Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Minnesota > Minneapolis - St. Paul
 [Register]
Minneapolis - St. Paul Twin Cities
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.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 02-16-2011, 11:03 PM
 
Location: MN
3,971 posts, read 9,628,282 times
Reputation: 2148

Advertisements

How would 'The Twin Cities' function?

I think it's safe to say the two distinct, separate, large municipalities that border each other have shaped the way the metro has grown, physically and culturally.

What would be different? Would the skyline be pretty decent? (Combining MPLS and STPs')

What would the neighborhoods be like? Are there any present MPLS neighborhoods that could be STP neighborhoods?

And, are there and STP neighborhoods that could be MPLS neighborhoods?

Where would the business district (downtown) be?

Would the population stay the same? (MPLS + STP now) or would it be greater or smaller?

What would it be called? (St. Minneapolis, St. Minneapaul, Minneapaul, St. Paulopolis, or just Minneapolis-St. Paul, or even crazier St. Paul-Minneapolis?

Where would it fall in legitimacy for the rest of the nation? More credible? Less credible?

Let's hear your thoughts..

... I know it's almost literally impossible and will never happen, but let's just imagine
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 02-17-2011, 12:39 AM
 
37 posts, read 46,425 times
Reputation: 25
u would only have one highway 35, which would make for a smaller metropolitan.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-17-2011, 02:28 AM
 
3,710 posts, read 3,625,798 times
Reputation: 6459
There would be less urban sprawl for sure, but I don't think it would give us more credibility. Afterall, being the "twin cities" is part of what makes us unique, and each has it's own identity. I also think two large cities provides for some healthy competition, both politically and socially. One city would increase our density which could encourage better mass transit.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-17-2011, 03:25 AM
 
10,629 posts, read 26,625,056 times
Reputation: 6776
I think the country already thinks of it as one metro area. When many people say "Minneapolis" they already mean "Twin Cities." I don't think much would be different, other than a consolidation of services. They already pretty much function as one shared city. I don't see how anything would change in terms of density or better mass transportation, or freeways, for that matter. Maybe if historically one or the other hadn't existed things would be different and we'd be more like Chicago in terms of layout (with one primary downtown and a lot of bustling neighborhoods very far out, plus suburbs like Evanston). Other than that, I don't think that the differences between the two cities are all that great. There are differences between different areas, certainly, but I don't know that they fall neatly along city boundaries.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-17-2011, 05:58 PM
 
Location: Columbus OH
1,606 posts, read 3,326,577 times
Reputation: 1832
One difference is that the Midway district wouldn't be so large. I enjoy driving down University Avenue from the capital to the UofM. It's a nice, gritty drive of about 7 or so miles of ethnic shops, old warehouses, and converted warehouses, apartments and quasi-suburban retail ( but with enough urban character to make you realize this isn't Eagan or Eden Prairie). If we only had one central city, it would start urban, but get progressively suburban as you get further out.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-17-2011, 07:54 PM
 
Location: Southern Minnesota
5,984 posts, read 13,351,252 times
Reputation: 3365
It would be Sioux Falls, just a little bigger and with more trees. It would likely have half to two-thirds the population it does today. Minneapolis AND St. Paul are what make the Twin Cities unique.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-18-2011, 08:11 AM
 
Location: Los Angeles
411 posts, read 987,910 times
Reputation: 284
We in Minneapolis would have nothing to make fun of.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-18-2011, 08:21 AM
 
Location: Minneapolis, MN
10,244 posts, read 16,277,938 times
Reputation: 5303
This topic has come up before and honestly it doesn't do a whole lot for me. I'm all for consolidating services and other programs across the two cities when it makes financial sense but they albeit some similiarities they really are two very different cities that appeal to people with different tastes.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-18-2011, 08:54 AM
 
Location: Midwest
1,283 posts, read 2,212,128 times
Reputation: 983
Public transit would be easier to implement efficiently. The way it stands now, you have routes that act as cross towns in Minneapolis that act as buses that feed into Downtown in Saint Paul (which I suppose might date back to the actual consolidation of two separate systems).

You have to spend a lot of energy and money on a light rail line connecting downtown to downtown which, if there was only one CBD, could be running from the extreme western end of the city to the extreme eastern end of the city.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-18-2011, 09:28 AM
 
Location: Minneapolis (St. Louis Park)
5,993 posts, read 10,127,080 times
Reputation: 4401
Quote:
Originally Posted by rammi233 View Post
u would only have one highway 35, which would make for a smaller metropolitan.
You must have a masters in Urban Planning! How do you know so much?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
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.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Minnesota > Minneapolis - St. Paul
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top