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I really don't think it's close. Madison is a much bigger, prettier, more cosmopolitan city, with all the amenities of a university town like Ann Arbor, plus a big, vibrant downtown, lakes, natural scenery, it's the state capital, and the like.
Ann Arbor is smaller and more generic looking, IMO. Small downtown and kind of an extension of Detroit sprawl.
One thing, though, is that Ann Arbor is better for being close to a big city. People citing Madison because of proximity to Chicago have no idea what they're talking about. Madison is nowhere near Chicago, and Ann Arbor isn't much further from Chicago than Madison is from Chicago.
I really don't think it's close. Madison is a much bigger, prettier, more cosmopolitan city, with all the amenities of a university town like Ann Arbor, plus a big, vibrant downtown, lakes, natural scenery, it's the state capital, and the like.
Ann Arbor is smaller and more generic looking, IMO. Small downtown and kind of an extension of Detroit sprawl.
One thing, though, is that Ann Arbor is better for being close to a big city. People citing Madison because of proximity to Chicago have no idea what they're talking about. Madison is nowhere near Chicago, and Ann Arbor isn't much further from Chicago than Madison is from Chicago.
I was only citing that Madison was closer to cities that I'd care to be near, and Madison is almost 100 mi closer to Chicago than Ann Arbor is (not to mention just an hour from Milwaukee), which is definitely significant! I've lived in Madison and Chicago and contemplated living in Ann Arbor, so it's perfectly valid and I know lots of people that said the same thing in Madison, so I don't think we all have "no idea" what we're talking about.
Last edited by Maintainschaos; 11-29-2014 at 02:07 PM..
I really don't think it's close. Madison is a much bigger, prettier, more cosmopolitan city, with all the amenities of a university town like Ann Arbor, plus a big, vibrant downtown, lakes, natural scenery, it's the state capital, and the like.
Ann Arbor is smaller and more generic looking, IMO. Small downtown and kind of an extension of Detroit sprawl.
One thing, though, is that Ann Arbor is better for being close to a big city. People citing Madison because of proximity to Chicago have no idea what they're talking about. Madison is nowhere near Chicago, and Ann Arbor isn't much further from Chicago than Madison is from Chicago.
Ann Arbor does have some separation in terms of some rural/small town areas around Belleville/Van Buren and around Ypsilanti.
Ann Arbor is about as close to Cleveland as Madison is to Chicago as well.
Perhaps I should have chose a better title for the poll than "Which city is better?" It should have probably been "Which city best meets the listed criteria?" But I don't know, maybe most votes took the criteria into consideration before voting. It's not hard to see how Madison could win in all the categories listed.
Madison literally covers 3 times as much land area as Ann Arbor which gives it's 3 times as much opportunity to be a "much larger city". So just cherry pick which metric for measuring a city validates your arguments.
Having spent time in both cities anyone saying that Madison is "much more urban" or "much more cosmopolitan". is a homer who has never been to Ann Arbor, or a typical C-D poster that hasn't been to either city and just creating opinions based on google searches.
This is a tie...there is a reason both of these cities jockey each other on the endless "best of" lists created. They are both known for their diverse economies, inclusive cultures, and cosmopolitan nature. Not to mention being the anchor for two of the most elite universities in the world. The anecdotal, and down right bias crap people throw around on here gives me endless entertainment while i'm distracting myself from work.
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