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I don't think Seattle is worthy of this discussion. A healthy city in the midst of rapid gentrification is not experiencing a renaissance. If Seattle experienced a renaissance it was a couple decades or more ago, this thread seems to be about cities getting ready to turn that corner.
I agree, though Tacoma might be worthy of discussion, it's even started being viewed as separate entity by the likes of Forbs, referring to it as the Tacoma-Lakewood-WA Metropolitan Division (Ranked 10th among fastest growing cities).
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Originally Posted by grega94
I agree, though Tacoma might be worthy of discussion, it's even started being viewed as separate entity by the likes of Forbs, referring to it as the Tacoma-Lakewood-WA Metropolitan Division (Ranked 10th among fastest growing cities).
I was just there in Tacoma back in June as one of my friends just bought a house there. I think my last visit before that was probably around 2005, so it's definitely come along nicely over the years. Very good public transit connections, commuter rail to Seattle, nice light rail to take you into downtown from from the rail station. We went to a very cool coffee shop in a beautiful old brick building on Hilltop, which was definitively a no go zone not too long ago. Downtown/Pacific Ave is looking better, but still feels pretty quiet, there really weren't many people walking around. I think with all the upscale urban development in downtown Bellevue, it's stolen a lot of Tacoma's thunder.
Last edited by Champ le monstre du lac; 08-09-2018 at 05:56 PM..
I don't think Seattle is worthy of this discussion. A healthy city in the midst of rapid gentrification is not experiencing a renaissance. If Seattle experienced a renaissance it was a couple decades or more ago, this thread seems to be about cities getting ready to turn that corner.
Small list, and that's not of mentioning UAB's Expansion/Physical Development and the Redevelopment of the Buildings Downtown, or the other projects that's recently finished.
Nothing world class like Seattle, but what Birmingham's went through in the past, it's definitely turning the corner.
I think Richmond might qualify based on that description. Norfolk also appears to be changing rapidly.
Norfolk has so much potential to be a really great city but I feel like the fact that the Hampton Roads economy has been stagnant for about a decade makes it hard for Norfolk to grow and develop the way it should.
OP - without a doubt, DC. I don't think people realize just how much change DC has experienced in such a short amount of time. I'd include Atlanta as well.
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Originally Posted by Mutiny77
Precisely. Given that criterion (which was laid out in the initial post), I think the only cities mentioned thus far which qualify are Detroit and Birmingham.
I would call those a deathbed resuscitation, not a renaissance.
"ones that are making a complete 180 turn regarding a revival of their cityscapes, particularly with downtown development, urbanity, and vibrancy"
DC, Seattle and New York are the ones that best fit this description. They were all in the pits 40 years ago.
Seattle certainly didn't fall like many cities. The population within city limits bottomed out in the mid-80s, but it was actually more households at that point than the peak around 1960. Households had simply gotten a lot smaller in that period.
As for its infill...the various nodes around town are typically growing in six-story form, or close variations. That's the 15% of the city where density is allowed at all. These have taken a large percentage of our roughly 50% population growth since the mid-80s, and some of that is feeling cohesively urban today.
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