Is Pittsburgh A Northeast/Mid Atlantic/Mid West Town? (Philadelphia: school, gated)

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212

^^^^^ This...... Pittsburgh and Cleveland look nothing alike Visually... I'm always baffled when people say Pittsburgh is more like Cleveland than Philadelphia, these people have never obviously been to all 3 cities to make an honest comparison, and are just assimilating the Burgh with Cleveland because the two cities are closer and Pittsburgh is not in the defined NE Corridor.

In other words its a bunch of BullSh*t.... Pittsburgh is Northeast, Northeast, Northeastern Untied States.

While I agree entirely that Pittsburgh is northeastern, its demographics are similar to Cleveland's with its European ethnic populations. Ditto Chicago.

Chicago: Ancestries: Irish (6.6%), German (6.6%), Polish (5.4%), Italian (3.4%), United States (1.9%), English (1.9%).
Read more: http://www.city-data.com/city/Chicag...#ixzz3HSxh2MUQ


Cleveland: Ancestries: German (9.3%), Irish (8.8%), Polish (4.6%), Italian (4.5%), English (3.2%), United States (2.4%).
Read more: http://www.city-data.com/city/Clevel...#ixzz3HSyAToXi

Pittsburgh: Ancestries: German (17.8%), Irish (13.7%), Italian (10.8%), Polish (6.2%), English (4.6%), United States (2.2%).
Read more: http://www.city-data.com/city/Pittsb...#ixzz3HSz9xOTm

Originally Posted by Herodotus

No. Chicago has some areas where rowhouses are fairly common, but they're far down the list of housing types in the other Great Lakes cities, including Buffalo, and Rochester, which are usually considered to be in the northeast. The only Midwestern city that traditionally had some dense areas of rowhousing is St. Louis. Columbus has a type of porchfront row that is pretty common in the older areas, but is not really dominant in any neighborhood. Cincy is a special case. The older parts of Cincy are very dense, and rows aren't rare, but the dominant forms are the detached townhouse, which gives it's areas a rowhousy feel, but are not rowhouses, and the attached flat, which look like overgrown rowhouses, but are actually apartment buildings. Cincy has recently rebuilt it's West End, and it's pretty much all rowhouses. It is pretty well executed, and absolutely murders Pittsburgh's pitiful attempts at rebuilding it's inner city.

What are detached townhouses? Are those pictures all of Cincy?

[Herodotus]

Originally Posted by Katiana

While I agree entirely that Pittsburgh is northeastern, its demographics are similar to Cleveland's with its European ethnic populations. Ditto Chicago.

Chicago: Ancestries: Irish (6.6%), German (6.6%), Polish (5.4%), Italian (3.4%), United States (1.9%), English (1.9%).
Read more: http://www.city-data.com/city/Chicag...#ixzz3HSxh2MUQ


Cleveland: Ancestries: German (9.3%), Irish (8.8%), Polish (4.6%), Italian (4.5%), English (3.2%), United States (2.4%).
Read more: http://www.city-data.com/city/Clevel...#ixzz3HSyAToXi

Pittsburgh: Ancestries: German (17.8%), Irish (13.7%), Italian (10.8%), Polish (6.2%), English (4.6%), United States (2.2%).
Read more: http://www.city-data.com/city/Pittsb...#ixzz3HSz9xOTm



What are detached townhouses? Are those pictures all of Cincy?

Other than Polish, Pittsburgh is way different than Chicago. Pittsburgh is over twice as Irish, and three times as German, English, and Italian. Both Cleveland, and Chicago are much blacker than Pittsburgh. Philly's ethnic percentages are closer to Pittsburgh than Chicago's are.
The traditional definition of a townhouse was city house that took up most of it's lot. This was before real estate developers hijacked the term, rather than horrors of horrors, call a rowhouse a rowhouse.

Yes, all of those pics are from Cincy.
This is a Cincy townhouse. Fantastic!!! St. Louis has these as well.

[Katarina Witt]

Philly's ethnic percentages are closer to Pittsburgh than Chicago's are. Not so much:
Philadelphia:
Black alone - 644,014 (41.6%)
White alone - 563,331 (36.4%)
Hispanic - 201,000 (13.0%)
Asian alone - 98,372 (6.4%)
Two or more races - 34,352 (2.2%)
American Indian alone - 2,896 (0.2%)
Other race alone - 2,828 (0.2%)
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone - 813 (0.05%)
Ancestries: Irish (11.3%), Italian (8.3%), German (6.9%), Polish (3.1%), English (2.5%), United States (2.3%).

Read more: http://www.city-data.com/city/Philad...#ixzz3HUVcpK6T

Read more: http://www.city-data.com/city/Philad...#ixzz3HUVHzJ4I
In relation to Pittsburgh, Philly has
41% of the German population; a similar Irish population; similar Italian population; half the Polish population; 2/3 the white population; and almost 4 times (400%) the Hispanic population. It's also 5X as large.

