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Once it realizes the importance of rail, that city will go up even faster. The city is already investing heavily into the downtown, and the neighborhoods of the city are very strong and attractive. Population growth is high, and unemployment is low. It is a white collar city that is one of the fastest growing regions in the Midwest/Mid-Atlantic. Home to plenty of fortune 500 companies. Columbus has a lot of potential, it just needs to keep building on it.
I think that the way Virginia cities are not part of a county limits cities like Richmond because they cannot annex. While the metro grows, the city has basically shrunk from its all time high back in 1950. Over the last few decades, the city population has been basicaly flat. Not being able to annex "tax base" puts additional financial pressure on city services that, oftentimes, leads to more people leaving a city. It can turn into a viscious cycle if a city isn't careful to manage it. In other Virginia "cities", the city has basically swallowed up what would otherwise be a county. These "cities", especially some in Hampton Roads, have the ability to grow their tax bases and are probably better positioned financially.
I know that a disparity exists in Richmond on income levels between the average of the actual city and the wealthier suburbs that surround the city. To reach its potential, I think that Richmond should focus on leveraging the growing national tipping point of people who want to move back into the city. Richmond has fantastic in-town neighborhoods and they should build on that foundation for future success.
Virginia has a quirk in how towns/cities are incorporated.
Towns in VA are part of the county in which they are located.
If you are incorporated as a CITY, you automatically become an Independent City, and essentially secede from the counties surrounding you, with the "city" functioning as "city" and "county" from a service and government perspective.
Thus boundaries are generally frozen at the moment of incorporation, though if a "town" is re-incorporated as a "city," then boundaries can change. As for annexations, Richmond undertook some ~1972, and the only one of any size since then was in the late 1990s when Danville doubled its' land area (and this had to have a legislative OK). The city of South Boston dissolved its' old charter, and re-incorporated as a town (becoming part of Halifax County in the process) with greatly expanded city limits.
Most of the Tidewater/Hampton Roads cities were county-wide incorporations: Newport News was formed in the early 1950s from unincorporated parts of Warwick County (outside of the limits of Hampton, which was and remains an independent city); as it incorporated as a city, it became the independent city of Newport News, and Warwick County became extinct. Virginia Beach (formerly, Princess Anne County), Chesapeake (the remnant parts of Norfolk County, excluding the independent cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and Suffolk (rural parts of Nansemond County incorporated to form the town of Nansemond, which completely surrounded the town of Suffolk, and then the two entities merged to form the independent city of Suffolk, at which point Nansemond County became extinct) all formed through the same process.
There were referendum-driven attempts in Richmond (1970s) and Roanoke (1990s) to create similar mergers (City of Richmond with Henrico County, City of Roanoke with Roanoke County), but those attempts failed.
Jacksonville FL: river, port, diversified economy, 2% annual growth, and lots of old grid neighborhoods to work with.
It's hard to beat a city that is seeing a lot of growth, has a good climate, a river and beaches, lots of natural beauty in the area, good history, and tons of quality neighborhoods. It's finally getting large enough for rail transit and I won't go into detail about all of the new growth plans/laws and our upcoming mayoral election this year.
Everyone who moves to Jacksonville *always* comments on what potential there is for the place.
That's actually the city I had in mind first and foremost when I came up with this thread. Totally agree. Once that city gets some really progressive leadership, looks for things to take off.
Any city that has grown rapidly and continues to grow hasn't really reached its potential.
Typically such cities are in the midst of realizing their potential. I was more or less thinking about cities that haven't even really hit their stride yet, but even rapidly-growing cities can do some things better that would add to their momentum.
I would like to include my hometown of grand rapids, mi in the conversation. Second largest city in michigan with a growing metro area a with the most diversified economy in the state. The city had great infrastructure good school and great colleges. The city is also close to lake michigan and also has a lot of billionaire philanthropists investing in the city and has plans for light rail.
Some major college towns where the biggest export is education have quite a bit of unrealized potential. As long as the local governments are competent and not corrupt, they have distinct advantages.
Another candidate here would be Columbia, SC. It's the state capital, at the center of the state with three rivers running through it, has three interstates running through it, home of the state's flagship university, located roughly halfway between Miami and NYC, has proximity to the ports of Charleston and Savannah, a large downtown, stable economic pillars (state gov't, USC, Ft. Jackson), and a sizable finance and insurance industry. Once it gets some dynamic local leadership, I expect things to really take off there.
That's actually the city I had in mind first and foremost when I came up with this thread. Totally agree. Once that city gets some really progressive leadership, looks for things to take off.
That sounds familliar....
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