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Again. What does size have to do with anything? What does a big building stacked with floors of cubicles occupied by employees who hate being there.....do to make a city better/worse?
Nobody said anything about "better/worse." He only said that Columbia's skyline is the largest traditional skyline in the state and that factors in to some people's perception of what the largest city/metro is.
Nobody said anything about "better/worse." He only said that Columbia's skyline is the largest traditional skyline in the state and that factors in to some people's perception of what the largest city/metro is.
Ah ok. Well, if the number of buildings taller than 10 stories is the measure, to just make a skyline, then Myrtle Beach dwarfs all the other cities in SC. It looks more like Miami with all the tall beachside buildings than does Gville, Cola or Chas look like any other "traditional" big city.
Ah ok. Well, if the number of buildings taller than 10 stories is the measure, to just make a skyline, then Myrtle Beach dwarfs all the other cities in SC. It looks more like Miami with all the tall beachside buildings than does Gville, Cola or Chas look like any other "traditional" big city.
I DID say *traditional* skyline to rule out cities like Myrtle Beach. It's generally understood that those types of skylines that consist of nothing more than hotels aren't a true indicator of the actual size of such cities.
I DID say *traditional* skyline to rule out cities like Myrtle Beach. It's generally understood that those types of skylines that consist of nothing more than hotels aren't a true indicator of the actual size of such cities.
They are both tall buildings with rooms that are empty most of the time- an office or hotel room. No difference in my mind.
On a typical summer day, Myrtle Beach may have up to 1,000,000 people on the Strand. Making it, by far, the largest city in the state. Charleston from Spring to Fall tourist season could have up to 200-300K additional humans in it due to the 4.5 million tourists. Which would swell it's metro area from almost 700K to 900K-1M, also making it the largest.
Human presence is what it is, no matter where it comes from. How many NYC or Miami people are part time residents only, or just visiting for a while? That's "traditional" just the same as a non-tourist city like Cleveland.
They are both tall buildings with rooms that are empty most of the time- an office or hotel room. No difference in my mind.
Oh come now, be serious. Office buildings are occupied during the work hours of every workday; they house companies that contribute to the city's GDP in a way that spending by tourists can't even begin to match. Myrtle's hotels are only full during tourist season. BIG difference.
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On a typical summer day, Myrtle Beach may have up to 1,000,000 people on the Strand. Making it, by far, the largest city in the state. Charleston from Spring to Fall tourist season could have up to 200-300K additional humans in it due to the 4.5 million tourists. Which would swell it's metro area from almost 700K to 900K-1M, also making it the largest.
Human presence is what it is, no matter where it comes from. How many NYC or Miami people are part time residents only, or just visiting for a while? That's "traditional" just the same as a non-tourist city like Cleveland.
If you can't recognize basic differences between temporary tourists and permanent residents, then there's no need for this conversation to continue any further.
A tall building is a tall building. Does it matter if the people in it are miserable in a cubicle, or on a vacation?
What is up with this whole "miserable in a cubicle" caricature you're painting? Just because you don't prefer an office job doesn't mean that's true of everyone. And if you think that's so undesirable, why don't you live in Myrtle? They have no office highrises, so that should translate into less miserable people, right? But I'm sure you know that also translates into a much less robust, well-rounded, productive local economy too.
But to your question--yes it matters because the functions are different. People understand that a resort/tourist city will have a line of hotels along the beach and that this is quite different than a traditional skyline consisting of a core central business district.
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Much of Miami's skyline is hotels and condos- that are part time occupied by rich part time residents. Its a city, right?
Or are we gonna have to define "city"?
Miami is a hybrid traditional city and resort/tourist city, so it's not the best example to use--especially since it has a permanent population of over 5 million residents. To that end, even here in Atlanta a lot of the tallest, most prominent buildings are residential. However, there are also just as many office buildings in the mix, which is not true for Myrtle Beach. Its skyline is all hotels along the oceanfront, not a mix of building types located in a traditional downtown area/business district.
