Which of these 10 cities are "urban" and which are "semi-urban"? (Multiple choice) (compared, people)

[Deezus]

Originally Posted by HtownLove

urban means of the city. All of these provide centers of commerce so you are right, all of these have urban sections.

I don't know what semi-urban means.

Yeah, I'm not sure what semi-urban is referring to either... Is that a mix of urban/suburban development? Like high-rises and denser developement along a commercial strip surrounded by much lower density housing or rural areas? All of the cities on the list are urban in their central areas--some might have land further out or on the outskirts that qualifies as suburban or rural--on the other hand all of them have neighborhoods within their boundaries that are somewhat denser or were streetcar suburbs at some point.

I mean the word "urban" itself is missused on this forum enough--people assume urban always has means very high density or old tenements and brownstones sometimes--like New York is basically the benchmark for everything urban and how urban some place is determined by how far down the scale it falls from that. On the other hand the Census Bureau defines urban as 1,000 ppm or an urbanized area as 50,000 people or more--hardly the definition you find on CityData.

[BigCityDreamer]

Originally Posted by Spade

Cincy, New Orleans, and St. Louis are no brainers.

I was kind of using these for "control" purposes.

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by nei

I assume it meant low-density areas that wouldn't be too out of place in most people's image of suburbia.

That leads me to say two obvious things:

-That describes every city in this country in one way or another.
-Only Hoboken is exempt from this. Why? Because they're AWESOME.

[BigCityDreamer]

I knew one of these cities had to be close in perception.

Looks like it's Miami.

[polo89]

Originally Posted by BigCityDreamer

I knew one of these cities had to be close in perception.

Looks like it's Miami.

Pretty much.

[scrantiX]

West of the river (MSA 2) vs East of the river (MSA 1) sprawl
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...itydiagram.jpg


I like west better because its all one footprint, the east has to many holes in it the exception is Chicago which sprawls similarly to the west.

[r small]

Generally, western US cities like Phoenix, Houston, and San Diego, apart from their downtown areas, just look like suburbs to me. Denver might be an exception. It has at least a couple of of fairly dense urban looking sections. I haven't been to Portland but from pictures it looks mostly suburban. The real urban cities on the list are Cincy, St. Louis, and NOLA.

[pgm123]

I'm not really sure what semi-urban is. I mean, this is Philadelphia. This is New York City. All cities have dense and less-dense areas.

[HtownLove]

Originally Posted by pgm123

I'm not really sure what semi-urban is. I mean, this is Philadelphia. This is New York City. All cities have dense and less-dense areas.

My question exactly.
If you live in an area with jobs, restaurants, entertainment, buses, etc etc you live in a city.
If you live near a city in an area with less jobs, food and restaurants then you live in the suburbs.

If you live in an area where jobs is basically farming, there is barely any food or grocery options for miles and miles, then you live in a rural area.

I don't know why so many people are so thick headed they make things dependent on look. Urban means city. Cities are gonna look different

[LakeShoreSoxGo]

All of these places are semi-urban, IMO