Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
This is funny but I will say 11 or 12 as well.. Kinda started when i was Traveling up to the Midwest, Chicago to visit family members, looking out the window and for some reason was so impressed with Louisville, KY skyline crossing over to Indiana..It was around 3am and was so impressed with the red blinking obstruction lighting twinkling on the top of each high rise. Remember asking my mom what city is that. Think I was impressed because it wasn't too big and wasn't too small and gave me the zeal to want to research the place as well as other City populations, etc. Louisville kinda reminded me of a small LA at night when I was a Kid and for some reason brought about the interest in me at a very young age.. Have to admit the 80's Movie Return of the Living Dead last few min and bomb drop at the end. played a role in my interest of Louisville, KY as well, cities and skyline views. Found out though, the movie was really filmed in LA and the Skyline view was really a fake set...
I was 9, my school had a professional day and I was i my dad office/trailer in Boston because he worked on the Big Dig, as a result I saw so many pictures of Boston Skyline and heard of plans for the city and had been to NYC a few times already
I'm pretty sure I was born this way haha. Everytime we used to go downtown Minneapolis when I was a kid I thought I was in the biggest city on earth. I used to get enthralled just looking at the suburban office midrises in Bloomington.
I was 18, walking downtown with my girlfriend and wondered how cool it would be to see a big skyscraper in Baton Rouge, looked it up to see if one was being built and there actually was. 8 years later and I'm here.
For skylines, I first became enthralled when visiting Toronto numerous times as a young child to visit family. I must've been 3 years old or younger. There was just something so mesmerizing about the big city that caused me to be my happiest when I was surrounded by the vibrancy of the downtown area. I remember frequently drawing city skylines for my elementary school art projects, often featuring the CN Tower.
Now infrastructure, population statistics and other city data grabbed my interest around 10 years old when I began to follow my own city's redevelopment projects. I would study demographics, compare my city to others I have visited and self-educate on urban planning, zoning, etc. This website became a valuable tool and the discussions kept my interest.
Sometimes I wish I pursued a career in this stuff.
For skylines, I first became enthralled when visiting Toronto numerous times as a young child to visit family. I must've been 3 years old or younger. There was just something so mesmerizing about the big city that caused me to be my happiest when I was surrounded by the vibrancy of the downtown area. I remember frequently drawing city skylines for my elementary school art projects, often featuring the CN Tower.
Now infrastructure, population statistics and other city data grabbed my interest around 10 years old when I began to follow my own city's redevelopment projects. I would study demographics, compare my city to others I have visited and self-educate on urban planning, zoning, etc. This website became a valuable tool and the discussions kept my interest.
Sometimes I wish I pursued a career in this stuff.
I loved Downtown Seattle from an early age. Then we moved to Boise when I was 9 and Seattle became this mystical place. Around that time I inherited my family's old Rand McNalley road atlas, and I cared immensely about our font size and how big the road system made us look. I still love that font...all caps and very wide vs. tall. I started buying a World Almanac every year, quickly realizing that December was the month to do it. That was for population stats (zero internets until much later) and building heights despite their frequent errors. We got the Seattle Weekly in the mail, back when they were good on urban issues, and I still remember some of the stories about Downtown growth and planning 35 years later. We also got Pacific Northwest Magazine...again I remember the story about the 1980 census...
We moved back to Seattle in 1985. Then in my early 20s and I started working for a non-profit trying to build a park in Downtown Seattle, as a researcher, which a few years later turned into a construction job where part of my role (for 20 years) is to understand real estate and urban growth...it's all worked out well.
I've always been obsessed with skylines, populations, geographic features (and other random things like airport terminal layouts) since a I was a little kid. I'm still just as obsessed.
I used to think I should have pursued a career in some form of geography- in fact I started off my undergrad as a geography major but transferred to another school that was too small to have it as a specific major. I kept thinking I should go back for grad school but went another direction.
I'm finally okay with the fact that I didn't. I incorporate all of these things in many parts of my life (and sometimes at work) but after thinking about it- and talking to some of my friends in the field, for example someone working in a city planning department who is burnt out because of the limitations of his situation- I've come to the conclusion that it's probably better to enjoy it on my own time!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
