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Now put your thinking caps on. If someone were planning a city from the ground up and they needed to choose a spot, what factors would be important. Let's brainstorm those factors, then from that list figure out which city is "theoretically" in the best position. Let's stick to basics.
For example, the ideal city:
* has an inexhaustible water supply (for example Great Lakes or Mississippi River)
* has land that is not prone to flooding
* has abundance of flat land (easier to build cities on flat land)
* has access to maritime shipping, either via river or sea
* is not prone to earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, or other natural disasters
* is in close proximity to productive farmlands so it is easy to get high quality fresh produce
NYC doesn't meet it because many parts of Manhattan are flood prone, it's also hurricane and blizzard prone.
Philly kind of meets the requirements except for being hurricane and blizzard prone. San Francisco meets all the requirements except for being earthquake prone. Chicago meets most of the requirements except for being blizzard and tornado prone. St. Louis has plenty of land, water, and shipping access but is tornado prone.
Thoughts?
Last edited by JMT; 10-14-2014 at 07:50 AM..
Reason: This forum is for North American cities only.
First of all, Philly will suffer from sea level rise flooding as much as manhattan. the delaware river will flood south philly and parts of center city, which sit barely above sea level.
i would say the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania (Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton). It's an hour north of Philly, and less than 2 hours west of NYC. it was ranked one of the safest US cities against natural disasters. it is too far inland to be affected by sea level rise. yet it's close enough to the Jersey Shore/Philly for shipping. and is surrounded by farms. the economy there isn't great but it's growing quick now that a lot of NYers and New Jerseyans are moving there
First of all, Philly will suffer from sea level rise flooding as much as manhattan. the delaware river will flood south philly and parts of center city, which sit barely above sea level.
i would say the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania (Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton). It's an hour north of Philly, and less than 2 hours west of NYC. it was ranked one of the safest US cities against natural disasters. it is too far inland to be affected by sea level rise. yet it's close enough to the Jersey Shore/Philly for shipping. and is surrounded by farms. the economy there isn't great but it's growing quick now that a lot of NYers and New Jerseyans are moving there
Is the Delaware River navigable up to Easton? What about being prone to blizzards/Nor'easters? Can it be affected by hurricanes or is it too far inland? Is the terrain hilly or flat? I would think that area would not fit the "has abundance of flat land" category. Even San Francisco has that, in the Santa Clara valley to the south.
Interesting, I agree. For some reason Detroit doesn't get many blizzards either, being on the Northwest side of the lakes instead of the south side of the Great Lakes. For instance, Cleveland gets far more snowy weather than Detroit.
I almost hate to do this, but I think Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee and Buffalo meet most of these criteria quite easily for "major" cities, even though they're widely regarded as some of the most unappealing places to Mr./Mrs. Joe/Joanna American.
Chicago, Twin Cities, Milwaukee, Columbus, Indy, Pittsburgh, Cincy, Nashville, Memphis, and maybe Atlanta or Charlotte are all 1-2 points away from being 100% ideal, according to the list of amenities. Although I have to say that "blizzards" aren't a true issue for almost any American city, with perhaps the exception being Denver or (shockingly) Northeast cities like Philly, Boston and NYC -- all of whom get 2+ feet of snow seemingly annually and in many cases it shuts down the city. The others have flooding or tornado threats or aren't very flat, and Memphis and St. Louis also have legitimate Earthquake threats.
Sacramento, Dallas and Denver all crossed my mind but none of them have a plentiful water supply and all are a major threat for drought. Sacto is on a major flood plain and Dallas and Denver can and do get major tornadic activity as well. Seattle and Portland also come to mind but I know that Earthquakes and mudslides are a major concern there, and the land is far from flat and farmable. Philly seemed somewhat flat when I was in the area but maybe I'm wrong on that. I'm not sure if it's much of a flooding threat either, but then there's those "Nor'easters"....
Philly kind of meets the requirements except for being hurricane and blizzard prone. San Francisco meets all the requirements except for being earthquake prone. Chicago meets most of the requirements except for being blizzard and tornado prone. St. Louis has plenty of land, water, and shipping access but is tornado prone.
Thoughts?
SF is nowhere near a source of endless water supply. Water is an issue in SF.
Philly seemed somewhat flat when I was in the area but maybe I'm wrong on that. I'm not sure if it's much of a flooding threat either, but then there's those "Nor'easters"....
As gattaq noted, unfortunately Philly is far from immune to flooding. Despite not being directly located on the coast, it is certainly in a tidal zone that is heavily affected by sea level.
Also, just to clarify, the city of Philadelphia is largely flat -- in addition to the Southern New Jersey suburbs -- but the Pennsylvania suburbs are generally very hilly, as they fall into the "Northern Piedmont" region.
I almost hate to do this, but I think Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee and Buffalo meet most of these criteria quite easily for "major" cities, even though they're widely regarded as some of the most unappealing places to Mr./Mrs. Joe/Joanna American.
Chicago, Twin Cities, Milwaukee, Columbus, Indy, Pittsburgh, Cincy, Nashville, Memphis, and maybe Atlanta or Charlotte are all 1-2 points away from being 100% ideal, according to the list of amenities. Although I have to say that "blizzards" aren't a true issue for almost any American city, with perhaps the exception being Denver or (shockingly) Northeast cities like Philly, Boston and NYC -- all of whom get 2+ feet of snow seemingly annually and in many cases it shuts down the city. The others have flooding or tornado threats or aren't very flat, and Memphis and St. Louis also have legitimate Earthquake threats.
Sacramento, Dallas and Denver all crossed my mind but none of them have a plentiful water supply and all are a major threat for drought. Sacto is on a major flood plain and Dallas and Denver can and do get major tornadic activity as well. Seattle and Portland also come to mind but I know that Earthquakes and mudslides are a major concern there, and the land is far from flat and farmable. Philly seemed somewhat flat when I was in the area but maybe I'm wrong on that. I'm not sure if it's much of a flooding threat either, but then there's those "Nor'easters"....
Is the Mississippi River navigable up to Minneapolis? i.e. can they accommodate oceangoing vessels that far up north? I don't think so because there are several dams north of St. Louis, so I think we have to exclude any port city north of St. Louis.
Memphis is a good city for this as well, it sits on a cliff so no flooding concerns and plenty of flat land to the south and east. The earthquake threat is minimal and lower tornado threat than St. Louis.
SF is nowhere near a source of endless water supply. Water is an issue in SF.
The Sacramento River is a viable water supply for SF. They don't currently use it and instead use the pristine Hetch Hetchy reservoir, but the Sacramento River has high enough flows to accommodate a large population, much larger than SF has at present.
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