At any rate, anyone who thinks that Myrtle Beach is the largest city in SC just because of hotels along the oceanfront is an idiot. However, some folks may legitimately think that Columbia is the largest due to the size of its traditional skyline, or that Charleston is the largest because it is the densest within the core and thus feels the largest on foot.
What is up with this whole "miserable in a cubicle" caricature you're painting? Just because you don't prefer an office job doesn't mean that's true of everyone. And if you think that's so undesirable, why don't you live in Myrtle? They have no office highrises, so that should translate into less miserable people, right? But I'm sure you know that also translates into a much less robust, well-rounded, productive local economy too.
But to your question--yes it matters because the functions are different. People understand that a resort/tourist city will have a line of hotels along the beach and that this is quite different than a traditional skyline consisting of a core central business district.
Miami is a hybrid traditional city and resort/tourist city, so it's not the best example to use--especially since it has a permanent population of over 5 million residents. To that end, even here in Atlanta a lot of the tallest, most prominent buildings are residential. However, there are also just as many office buildings in the mix, which is not true for Myrtle Beach. Its skyline is all hotels along the oceanfront, not a mix of building types located in a traditional downtown area/business district.
At any rate, anyone who thinks that Myrtle Beach is the largest city in SC just because of hotels along the oceanfront is an idiot. However, some folks may legitimately think that Columbia is the largest due to the size of its traditional skyline, or that Charleston is the largest because it is the densest within the core and thus feels the largest on foot.
Just my experience with folks who choose to do the cubicle thing. Most are miserable doing it.
Anyway, guess it just matters what people mean by "largest". If they mean actually size of buildings, just raw amount of concrete? Myrtle has that won. If they mean just square miles in size, I'm not sure. If they mean actual permanent population? Columbia, Charleston, N Chas, Mt P are the 4 largest.
If they mean actual human presence? Well, in the spring and summer, Charleston and Myrtle Beach would both beat out Columbia and Greenville, as each city hosts about 4.5 million of it's own tourists (9 million total) in those two seasons, and Charleston has quite a few in the cold months too because it's beach isn't the main draw.
So, depends on what counts as "largest".
If we are saying which has the most corporate office buildings? Well, probably would be Columbia.
While the Myrtle Beach skyline is very nice and gives that vibe of a big city and might dwarf other sc cities in amount of buildings, there is a difference between that and Columbia's skyline, both good just different. While Myrtle Beach's skyline does resemble that of a small Miami Beach, Miami's downtown skyline still has a city center with office buildings and what not similar to any other city. I would say though not on the ocean, but Myrtle Beach's skyline is more similar to a small scale Vegas skyline.
I would also say that even though Myrtle may have more buildings, the way they are arranged and spread along the coast rather than compacted into a city center is where the biggest difference is as well in terms of the skyline and because of that, it creates a much more city feel than Myrtle and IMO the only true city feel in the state.
While the Myrtle Beach skyline is very nice and gives that vibe of a big city and might dwarf other sc cities in amount of buildings, there is a difference between that and Columbia's skyline, both good just different. While Myrtle Beach's skyline does resemble that of a small Miami Beach, Miami's downtown skyline still has a city center with office buildings and what not similar to any other city. I would say though not on the ocean, but Myrtle Beach's skyline is more similar to a small scale Vegas skyline.
I would also say that even though Myrtle may have more buildings, the way they are arranged and spread along the coast rather than compacted into a city center is where the biggest difference is as well in terms of the skyline and because of that, it creates a much more city feel than Myrtle and IMO the only true city feel in the state.
Ah, ok. See what you mean. Downtown Charleston- outside of the tourist/market area, has that feel for me too, but mostly on the west side of the peninsula, near the hospital. Some wonderful, lesser known local spots there that thankfully the tourist flood hasn't found yet.
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