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Like where Whole Foods is? Clothing stores, coffee shops, cafes and bars arent urban?
There are no shops for blocks on the western half of magazine. Uptown is largely residential. It's mostly a "inner-Suburban" arrangement than a true urban neighborhood.
That says nothing. My friend also lives in central city and we hang out with the neighbors too. Most double shotguns are at least two units. That is a poorer area of the city. It is expensive to convert a double to a single. Many of those shotguns are rental properties, a landlord will make more money with two smaller units than one big unit. It is actually more likely for a double to be converted to a single in the higher income areas since they can afford it and want the extra space but even in those neighborhoods they only make up a small percentage. Also even if that is the case that most of the double shotguns in central city are one unit (which is not the case), the houses are still tightly compacted and probably still hold the same amount of people as a two unit would.
Most housing units are dirt cheap in central city since there is a lot of abandonment. There is simply no longer use for filling 1 house with 2 families when many homes go abandoned period. So what street does your friend live on? Mine lives on third south of the park, south of the main street. Forgot the name.
I agree that many of those homes are tiny, but it still feels like a suburban neighborhood. A poorer suburban neighborhood.
NYC is also 20x larger than NOLA. But, my point is that having a centralized center of a metro area that is more historic and dense than the rest doesnt cancel out its importance.
More than half the population of NOLA lives in this historic core. Even more did before Katrina. I don't see how that doesn't help its case.
I'm saying that a resident of Los Angeles is more likely to live in an urban neighborhood than one in NOLA. By urban, I mean walkable (mixed zone, or at least mixed zone within a reasonable distance). My impression of NOLA was that its urban fabric dies rapidly as you exit its historic core. LA has this spread throughout the city, and even the metro area. Santa Monica to downtown LA is somewhere between 15-20 miles.
There are no shops for blocks on the western half of magazine. Uptown is largely residential. It's mostly a "inner-Suburban" arrangement than a true urban neighborhood.
There are periods where there are no businesses but there still are some on Magazine. Plus there are other areas spread throughout Uptown like Maple street, Oak street, Carrollton Avenue, St. Charles avenue, Claiborne avenue, Freret street, Prytania Street, Tchoupitoulas street, some other commercial street, or go to the many randomly placed corner stores and such. Are most "inner-suburban" places composed of 100 year old homes where most are tightly packed together and multi-family?
Quote:
Originally Posted by zombieExtraordinaire
Most housing units are dirt cheap in central city since there is a lot of abandonment. There is simply no longer use for filling 1 house with 2 families when many homes go abandoned period. So what street does your friend live on? Mine lives on third south of the park, south of the main street. Forgot the name.
I agree that many of those homes are tiny, but it still feels like a suburban neighborhood. A poorer suburban neighborhood.
I was lying about the friend, just making fun how of your rational. But yes the houses are cheap but the people there are still poor and many can't even afford those cheaper rents. Many can not afford a house that is twice as big, plus for some a whole house can be too much space. So are most suburban areas composed of 100+ year old, tightly packed, multi-family houses?
Quote:
Originally Posted by zombieExtraordinaire
I'm saying that a resident of Los Angeles is more likely to live in an urban neighborhood than one in NOLA. By urban, I mean walkable (mixed zone, or at least mixed zone within a reasonable distance). My impression of NOLA was that its urban fabric dies rapidly as you exit its historic core. LA has this spread throughout the city, and even the metro area. Santa Monica to downtown LA is somewhere between 15-20 miles.
But what about how most New Orleanians live in the older core? Most of this area is walkable.
Jimbo, when I say suburban I mean dedicated to residential properties. When I say "inner suburban" I mean there is some mix of zoning, usually the average resident has to walk a bit and cannot find all their amenities close by. Apartment buildings have really nothing to do with it. If it's row after row of apartment complexes without the mixed zoning I talked about, I consider that suburban.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimbo_1
But what about how most New Orleanians live in the older core? Most of this area is walkable.
Yes, the older core is very walkable, and around half of residents live in this core or near it enough to walk to it and enjoy it. The rest need to bus to it. While LA definitely has her dead spots (think SFV) the multinodal structure of LA means that more people (by %) are in a walkable neighborhood. This is not about NOLA being "unurban" but simply LA being more urban.
Jimbo, when I say suburban I mean dedicated to residential properties. When I say "inner suburban" I mean there is some mix of zoning, usually the average resident has to walk a bit and cannot find all their amenities close by. Apartment buildings have really nothing to do with it. If it's row after row of apartment complexes without the mixed zoning I talked about, I consider that suburban.
Yes, the older core is very walkable, and around half of residents live in this core or near it enough to walk to it and enjoy it. The rest need to bus to it. While LA definitely has her dead spots (think SFV) the multinodal structure of LA means that more people (by %) are in a walkable neighborhood. This is not about NOLA being "unurban" but simply LA being more urban.
I don't think a city being polycentric means that more people live an urban lifestyle. It just means that people can bus to various centers/nodes as opposed to one big one.
I'd still go with LA - yes, New Orelans downtown core/French Quarter have a better urban fabric than LA. But LA has a a huge amount of the city that looks like this:
A pretty solid urban fabric, although not great and certainly not up there with NYC or SF, for example. LA also has a lot of areas with really poor urban fabrics. But if one chooses the right area of LA to live in or explore, I think they'd find it has a better urban fabric overall than NOLA.
I don't think a city being polycentric means that more people live an urban lifestyle. It just means that people can bus to various centers/nodes as opposed to one big one.
That so called big area you talk about is about half the size of the core of LA so really your statement has no merit.
I don't think a city being polycentric means that more people live an urban lifestyle. It just means that people can bus to various centers/nodes as opposed to one big one.
There is more mixed zoning throughout LA is what I mean.
I understand where you're coming from, if you spend most of your time in and around the older core of NOLA, it comes across as a very walkable city but your perceptions don't match around half of the other population of NOLA.
To give you an example, I live in Houston right now. I live off a small street Meadowglen, in an apartment complex called Madison park apartments (feel free to google it). It's very close to Westheimer street which has all sorts of restaurants/shops/fitness centers/banks/groceries you name it. Sometimes my impulse is that Houston is a pretty urban city because I can get by without a car for pretty much everything (only use it on weekends). But the truth is I'm just lucky and I get painfully reminded of it when I see a place that's only 1-2 miles away and try to walk there. No sidewalks, etc (like trying to get to Chinatown on Bellaire). It's just a reminder that Houston's urban fabric follows major streets.
Not saying NOLA is nearly as bad as Houston, it isn't. But I'm saying is to catch your perception. Which part of NOLA do you live in?
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