Which City Represents Ohio The Best? Urban/ Rural (Columbus, Cleveland: city hall, school)

[AkronOhio44320]

Which City Represents Ohio The Best?

Here Is A List not in order..)

URBAN
1.Cleveland
2.Columbus
3.Cincinnatti
4.Dayton
5.Toledo
6.Akron
7.Youngstown
8.Springfield
Rural
1.Mansfield
2.Warren
3.Hamilton
4.Sandusky
5.Massillon
6.Steubenville
8.Portsmouth

[abr7rmj]

I think you can get a lot more rural than Hamilton and Sandusky. Hamilton almost seemlessly blends into Cincinnati's northern burbs. If you're talking cities that are a step up in size from small towns, I would think Wilmington would be a good example. Or Zanesville.

[neilworms2]

Very hard state to say one city represents. Ohio is basically 5 different states:

1) Northwest flatlands with a farm based economy, Toledo is a touch of a great lakes city.

2) Northeast Rust Belt: Large industrial cities that lost a lot of their original economy, hills and valleys. Very liberal and union.

3) Central Capitol area: Young affluent educated and growing fast, kind of like Austin even down to suburban strip malls with ethnic foods. Generally flat, liberal but not so much union.

4) Southwest Ohio: Rolling hills and old villages mixed with massive suburban sprawl of Dayton and Cincinnati. Cincinnati is pretty much its own universe but with some influence on Dayton (though it doesn't really go the other way). Very conservative.

5) Southeast Ohio: An extension of Appalachia, southren drawls and attitudes, pretty much an extension of Eastern Kentucky and W. Virginia. Very hilly. Conservative with pockets of old union industries.

I'm not even including anomalies like Cincinnati and Amish country... Ohio is a state that really isn't represented by one city, even Akron in the NE bucks the rust belt trend everywhere else there.

Its sheer diversity is why political scientists like using it as a microcosm of the rest of the country.

[motorman]

What better example than our capital city itself?

(1) It sits smack dab in the middle of our state;

(2) It's an impeccable blend of skyscrapers, parking lots, expressways, suburbs, shopping malls, universities, strip malls, sports, cornfields, and cows;

(3) It's perfectly positioned between greatness and mediocrity, high brow and low brow, like so much else in Ohio.

Whatta ya'all say? Do we have a winner?

[Art1979]

Originally Posted by neilworms2

I'm not even including anomalies like Cincinnati and Amish country... Ohio is a state that really isn't represented by one city, even Akron in the NE bucks the rust belt trend everywhere else there.

Its sheer diversity is why political scientists like using it as a microcosm of the rest of the country.

I'm in the same boat. There are a lot of physical and social differences found as you go east to west, north to south. Columbus has a different feel from Cleveland, as it does Cincinnati. The NW can feel just as cliche as the Midwest can get.

I think it causes a lot of tension, myself, as there are a lot of ideas coming together in one spot. It happens. I suppose one would need to take lemons and make lemonade on that one.

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by neilworms2

Very hard state to say one city represents. Ohio is basically 5 different states:

1) Northwest flatlands with a farm based economy, Toledo is a touch of a great lakes city.

2) Northeast Rust Belt: Large industrial cities that lost a lot of their original economy, hills and valleys. Very liberal and union.

3) Central Capitol area: Young affluent educated and growing fast, kind of like Austin even down to suburban strip malls with ethnic foods. Generally flat, liberal but not so much union.

4) Southwest Ohio: Rolling hills and old villages mixed with massive suburban sprawl of Dayton and Cincinnati. Cincinnati is pretty much its own universe but with some influence on Dayton (though it doesn't really go the other way). Very conservative.

5) Southeast Ohio: An extension of Appalachia, southren drawls and attitudes, pretty much an extension of Eastern Kentucky and W. Virginia. Very hilly. Conservative with pockets of old union industries.

I'm not even including anomalies like Cincinnati and Amish country... Ohio is a state that really isn't represented by one city, even Akron in the NE bucks the rust belt trend everywhere else there.
Its sheer diversity is why political scientists like using it as a microcosm of the rest of the country.

Really?? Why choose Akron? Its a smaller city that does not have the critical mass of cultural offerings, nightlife, etc. that Cleveland does.

Cleveland is as much of an anomaly as Cincinnati. Its among the most diverse cities in america.

[neilworms2]

Culturally Cleveland blows Akron out of the water, but Akron is the only major city in Northeast Ohio that doesn't have a lot of major economic issues to overcome, its stable built off of polymer industries that are still there and active instead of large industries like Steel that are mostly made overseas.

[5Lakes]

Originally Posted by neilworms2

Culturally Cleveland blows Akron out of the water, but Akron is the only major city in Northeast Ohio that doesn't have a lot of major economic issues to overcome, its stable built off of polymer industries that are still there and active instead of large industries like Steel that are mostly made overseas.

Akron was also a major industrial city that lost its main industry. Back in the day the city smelled like burning rubber from all of the tire factories. Yes, it has now become more of a tech and education city but it still fits in pretty well in NE Ohio. At this point I don't think its any better off than Cleveland as far as overcoming economic issues, because Cleveland is developing a new economy as well.

[Townes Van Zandt]

Originally Posted by neilworms2

Culturally Cleveland blows Akron out of the water, but Akron is the only major city in Northeast Ohio that doesn't have a lot of major economic issues to overcome, its stable built off of polymer industries that are still there and active instead of large industries like Steel that are mostly made overseas.

Originally Posted by 5Lakes

Akron was also a major industrial city that lost its main industry. Back in the day the city smelled like burning rubber from all of the tire factories. Yes, it has now become more of a tech and education city but it still fits in pretty well in NE Ohio. At this point I don't think its any better off than Cleveland as far as overcoming economic issues, because Cleveland is developing a new economy as well.

Both of these posts are correct. Akron's roots were in the rubber industry. Today, the influx of white collar jobs are in the polymer industry. The mayor has been touting some kind of biomedical corridor, but it seems like the only job growth worth noting stems from the university and the private sector rather than city hall.

[Townes Van Zandt]

To answer the OP's question:

I agree with the others. There is no generic "Ohio". It's a pretty unique state, in that it varies in architecture and culture from area to area. I'm pretty convinced that any outsider would come to the same conclusion after spending a few days in each of Ohio's major cities.

Northwest Ohio is typical Midwest, with flat farmland and a rust belt city(Toledo); Central Ohio is "CowTown USA" meets a growing college/state capitol(Columbus); Southwest Ohio is like Kentucky with old school, river city architecture(Cincinnati); Southeast Ohio is Appalachia; and last but certainly not least, Northeast Ohio is the most populated, urban section of the state. You've got the mother ship(Cleveland), the little city that could(Akron), the Hillbilly haven(Ashtabeautiful), and that city that the rest of us make fun of(Youngstown).

Sorry Youngstown. We still love you.