Distinguishing urban to rural in southern california and california..... (Los Angeles: how much, homes)

[the city]

I'm just curious....

For all the LA folk out there.

Is LA a urban city? So if LA is urban, then cities like Santa Monica, San Fernando, and Pomona are suburbs? I think a suburb is any bedroom community within 30 minutes of a larger city. The larger has all the jobs and population. The people in the bedroom community commute to the larger city, which makes the bedroom community a suburb. Then there are indivual neighborhoods in Los Angeles, like Echo Park, Northridge, Canoga Park, Reseda, etc... And then after the suburbs there are ex-urbs like Pasadena, Glendale, Burbank, Riverside, San Bernardino, Victorville, etc...Then there is the fact that because all of these cities are rather large their rural cities surrounding them will greatly developed.

ex of urban cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Long Beach, Oakland, San Diego, San Jose, Fresno, Sacramento

ex of suburban cities: Daly City, Santa Monica, Agoura Hills, San Fernando, North Hollywood, Beverly Hills, La Jolla, Cypress, Seal Beach, Lakewood, Huntington Beach, Elk Grove, Clovis, Concord, Lafeyette, Cupertino, Campbell, Mountain View, Las Gatos, Saratoga, etc..

ex of ex-urbs (usually wherever u find Costcos): San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Visalia, Eureka, San Rafael, Thousand Oaks, Ventura, Oxnard, Simi Valley, San Marcos, Riverside, San Bernardino, Hanford, Madera, Monterey, Salinas, El Centro, Victorville, Santa Clarita, Gilroy, Chico, Santa Maria, Redding, Temecula, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga, Irvine, Pasadena, Glendora, Glendale, Burbank, Cerritos, Poway, etc...

ex of rural communities: Ridgecrest, Paso Robles, Atascadero, Ojai, Mojave, Pismo Beach, Arroyo Grande, Guadalupe, Oak Park, Morgan Hill, Solano Beach, Twin Oaks, Mt. Shasta, San Benito, King City, Healdsburg, Half Moon Bay, Moraga (range from being greatly developed from being little developed depending on the metro or the area the rural community is in)


Like I said, each one differs in urbanization. Depending on if it's rural, urban, suburban, or ex-urban I think depends on all 5 factors: housing density, jobs, how many ppl commute, population, and how much retail a city has.

[the city]

I also think the amount of urbanization gets higher and lower depending how close a community is to the beach or a major highway or freeway.

(urban sprawl and urban clusters theory)

[ElleBebe]

I would consider Half Moon Bay, along with most other cities in the "bay area proper" (including Moraga)to be suburbs; in this case the big cities are San Francisco and San Jose, but it gets more complicated because the entire area is highly populated.

Rural, in my mind, is rather separated from large cities, even if it's close on the map. An example is Winters: it may be close to Sacramento in terms of mileage, but it takes an effort to get from one to the other, and Winters is pretty well isolated in the countryside.

[the city]

Originally Posted by ElleBebe

I would consider Half Moon Bay, along with most other cities in the "bay area proper" (including Moraga)to be suburbs; in this case the big cities are San Francisco and San Jose, but it gets more complicated because the entire area is highly populated.

Rural, in my mind, is rather separated from large cities, even if it's close on the map. An example is Winters: it may be close to Sacramento in terms of mileage, but it takes an effort to get from one to the other, and Winters is pretty well isolated in the countryside.

i don't think ex-urbs have suburbs. right? so if that was true, then apple valley and hesperia are suburbs of victorville or just highly developed rural communities?

and what are some names of rural towns, if any, in the bay area?

[AnUnidentifiedMale]

I don't think the L.A. area can be categorized in a traditional urban/suburban way. The following link explains the urban form of the L.A. area. You might find it helpful and interesting:

Greater Los Angeles Area - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[LivingInExiles]

Kinda weird how suburbs are distinguished in L.A., very confusing IMO. I wouldn't call Santa Monica "the suburbs" exactly, especially judging by the urban fabric of the city. I would call Burbank and Glendale "the suburbs", but I would call Long Beach and Pasadena "the city". It's pretty confusing, so anyone feel free to correct me or add your two cents.

[the city]

Hmm, you could be right...

Perhaps Los Angeles, San Jose, San Francisco, and San Diego are the only 4 main urban cities. And then distinguishing ex-urban, rural, and suburban communities is the tricky part. I think alot of rural communities are now just urban clusters along the freeway. Then suburbs are commuter towns with tract homes that all look the same. And ex-urban communities are areas with grid homes that have one central area (usually like a downtown or commericial district).

[edwardius]

I think you are using the wrong frames of reference. City boundary lines are pretty arbitrary.

In Northridge, Los Angeles is pretty suburban. In the Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles is pretty urban. Inside Griffith Park, is a rural part of Los Angeles. Is Los Angeles urban, suburban or rural? Its all three.

The relevant measure is density.

The other relevant measure is the size of urban conglomeration. As far as cities go, San Francisco is pretty small. Its much smaller than San Antonio. What matters is the urban conglomeration. Its because of the 6 or 7 million people in the bay area, that you have lot of international flights between the bay area and other parts of the world. By themselves, neither San Jose or SF would be that significant. But because they are surrounded by 6 million plus people, the region takes on greater importance.

Think about the people living in Santa Monica versus the people living in Fresno. Santa Monica is more dense than Fresno. If you live in Santa Monica, you have access to all of the international plane flights, the professional sports, all of the activities that living in the Los Angeles region provides.

Fresno might technically be a larger city than Santa Monica. But in terms of urban amenities, the average resident of Santa Monica has better access to them. If you live in Santa Monica, you can easily go the Getty, go see the Groundlings, catch a Lakers game or go see the the Bruins at Pauley Pavillion. In Fresno, hopefully Fresno State is doing something that weekend. There just isn't as much to do.

As I see it both because of its density and its inclusion of in the bigger Los Angeles region, Santa Monica is more urban than Fresno.

I think the two or three urban areas in California are the bay area, the Los Angeles region and the San Diego region or perhaps just the bay area and southland depending on whether you think San Diego is far enough away from the rest of Southern California to be considered its own region.

[the city]

so is it safe to say los angeles, san diego, san jose, and san francisco are the only urban cities in california? i'd say since LA has a mix of 3 types, it has a lower urban density. but the majority of the city is still urban.

so long beach and oakland are suburbs? fresno and sacramento are ex-urban?

[EscapeCalifornia]

Why spend so much time trying to fit every part of California into neat little categories? You're trying to describe a 32 bit world with 4 bit color.