[Herodotus]

Originally Posted by Katiana

Philly's ethnic percentages are closer to Pittsburgh than Chicago's are. Not so much:
Philadelphia:
Black alone - 644,014 (41.6%)
White alone - 563,331 (36.4%)
Hispanic - 201,000 (13.0%)
Asian alone - 98,372 (6.4%)
Two or more races - 34,352 (2.2%)
American Indian alone - 2,896 (0.2%)
Other race alone - 2,828 (0.2%)
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone - 813 (0.05%)
Ancestries: Irish (11.3%), Italian (8.3%), German (6.9%), Polish (3.1%), English (2.5%), United States (2.3%).

Read more: http://www.city-data.com/city/Philad...#ixzz3HUVcpK6T

Read more: http://www.city-data.com/city/Philad...#ixzz3HUVHzJ4I
In relation to Pittsburgh, Philly has
41% of the German population; a similar Irish population; similar Italian population; half the Polish population; 2/3 the white population; and almost 4 times (400%) the Hispanic population. It's also 5X as large.

And Chicago is closer?

Like Philly, Chicago has pretty much equal numbers of blacks and whites, but Chicago is way more Hispanic than Philly, which of course, means it's miles beyond Pittsburgh, having 12 times the percentage of Hispanics that Pittsburgh does. Other than having a larger than usual Polish population, Chicago is not like Pittsburgh AT ALL!

[SteelCityRising]

A little late to the game here, but why are we having a near-heated discussion involving ethnicity/ancestry in order to determine Pittsburgh's geographic identity? If Pittsburgh's demographics exactly mirror those of Bend, OR, then does that make us part of the Pacific Northwest? If we have the same percentage of Cuban-Americans as Fort Lauderdale, FL, then does that make us part of the Southeast?

Pittsburgh is its own animal on many different levels. I'm from Eastern PA. Pittsburgh is distinctively different from the BosWash Corridor. With that being said it's ALSO different from the Midwest. Cincinnati, as has been mentioned, is probably our closest peer city in the country if we're going strictly on a city vs. city basis (not on a metropolitan level). With that being said although we're both hilly with historic ethnic neighborhoods; interesting architecture; river(s); etc. Cincinnati's urban core still has a more laid-back, slower-paced, and dare I even say mildly socially conservative orientation whereas Pittsburgh's urban core feels much more stressful, rushed, and uber-liberal socially.

[Herodotus]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

A little late to the game here, but why are we having a near-heated discussion involving ethnicity/ancestry in order to determine Pittsburgh's geographic identity? If Pittsburgh's demographics exactly mirror those of Bend, OR, then does that make us part of the Pacific Northwest? If we have the same percentage of Cuban-Americans as Fort Lauderdale, FL, then does that make us part of the Southeast?

Pittsburgh is its own animal on many different levels. I'm from Eastern PA. Pittsburgh is distinctively different from the BosWash Corridor. With that being said it's ALSO different from the Midwest. Cincinnati, as has been mentioned, is probably our closest peer city in the country if we're going strictly on a city vs. city basis (not on a metropolitan level). With that being said although we're both hilly with historic ethnic neighborhoods; interesting architecture; river(s); etc. Cincinnati's urban core still has a more laid-back, slower-paced, and dare I even say mildly socially conservative orientation whereas Pittsburgh's urban core feels much more stressful, rushed, and uber-liberal socially.

Pittsburgh looks like Cincy, otherwise they're not that similar. Cincy lacks the southern/eastern European presence that Pittsburgh has.

[SteelersFan09]

Originally Posted by Thruway

Just curious were do you rank Pittsburgh as a regional town.
I see people call it mid-Atlantic but I strongly disagree.
To me, mid-Atlantic signals that awful area of Bawlmer/Washington that has little identity and is instead a hodgepoge of transplants and rednecks that neither the north or south will take.
I also consider anything above the Mason-Dixon line to be the North.

Pittsburgh has culture and it's own distinctiveness.

I really don't see it as Northeast though because it's just to far west, past the Appalachian Mountains and doesn't share much with NYC or Boston.
Pittsburgh's biggest rival is Cleveland, which is a mid-west town.

You could also claim Pittsburgh is Appalachia (since the ARC considers it) or rustbelt...but lets stick with these three basic ones.

I've always considered Pittsburgh the most western east coast city. It's really nothing like any of the cities it's even remotely close to or compared to, but that's how I see it.

[muppethammer26]

Pittsburgh might be close to a southern state (if West Virginia counts as a southern state) since that state has a small panhandle that extends north between Ohio and Pennsylvania only 32 miles from Pittsburgh. So Pittsburgh is where the three regions meet if West Virginia counts as a southern state. But in my opinion, I would not call West Virginia a southern state because West Virginia is part of the Northern Appalachians, a region including parts of Pennsylvania and New York.

[safak]

needs an 'all of the above' option.

[muppethammer26]

It's funny how some people consider Pittsburgh a Mid-Atlantic city, even though Pittsburgh is 200 miles from the ocean. I think this is because Pittsburgh is in Pennsylvania, an Mid-Atlantic state.