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It's eerie how much ENGLISH is visible in that photo of Paris. If that much FRENCH was visible here in the U.S., the right-wing Republicans would have an absolute FIT!
Then why are the suburbs of Denver so much larger than the city-proper? The Denver-Aurora Metro Area is roughly 80% suburban.
Can you name me one city where more people live in the downtown proper over the suburbs, even in Europe?
The better question would be how many people live in downtown Denver and how much has it grown in the past 20 years, especially since Coors Stadium was built.
Can you name me one city where more people live in the downtown proper over the suburbs, even in Europe?
Don't remind us that we foolish Americans were the international "trend-setters" for the rise of the sterile car-dependent suburb at the expense of the walkable historic city!
La Defense is Paris main skyscrapers district but is not the largest concentration of office, in Europe the large majority of office are low-rises building.
The famous Champs Elysees, Avenue Haussmann or Avenue de l'Opera are over 90% offices, nobody live here.
People tend to think that office = skyscrapers but not at all the case;
The main biggest business district have only one skyscraper (Hotel Concorde Lafayette), this area is around the Champs Elysees and Opera district.
I would not say that La Defense is new, the district has 50 years old and even for Paris it is not new.
I don't know why you said that la Defense is not the real city, for what I see and according the equipement and people in this district La Defense is more the real Paris than Montmarte place des Tertre or Louvre district where 90% of people are tourist.
Anyway even the central part of Paris has skyscraper.
Montparnasse tower
Thanks for that information. And to be fair, I did say that La Defense is relatively new. I think that's pretty accurate, especially considering the fact that Paris has been around for hundreds of years.
Don't remind us that we foolish Americans were the international "trend-setters" for the rise of the sterile car-dependent suburb at the expense of the walkable historic city!
I think there is a good way and a bad way to develop suburbs. I read a book called "Suburban Nation and it gave some great ideas on how to do it. By luck Pueblo has done that but the key is to have the city in a grid system, with side walks for people to walk, to take the pressure off major roads thus creating localized walk able neighborhoods yet make it easy for anyone to get downtown if, like me, they want to go all the time but choose not to live there.
Can you name me one city where more people live in the downtown proper over the suburbs, even in Europe?
The better question would be how many people live in downtown Denver and how much has it grown in the past 20 years, especially since Coors Stadium was built.
First, what is a downtown proper? City-proper is another way of saying principle city. Denver can refer to the entire metropolitan area or just the "city-proper" all by itself.
I never said most metro areas weren't majority suburban. I am merely taking issue with your assertion that "[t]he trend in most cities [in Colorado] is for people to move back downtown."
La Defense in Paris is akin to a larger Roslyn/ Arlington VA to Washington DC. It's a skyline that's outside the core of the city. Other European Cities have this as well (Frankfurt being another big example). It's also worth noting that the Monparnasse Tower is considered a blight and a disaster among most Parisians. The point is not that there are no high rises around Paris it's that the core of the city is devoid of them, much like Washington DC, Prague, Amsterdam, and other great European cities. It's easy to live in Paris and never step foot in La Defense. People whose only exposure to urban areas are cities in the Western portion of the U.S. simply do not understand this.
Furthermore, while Washington D.C. and Brooklyn are excellent examples, I can't emphasize enough how the Boston area is perfect in terms of density and walkability. Yes, there are some highrises downtown, but the bulk of the dense, vibrant, walkable areas in Boston and neighborhing cities are devoid of them.
For example, Back Bay Boston:
Beacon Hill Boston:
South End Boston:
Kenmore Square/ Fenway Neighborhood Boston:
North End Boston
Harvard Square Area, Cambridge:
Davis Square, Somerville:
Central Square, Cambridge:
That's all I'm goint to post, but the list goes on. Newton has dense walkable areas on mass transit lines as does Charlsetown, Jamaica Plain, Coolidge Corner, Brookline, South Boston, Fort Point, etc. The skyline is just a tiny portion of a dense, walkable city.
First, what is a downtown proper? City-proper is another way of saying principle city. Denver can refer to the entire metropolitan area or just the "city-proper" all by itself.
I never said most metro areas weren't majority suburban. I am merely taking issue with your assertion that "[t]he trend in most cities [in Colorado] is for people to move back downtown."
I have to use cities I know for examples they happen to be Pueblo and Denver but I am sure you can apply my example to any major city.
First Denver. They built Coors Field in the lower part of downtown called LoDo and now thousands of people live there and they are building condo high rises and row houses and dense apartments. That is also true around capitol hill. Thus it is trendy to live in downtown again.
Smaller cities are, also, doing that a good example I know is Pueblo. We are building a Riverwalk that will run from the historic part of downtown to the baseball field where they want to get a minor league team. Thus you see low rises condos being built, townhouses and historic buildings are being remolded for shops and condos bringing hundreds if not thousands of people to downtown making this a trendy area as well.
This building is in Pueblo and being remodeled into shops and condos.
These buildings are in Pueblo and were remodeled into shops and condos.
A new condo on the Riverwalk in Pueblo
This building is in Pueblo and being remodeled into shops and condos.
Last edited by Josseppie; 03-10-2009 at 11:32 AM..
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