that was built away from the city, to get away from it.
The rest is correct.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Min-Chi-Cbus
If I called MN urban just because Minneapolis and St. Paul were in it, I'd deserve the ridicule that was to follow.....as does anyone.
There's a reason people don't view Minnesota as being as urban as the East Coast.
I also never said Pennsylvania was urban. The person I was responding to said that PA was rural outside of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, which is incorrect. Also, ridicule from who exactly? Who do I have to answer to exactly when it comes to this? You? I don't think so.
If I called MN urban just because Minneapolis and St. Paul were in it, I'd deserve the ridicule that was to follow.....as does anyone.
You sure? Well over 50% of MN's residents live in the Mpls/St Paul Metro area. Or is your definition of rural simply based on land area? If yes, I'd agree, MOST of MN's land area is away from from urban areas. But then, so is TX's, CA's, IL's, MA's, OH's, etc, etc. Are those rural states, too?
You've drawn an important distinction here. "Frontier" is an area that is not just low, sparse population, but also far from population centers. Here's some data from the National Center for Frontier Communities. (I tried to post a link to their website, but don't know how.)
Top Ten Frontier States by Population
Largest Frontier Population
1. Texas
2. Arizona
3. New Mexico
4. Minnesota
5. California
6. Montana
7. Colorado
8. Oklahoma
9. Washington
10. Wyoming
The site also points out that "Frontier land is more highly concentrated than frontier population. For example in terms of area, the top ten states account for 73% of all frontier land." In the list above, notice how 6 of the 10 states actually have large metropolitan areas within their boundaries.
But back to the OP, while there are no high-frontier states in the South with the exception of TX, the South does have a huge rural population, and until the past few decades, a solid rural heritage. That's why many Americans view the South as a rural. And conversely, despite the large amounts of rural land in the Northeast, many view the NE as urban because the country's largest and oldest cities are there. It's all about perception.
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You sure? Well over 50% of MN's residents live in the Mpls/St Paul Metro area. Or is your definition of rural simply based on land area? If yes, I'd agree, MOST of MN's land area is away from from urban areas. But then, so is TX's, CA's, IL's, MA's, OH's, etc, etc. Are those rural states, too?
