Does Philadelphia have the best downtown in the US? (Monument: neighborhood, college)

[sp2007]

Sure its nice, but the nice part is only a block and a half big. Does that really count when compared to 50 other downtowns?

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by sp2007

Sure its nice, but the nice part is only a block and a half big. Does that really count when compared to 50 other downtowns?

Maybe that was the case back in 1985, but these days, the nice part of Center City is far bigger than that. In fact, I would venture to say that the vast majority of Center City is quite pleasant, and definitely places among the nation's best. I only dispute the idea it's number one.

[mancat100]

Originally Posted by sp2007

Sure its nice, but the nice part is only a block and a half big. Does that really count when compared to 50 other downtowns?

I'd be very interested to know where this block and a half are located. To my eyes hundreds of blocks look great.

[mancat100]

Originally Posted by Summersm343

I knew it was only a matter of time before the Philly haters started coming out with ridiculous remarks like "only a block and a half in ALL of Philly is nice".... get out of here. I bet I could find at least 40 blocks that you couldn't afford to live on.

A lot more than 40.

[Dog Star]

I'm starting to realize that this question is a relative one. Everybody has their own standards for what makes a downtown the best. So OP, what are your requirements for a city to have the best downtown? And DON'T EVEN bring up that list from the original post...

[GTL_urbanlover08]

So OP, what are your requirements for a city to have the best downtown?

Well these are my personal preferences (yours might be somewhat different):

1) public transportation--availability and coverage as well as the appearance of stations/trains/busses; anything that makes riding comfortable or at least tolerable. also fares and how much you get for your buck.
2) cultural activities--museums, concerts, entertainment, festivals, arts scene
3) quality of people--I prefer a place with many young and well-educated people who tolerate differences and have better things to go after than "trash culture"
4) walkability and convenience--being able to find stores that offer a wide selection of goods (ethnic restaurants, supermarkets, non-chain retail)
5) cost of living compared to the stuff available
6) easy access to other destinations for day-trips and vacation

this is only a partial list

[Dog Star]

Originally Posted by GTL_urbanlover08

Well these are my personal preferences (yours might be somewhat different):

1) public transportation--availability and coverage as well as the appearance of stations/trains/busses; anything that makes riding comfortable or at least tolerable. also fares and how much you get for your buck.
2) cultural activities--museums, concerts, entertainment, festivals, arts scene
3) quality of people--I prefer a place with many young and well-educated people who tolerate differences and have better things to go after than "trash culture"
4) walkability and convenience--being able to find stores that offer a wide selection of goods (ethnic restaurants, supermarkets, non-chain retail)
5) cost of living compared to the stuff available
6) easy access to other destinations for day-trips and vacation

this is only a partial list

I'm not sure how the prices match between Philly and the Big Apple, and we've already established that Philadelphia has the through-routing services, but besides that, New York offers everything on this list more so than Philadelphia does.

[rotodome]

Originally Posted by GTL_urbanlover08

Well these are my personal preferences (yours might be somewhat different):

1) public transportation--availability and coverage as well as the appearance of stations/trains/busses; anything that makes riding comfortable or at least tolerable. also fares and how much you get for your buck.
2) cultural activities--museums, concerts, entertainment, festivals, arts scene
3) quality of people--I prefer a place with many young and well-educated people who tolerate differences and have better things to go after than "trash culture"
4) walkability and convenience--being able to find stores that offer a wide selection of goods (ethnic restaurants, supermarkets, non-chain retail)
5) cost of living compared to the stuff available
6) easy access to other destinations for day-trips and vacation

this is only a partial list

On that list, I would say:

1) No way. PT in Philly is very good by USA standards, but no way is it the absolute best. SEPTA needs some work in several areas.

2) No. Museums,fairs,concerts are good, but I think on par with several other cities, and I'm not even talking about NYC which is easily very far ahead of Philly on cultural institutions, amenities and activities. Philly needs to at least have ONE really nice first run movie theater in Center City to be in the discussion on entertainment. If the Boyd/Sameric ever gets renovated it would be a start - not sure why that's taking forever to happen. And the primary arts scenes in the USA are very decidedly in NYC and LA, with the second tier being Chicago and Miami, (this is as evidenced by where nearly ALL of the blue-chip galleries are located, and where artists who show at nearly all of the major worldwide art fairs and biennials have their studios, and where their gallery reresentation is). Philadelphia's art scene is a very regional one, and with a few exceptions, most "serious" artists from Philly end up moving to or getting gallery representation in one of those places. That's just kinda how it is.

3) This one is totally subjective and impossible to quantify, so no comment.

4) Philly is good for these things, but realistically it's not especially better than several other cities to the point you could say it was "the best".

5) Possibly! Philly is very cheap for a major city (mainly when speaking about the cost to purchase real estate).

6) Possibly (but very subjective, plus I'm not sure this is really relevant to a "downtown" so much as much as a place to live?)

[Clark Park]

I am a Philadelphian and I love my city.

We have a great downtown Center City, to be sure ... but the very best? No, I don't think so.

Recently I heard Mr. Shapiro, the Inky (the Philadelphia Inquirer to those of you from out of town) theater critic describe Philly's live theater scene as the 4th best in the US (after NY, LA, and Chicago).

Since I am into architecture and high rise construction, I often browse in websites such as Skyscrapercity.com and Skyscraperpage.com ... and the general consensus is that we have 4th, 5th or 6th best skyline in the country.

These examples are given to illustrate that while we have a great city, we are not on top. We do have the best City Hall in the Western Hemisphere, perhaps the world, though.

[rotodome]

^^City Hall #1 !