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Columbus and Indianapolis seem a little out of place in the Midwest. They are certainly Midwest cities, but their growth seems to be more aligned with sunbelt cities. Would you consider them to be a Midwest/Sunbelt hybrid?
Columbus does not feel like a southern city at all. No way.
It feels more Southern than most Midwestern cities, and as a Midwesterner/Northerner I felt uncomfortable at times in Columbus due to cultural differences I would only describe as being more "Southern", like drawl or love of NASCAR racing (over NFL football).
They are sunbelt-like for one reason - they both have a large number of suburban-style neighborhoods within the city center. In the case of Indianapolis, it's due to a city-county merger which happened in 1970. In the case of Columbus, it was because the city began requiring annexation into the city in exchange for expanding water/sewer coverage in the 1950s, which ultimately resulted in the majority of the core county (and tendrils in several other counties) joining the city. The large number of suburbs in the city has resulted in much more moderate/conservative local governance than in most other large cities in the North, which is in turn thought of as a sun-belt characteristic.
Indianapolis's core is also very sun-belt like, insofar as urban renewal destroyed everything 19th century and interesting (Indianapolis apparently once had some fine rowhouse neighborhoods) in favor of mid-century megaprojects. The residential areas surrounding the core of Indianapolis almost all have declining population - pretty typical for a rust-belt city actually.
Columbus retains some nice historic neighborhoods near the core, so it's more of a hybrid than Indianapolis. It's still much better at being a giant agglomeration of suburbs than a city though, and perhaps not much unlike places like Atlanta, where focus on near-downtown living has also risen in recent years.
Edit: Other cities in the Midwest with similar "broad city limits" are Kansas City, Omaha, Lincoln - basically all of the plains states metros. Sun-belt growth comes down to suburbs in the city, more or less.
It feels more Southern than most Midwestern cities, and as a Midwesterner/Northerner I felt uncomfortable at times in Columbus due to cultural differences I would only describe as being more "Southern", like drawl or love of NASCAR racing (over NFL football).
Columbus football fans are divided amongst Bengals, Browns, and Steelers supporters.
Are Columbus and Indianapolis Midwest/Sunbelt hybrids?
Quote:
Originally Posted by cbusflyer
Columbus and Indianapolis seem a little out of place in the Midwest. They are certainly Midwest cities, but their growth seems to be more aligned with sunbelt cities. Would you consider them to be a Midwest/Sunbelt hybrid?
When I think of the term "Sunbelt" I think of places with warm winters, warmer then found in Columbus and Indianapolis.
Maybe the difference you see is that both cities are still growing because both are capital cities and are not rustbelt. In order words, there maybe some similarities but that does not make them Sunbelt.
To me Columbus has the feel of a sunbelt city due to:
1) growing boomtown economy
2) a lot of new sprawl
3) fairly flat
4) younger population
5) sort of outside-the-box approach to things...fresher than other Ohio cities.
6) better educated/more white-collar.
Historically tho, Cols used to be more industrial than people realize, despite being the state capital and having OSU (OSU became a big deal more after WWII).
The "southern" thing you pick up in Cols comes from the big Southern Appalachian migration after WWII. "Readin', Writin', Route 23" (as in the Dwight Yokum song)...the hillbilly highway north....Cols shares this with Dayton, Cincy, and smaller SW Ohio cities...the "briar diaspora". But theres more going on there than that.
I think of Sunbelt areas, as being more sprawled and not as compact. Jacksonville seems to be on one end of of the spectrum with nearly 800 square miles. Cleveland and Cincinnati come in around 80 square miles. Columbus is around 220 so it is more in the middle of size but has suburban growth in it's city boundaries but also historic, fairly dense neighborhoods. To me, it seems like Columbus combines sprawl and historic areas all within it boundaries.
Location: Appalachian New York, Formerly Louisiana
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Min-Chi-Cbus
It feels more Southern than most Midwestern cities, and as a Midwesterner/Northerner I felt uncomfortable at times in Columbus due to cultural differences I would only describe as being more "Southern", like drawl or love of NASCAR racing (over NFL football).
I'm sorry but no.
If NASCAR fans and "drawl" make a place southern, then count Pennsylvania, southern Jersey, upstate NY, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and western Massachusetts as part of ol' Dixie.
I lived in Baton Rouge. I live in the deep south. I have been to Columbus several times. I don't mean driving by it, I mean I have spent significant time, down town, by the college, in the city, with friends I have there. It is in no way even the tiniest bit southern.
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Are Columbus and Indianapolis Midwest/Sunbelt hybrids?
