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The boston area seems to have a pattern to its devlopment that is unique
first there is a center city with old streetcar suburbs.
second is satilite cities of Newton, Woburn, and Quincy about 10-15 miles from DT boston
then suburban densities drop off to 1500-2500 ppsm.
then about 20 miles out there is another set of satilite cities of Haverhill, Lowell, Framingham, and Brockton,
then the suburban desities are between 1000-1500
then about 40 miles from boston there is another set of cities, Providence, Worcester, and Manchester, NH.
then the suburbs are of those cities and drop off considrable afer that.
any other metros that share that pattern, or is boston Unique.
and what other metros have seeable patterns.
I don't think other metro areas have such steadily declining density going out from center city. If you were to draw a graph of population density as a function of distance in Chicago, it would be very jagged. Some unincorporated areas have higher density than adjacent suburban villages because the County had looser zoning. Of course many have unbuildable areas as well. Boston is almost unique.
No, it's generally pretty common to have steadily declining intensities and densities from a city or regional center to outlying areas. They're not totally uniform, especially if there are intervening physical features or other reasons why a particular area got built up more or less than its neighbors, but in general it's a fairly common pattern of development, especially in older metro areas. Newer cities, or cities that didn't grow to large size until later eras, have some differences (cities that suburbanized after the late 19th century generally don't have close-set row houses, for example) and recently-expanded (post WWII) cities tend to drop off in density far more quickly.
The boston area seems to have a pattern to its devlopment that is unique
first there is a center city with old streetcar suburbs.
second is satilite cities of Newton, Woburn, and Quincy about 10-15 miles from DT boston
then suburban densities drop off to 1500-2500 ppsm.
then about 20 miles out there is another set of satilite cities of Haverhill, Lowell, Framingham, and Brockton,
then the suburban desities are between 1000-1500
then about 40 miles from boston there is another set of cities, Providence, Worcester, and Manchester, NH.
then the suburbs are of those cities and drop off considrable afer that.
any other metros that share that pattern, or is boston Unique.
and what other metros have seeable patterns.
Philly would be the most similar to Boston (Maybe NYC on a much larger scale)
Philly has a similar core setup though a little larger but very close
Then many streetcar suburbs (Mainline, Abington, Jenkintown, Cheltenham, Media, Norristown etc.
Similar old town core/low density sorrounds for the burbs then a set of larger towns just outside Reading, Wilmington, Allentown/Bethlehem, Trenton etc.
Philly would be the most similar to Boston (Maybe NYC on a much larger scale)
Philly has a similar core setup though a little larger but very close
Then many streetcar suburbs (Mainline, Abington, Jenkintown, Cheltenham, Media, Norristown etc.
Similar old town core/low density sorrounds for the burbs then a set of larger towns just outside Reading, Wilmington, Allentown/Bethlehem, Trenton etc.
But it seems to me as a New Yorker that most other cities that would see this pattern (the northeast) are pushed together, while boston is more spaced compared to the others so to me it has a more obvoius pattern.
I find cities that grow in a certain direction over another without any regard to geographical limitations interesting. For example: the NYC area can't grow to its southeast, because then you hit the Atlantic Ocean. But DC can grow in all of its directions, because it is more landlocked. Then why doesn't it grow in all directions evenly? There is much more sprawl to the west into Virginia than to the East in PG county MD. I suppose that's where socio/political factors come into play rather than geographic ones.
I find cities that grow in a certain direction over another without any regard to geographical limitations interesting. For example: the NYC area can't grow to its southeast, because then you hit the Atlantic Ocean. But DC can grow in all of its directions, because it is more landlocked. Then why doesn't it grow in all directions evenly? There is much more sprawl to the west into Virginia than to the East in PG county MD. I suppose that's where socio/political factors come into play rather than geographic ones.
The Denver area can't grow much to the west, due to the mountains. Most of the growth of the last 10 years or so has been on the east side.
Cities and metro areas often have a "favored quarter," a specific direction where the wealth in a community migrated. The direction of the favored quarter can have a strong effect on subsequent development, and it also shapes and sometimes limits development in other directions even if there are not necessarily geographic reasons for the shaping. The direction of the favored quarter is often upwind, upstream, away from waterfront or industrial areas, or away from ethnic populations. As practical distances from a city center increased (due to changes in transportation) the leading edge of the favored quarter has moved farther and farther out in many cities--until the practical limits of transportation and geography are reached.
Development in the front range is interesting as it is all pretty much North-South, along the I-25 corridor.
I expect that fifty years down the road, the entire I-25 corridor will have been developed from Cheyenne to Pueblo.
More south than north. The northern limits of the metro are about at 160th Ave (Highway 7), and it's pretty sparse north of 144th.
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