Outside of Philly and Pitt, which PA city has the most urban downtown core? (Philadelphia: crime, houses)

[santafe400]

Some smaller cities with some decent downtown bones include: Erie, York, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Reading, Scranton, Williamsport, Johnstown, Altoona, etc.

[rowhomecity]

Lancaster
Harrisburg
Allentown
Bethlehem
Scranton
Reading


Erie
West Chester
State College
Williamsport
Phoenixville
Pottstown


Hershey
Carlisle
Gettysburg


Litiz
New Hope
Wellsboro

[PAhippo]

I think you just answered your own question.

[g500]

Harrisburg feels the most urban in my opinion.

Lancaster is quite vibrant/touristy, with the built environment of York. It feels more like a town, lots of neat shops and pedestrian activity.

York honestly feels very residential. Lot of neighborhoods with tightly packed rowhouses. I didn't get as much of a "downtown" impression. The downtown is quite compact but has a bit of colonial vibe.

Altoona felt pretty quiet, granted I was downtown on a workday at lunch in the winter shortly after New Year's. It really reminded me of downtown Williamsport PA in terms of built environment. I ate at a local diner - it felt homey.

Reading, kinda felt residential again with one big town square. Talk about rowhouses galore. The downtown feels bigger than the others, except for Harrisburg.

Allentown, Scranton, Erie, and Johnstown I've never been in their downtowns personally, but have explored on Google street view.

I'd go with Harrisburg. It has the most highrises, and the most work traffic due to being the state capital. It also has the largest daytime population due to the influx of State employees.

Don't underestimate downtown State College either, especially when the semester is in session. Many new high rises have been built. Though Covid seems to have put a damper on some of the streetlife.

[AshbyQuin]

Not the most by any stretch but Norristown should be given its dues.

[bridge12]

Definitely Harrisburg for urban feeling. It's got the most high-rises, office buildings, and tall residential buildings. After that I'd say Allentown, then Lancaster.

[trackstar13]

I would definitely say Allentown seems the most urban to me and the area around the PPL Center really has a big city feel, especially with the blend of historic buildings and newer construction.

[eschaton]

There's a notable shift in small PA cities once you move north/west of the Great Valley and into the Blue Mountains/Appalachians.

Basically every small city closer to the coast than this dividing line (Easton, Bethlehem, Allentown, Reading, Harrisburg, Lancaster, York, and even smaller ones like Lebanon, Carlisle, Pottstown, Gettysburg, ect.) has great urban form (discounting where there was bad urban renewal/parking craters). You have compact, walkable downtowns surrounded by dense neighborhoods of brick rowhouses.

In contrast, the smaller cities outside of this area (Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Erie, etc..) don't have great urban form. Pretty much immediately after you leave the commercial portion of downtown, you are in quasi-suburban areas with detached wood-frame houses.

[Wells5]

Central Scranton does have a moderate sized urban core as you can see in the linked drone video. Because the area was settled by people from New England, the housing stock is built of wood, not brick and not jammed together like the row houses of the southeast and south central part of the state.


The city's population peaked at 140,000 in 1930 and is now 76,328 boosted by an influx of recent immigrants.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw4n5KY_P04

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by santafe400

Some smaller cities with some decent downtown bones include: Erie, York, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Reading, Scranton, Williamsport, Johnstown, Altoona, etc.

From what I read, Harrisburg has the liveliest urban core, especially well suited for young professionals. Harrisburg has a horrific crime rate, but it rarely is a problem in the areas around the capital.

Population by "urban area" 2010

1. 5,441,567 Philadelphia, PA–NJ–DE–MD
2. 1,733,853 Pittsburgh, PA
3. 664,651 Allentown, PA–NJ Iincludes Bethlehem , Easton and Phillipsburg
4. 444,474 Harrisburg, PA
5. 402,004 Lancaster, PA
6. 381,502 Scranton-Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
7. 266,254 Reading, PA
8. 232,045 York, PA

An "urban area" is larger than the city proper population but smaller than the Metropolitan Statistical Area. The census bureau uses a strict standard as to when the urban area stops and the rural area begins. They basically ignore any boundary lines of local government. The boundaries of a MSA are county lines (outside of New England).

Allentown "urban area" is larger than Harrisburg's but it is less friendly at night.