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I thought this would be a cool and interesting thread, as I was driving down 34th Street last night and passed Manhattan's drive thru McDonald's. It's not so much comparing based on actual municipal borders or definition (i.e. cities and suburbs) but rather in built form (i.e. high density, walkable vs. low density, car-centric), any places you can think of where you have an area that's generally one particular type of built form but has a very close example of another built form either immediately adjacent or actually built in itself? I'll give two examples:
An area that's generally suburban in nature, low density with easy vehicular access and many single family homes however it has a relatively tall and high density core, like similar D.C. transit-oriented suburb centers. Back in March, I stayed at a hotel in neighboring Rockville, MD and also found the same interesting setup of relatively high density urban form mere blocks away from quaint 1950's ranch homes.
In what is probably them most dense, urban walkable place in the entire United States, we have a standalone McDonald's restaurant with a parking lot (FREE, but they'll tow you if you dare walk a foot off property lol) AND a drive thru. It kind of fits in this area, since west midtown is kind of like the automotive/suburbanites corner of the island of Manhattan, LOTS of car dealerships, the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels to NJ suburbia, gas stations, car repair shops, surface lots and garages and just generally not nearly as much density and development as east and central midtown. This particular McDonald's has come in handy on my many runs to pick up/drop off people in the city if I'm craving a quick, albeit unhealthy snack and don't feel like looking/paying for parking. Also a huge favorite of cabbies and the bridge/tunnel crowd grabbing a snack before heading into the traffic dungeon of the Lincoln Tunnel in their Acura MDX back home to Morristown lol.
Are you asking if you can find this within the same city/town/area?
Sort of, basically it's asking if anyone has any examples of places where you can find an example of one type of built form mixed in with another type of built form, in such a way that it's contrasted and almost unexpected in a way. Examples being a cluster of high-rise dense development blocks away from low-rise suburban homes, or a suburban-style drive thru McDonald's in an otherwise urban, dense area such as my above examples.
It's actually fairly common here. This strip mall was built as a form of urban renewal during the 1960s. Quite a lot of homes and businesses were razed and streets were covered up in favor of a more suburban design.
I guess this area could be an example due to having some of the most dense neighborhoods surrounding a strip mall and a couple of fast food joints with drive ins: Syracuse, NY - Google Maps
and then it is blocks from these areas: Syracuse, NY - Google Maps (Lodi Street at this intersection could serve as a divide between high apartments closer to Downtown west of it and more single family homes to the east)
It's actually fairly common here. This strip mall was built as a form of urban renewal during the 1960s. Quite a lot of homes and businesses were razed and streets were covered up in favor of a more suburban design.
Hmm interesting, I think they both probably work together and serve a purpose for the community...kind of similar to what I see around the outer boroughs of NYC as well. Kind of reminds me of the suburban-style strip mall in dense Coney Island or this suburban-style drive-thru White Castle under the Myrtle Avenue El (M & L trains) in the heart of the Brooklyn-Queens border.
I guess this area could be an example due to having some of the most dense neighborhoods surrounding a strip mall and a couple of fast food joints with drive ins: Syracuse, NY - Google Maps
and then it is blocks from these areas: Syracuse, NY - Google Maps (Lodi Street at this intersection could serve as a divide between high apartments closer to Downtown west of it and more single family homes to the east)
Very cool examples, I see a lot of similarities to some of the examples I've posted above (and see daily) in the outer boroughs and inner-ring suburbs of NYC...makes sense too being that yours are in the same state, and I see that pattern of older urbanism and newer suburbanism mixed in together in many different cities in this state and region.
The way they're building up the west side, I suspect that McDonalds's days are numbered. Someone's going to want to put up a condo and have huge bags of cash to hand over.
Northern NJ, despite its density, doesn't really have that. It's varying degrees of urban and suburban forms shading into one another, but not so many abrupt transitions. In West Orange you have the former industrial area where Edison's lab used to be next to the very suburban Llewellyn Park gated community, but because it's gated, you can't actually see the transition.
I had a feeling that I would hear from a Canadian poster, as from what I've seen already there seems to be a lot of these types of contrasts. Excellent examples, the first one looks almost exactly like some of the suburban high density "towns" in the northern D.C. suburb of Montgomery County (Bethesda, Silver Spring, Rockville, Wheaton, etc).
Quote:
Originally Posted by nybbler
The way they're building up the west side, I suspect that McDonalds's days are numbered. Someone's going to want to put up a condo and have huge bags of cash to hand over.
Agreed, it's only a matter of time once the IRT extension is completed to the Javits Center, I think they should have really built the station at 42nd and 10th also, but I'm not sure if they're including that now. If I'm not mistaken, this is the first time that the subway has been expanded since the late '80s when they finished the 63rd St tunnel/Roosevelt Island/Queens Blvd to Jamaica connector, if you don't count the now shuttered new South Ferry terminal. I was walking from a parking garage on 30th St/11th Av the other day up 11th to the Javits Center and it's amazing just how much potential there is for the whole area, especially the West Side Yards. Shame that the plan a few years ago fell through, but hey it took Ratner nearly a decade to get Barclays built, once they get the subway it's only a matter of time before the area is revitalized...hopefully we'll get to keep the little bit of suburbia lol.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nybbler
Northern NJ, despite its density, doesn't really have that. It's varying degrees of urban and suburban forms shading into one another, but not so many abrupt transitions. In West Orange you have the former industrial area where Edison's lab used to be next to the very suburban Llewellyn Park gated community, but because it's gated, you can't actually see the transition.
Interesting, I just did a quick Google Maps of the area and you can definitely see the transition from above. I find that in my travels around northern NJ, as you go between the municipalities and the different socio-economic boundaries, you can go from high density to suburbia real quick.
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