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Chicago UA = 2442 sq miles, 8.61 million people
Toronto Urban Area= 675 sq miles, 5.13 million (per Wikipedia)
Los Angeles UA = 1736 sq miles, 12.15 million people
Riverside/San Bernardino UA = 545 sq miles, 1.93 million
But how much of those square miles would you really argue as urban though? You'd have to work with a pretty forgiving definition and not class suburban as a separate category for that to make sense in this topic.
Yea, there are definitely spots of fairly urban development in the San Gabriel Valley (with Pasadena being a particularly good example). However, it is really spotty. What I dislike most is that it's a lot of suburban (though fairly dense by suburban standards) sprawl with fairly little greenspace. I wish more of the basins and valleys had been set aside for greenspace whether in terms of parks or nature reserves (preferably the latter). Even farms would have been fine. What I really like about the suburbs up north from NYC is the plentiful greenery and how much of the development is focused on nodes close to rail lines. I wish the same had been done with more of Long Island.
From what I can tell, a lot of the denser parts of Long Island bare quite a bit of resemblence to LA sprawl. Density is still somewhat lower than LA, but it might be as close as you can get to Southern California suburbia in the eastern US (except perhaps Miami).
Judging from streetviews, much of Long Island comes out as more pedestrian friendly than a lot of Orange County but somewhat worse than many LA county burbs.
But how much of those square miles would you really argue as urban though? You'd have to work with a pretty forgiving definition and not class suburban as a separate category for that to make sense in this topic.
From what I can tell, a lot of the denser parts of Long Island bare quite a bit of resemblence to LA sprawl. Density is still somewhat lower than LA, but it might be as close as you can get to Southern California suburbia in the eastern US (except perhaps Miami).
Judging from streetviews, much of Long Island comes out as more pedestrian friendly than a lot of Orange County but somewhat worse than many LA county burbs.
Yea, and it's why I don't like much of Long Island so much.
Quote:
Originally Posted by the Instigator
Same could be said of the other 2 metros
Absolutely, though in percentage-terms, I think LA wins this. Toronto has a greenbelt that it enforced and many of its suburbs are also high-rise oriented. Chicago has its Cook County Forest Preserves and it heads out into farmland pretty quickly which is not the same as suburban sprawl. It also does something similar to NYC with its nodes of higher density along rail stations.
I really like Los Angeles a lot--one of the things I like most is the native flora and fauna. I think it's terrible that when you grow up in a state that puts a relatively large emphasis on natural conservation and such that you have to watch the natural bounty around you get stomped over by development of really uninspiring and frankly terrible subdivisions. I really wish LA had preserved a lot more of the basin and the valleys (both San Gabriel and San Fernando, and even further out to parts of Pomona Valley and the Inland Empire) for nature and forced development to concentrate itself.
Last edited by OyCrumbler; 06-06-2013 at 09:48 PM..
No denying L.A. is huge, but as you can see, its urban area has the same population as Chicago + Toronto in 1,000 fewer sq. miles. So the point stands.
Yea, and it's why I don't like much of Long Island so much.
Absolutely, though in percentage-terms, I think LA wins this. Toronto has a greenbelt that it enforced and many of its suburbs are also high-rise oriented. Chicago has its Cook County Forest Preserves and it heads out into farmland pretty quickly which is not the same as suburban sprawl. It also does something similar to NYC with its nodes of higher density along rail stations.
I really like Los Angeles a lot--one of the things I like most is the native flora and fauna. I think it's terrible that when you grow up in a state that puts a relatively large emphasis on natural conservation and such that you have to watch the natural bounty around you get stomped over by development of really uninspiring and frankly terrible subdivisions. I really wish LA had preserved a lot more of the basin and the valleys (both San Gabriel and San Fernando, and even further out to parts of Pomona Valley and the Inland Empire) for nature and forced development to concentrate itself.
Well considering it's a much larger metro than the other 2 that's a no brainer
Yea, and it's why I don't like much of Long Island so much.
Absolutely, though in percentage-terms, I think LA wins this. Toronto has a greenbelt that it enforced and many of its suburbs are also high-rise oriented. Chicago has its Cook County Forest Preserves and it heads out into farmland pretty quickly which is not the same as suburban sprawl. It also does something similar to NYC with its nodes of higher density along rail stations.
I really like Los Angeles a lot--one of the things I like most is the native flora and fauna. I think it's terrible that when you grow up in a state that puts a relatively large emphasis on natural conservation and such that you have to watch the natural bounty around you get stomped over by development of really uninspiring and frankly terrible subdivisions. I really wish LA had preserved a lot more of the basin and the valleys (both San Gabriel and San Fernando, and even further out to parts of Pomona Valley and the Inland Empire) for nature and forced development to concentrate itself.
Well considering that the LA metro is the densest in the nation it has efficiently used very little land to get to it's current population compared to other metros, and by looking at this map you can see that the metro is surrounded by mountains and preserved forrests so I really don't see your point.
Well considering that the LA metro is the densest in the nation it has efficiently used very little land to get to it's current population compared to other metros, and by looking at this map you can see that the metro is surrounded by mountains and preserved forrests so I really don't see your point.
The ratio gap between suburban sprawl and central urban core is larger in LA because it lacks a Manhattan or a Loop. It is apparent that LA is more suburban horizontal growth than vertical compared to other cities. Another words it is less centralized and more spread out than NYC, Chicago or Philly with more suburban style development which is basically Phoenix on steroids with more stucco style single family and apartment buildings lacking row houses (Philly, Boston etc.)and residential highrises (NYC, Chicago). It lacks a traditional urban 19th century Wrigleyville or Backbay neighborhoods.
Those are pretty impressive numbers for the Toronto UA; I don't have much experience with Toronto outside of Downtown and the Neighborhoods immediately north; but given the population and density of Mississauga I guess I shouldn't be surprised at how dense the surrounding suburbs are, very LA-esque.
While not really quantifiable, Chicago and the immediate core (ie. North Side) still feels larger to me that downtown Toronto and an equally sized surrounding area.
I'll be in Toronto at the end of the month, I will definitely need to do some more exploring of your great city.
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