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Huge powerhouses located on a Great Lake-Chicago, Cleveland, Buffalo, Milwaukee, Detroit.
Gulf Coast has Houston, New Orleans, and Tampa.
This is not a comparison of those cities against each other.
In terms of a city being positioned in the more commercially and culturally relevant area, Gulf Coast or Great Lake?
Well...Canada is the largest US trading partner if not usurped recently by China. The corridors of that trade comes through the Great lakes. Also, the Great Lakes region is HEAVILY populated. Outside of the Boston-Washington Corridor megalopolis, the Great Lakes region is the most densely and heavily population cluster/region in the nation.
So my vote goes for the Great Lakes region.....which includes Toronto. The main positive of the Gulf Coast region is population growth.
Tourism, I'm sure, is a bigger deal on the Gulf Coast. However, as far as relevance and importance, I would have to go with the Great Lakes Coast. The Great Lakes contain 84 percent of America's surface fresh water, and 21 percent of the world's surface fresh water. (Fresh water is kind of important, people). People like to try to make it seem the Gulf Coast is more important to the US, but that's, actually, just not true. Because it's more fun to swim in, and is a popular vacation destination (within the US), doesn't make it more relevant. Of course, the Gulf Coast will win this thread, because the Great Lakes lie in the Midwest, mainly, and people have a bias. LOL
Tourism, I'm sure, is a bigger deal on the Gulf Coast. However, as far as relevance and importance, I would have to go with the Great Lakes Coast. The Great Lakes contain 84 percent of America's surface fresh water, and 21 percent of the world's surface fresh water. (Fresh water is kind of important, people). People like to try to make it seem the Gulf Coast is more important to the US, but that's, actually, just not true. Because it's more fun to swim in, and is a popular vacation destination (within the US), doesn't make it more relevant. Of course, the Gulf Coast will win this thread, because the Great Lakes lie in the Midwest, mainly, and people have a bias. LOL
I love the Great Lakes region as they much as the next person but until that region controls the countries energy supply the Gulf region will almost always be the commercially & economically important area.
Nationwide cultural relevance and importance is a substantially more subjective matter.
Well...Canada is the largest US trading partner if not usurped recently by China. The corridors of that trade comes through the Great lakes. Also, the Great Lakes region is HEAVILY populated. Outside of the Boston-Washington Corridor megalopolis, the Great Lakes region is the most densely and heavily population cluster/region in the nation.
So my vote goes for the Great Lakes region.....which includes Toronto. The main positive of the Gulf Coast region is population growth.
Wouldn't most of the commerce between U.S. and Canada be via rail or highway? Being populated doesn't necessarily address the question of which region is more important. California was regarded as an inaccessible backwater for hundreds of years.
I suppose the more important waterway to commercial interests of the U.S. is the Gulf Coast.
But then the title of the thread poses: "Which is a more important region for a city to be located-Gulf Coast or Great Lake?" This is an odd question, as a city can be a backwater in both, or a bustling metropolis in both--one does not necessarily dictate the other. My guess is that, as a whole, the metro areas lining the Great Lakes have a greater GDP than those along the Gulf Coast, insofar as that is an indicator of economic importance or "might" to the country's total domestic productivity.
I suppose the more important waterway to commercial interests of the U.S. is the Gulf Coast.
But then the title of the thread poses: "Which is a more important region for a city to be located-Gulf Coast or Great Lake?" This is an odd question, as a city can be a backwater in both, or a bustling metropolis in both--one does not necessarily dictate the other. My guess is that, as a whole, the metro areas lining the Great Lakes have a greater GDP than those along the Gulf Coast, insofar as that is an indicator of economic importance or "might" to the country's total domestic productivity.
Very true, but its also undeniable that places like New York City, Boston, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, or St. Louis thrived specifically because of their geographic location. Also true that as a region, the northeast seems to have a high concentration of powerful metro areas.
So regions at various points in human events regional location does dictate the importance of cities it seems.
I love the Great Lakes region as they much as the next person but until that region controls the countries energy supply the Gulf region will almost always be the commercially & economically important area.
Nationwide cultural relevance and importance is a substantially more subjective matter.
You mean the energy supply that is destroying ecosystems and will eventually lead to an environmental disaster if we don't start castrating the big oil companies? That energy supply?
You mean the energy supply that is destroying ecosystems and will eventually lead to an environmental disaster if we don't start castrating the big oil companies? That energy supply?
You realize that the Gulf Coast (Houston specifically) is the energy capital of the US. Not just the oil and gas capital of the US. The energy giants that mainly source oil and gas right now will the be the green energy giants of tomorrow. They, by far, are the biggest investors in renewable energy. Not only that, but outside those companies Houston has some of the most green energy jobs in the country.
Long story short, the Gulf Coast region will still be the ones controlling energy even after oil and gas is no longer used.
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