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Yes Birmingham 'was'....but it lost its way in the 1960s, 70s etc to Atlanta. Yes, They have been playing catchup for sure, but still getting kicked by Nashville in the 2000s. Lots of things have changed for the better for sure, but if you're constantly playing catchup, you're actually falling behind in urbanism. Birmingham has become ex-urban to some extent, and that trend is not up for reversal...the "over the Mountain" crowd aren't returning to city centre. Just examine what's happening all over Shelby north.
I hear you, but you're wrong chief. lol
Like I said before, a LOT of Birmingham's Pre-WW2 Architecture is still standing. So when we're talking about the growth of physical development in relation to urbanization, Birmingham is already where it wants to be. There's no creating land for this, or reconfiguring street patterns for that; no, in Birmingham there's just mostly revitalization or infill. You see older buildings like this, turn into this.
A lot of the Sun Belt cities have spent millions upon millions in developing what they'd consider as "Urban environments." let's just say, Birmingham is very fortunate not to have that type of problem.
And you're right, the "Over the Mountain" crowd isn't returning to the core of the city, I'll admit that. Luckily for Birmingham, that's a blessing in disguise, because 1. That's not the demographic Birmingham wants to associate themselves with, and 2. They're old.
Yeah, some of the individual blocks - particularly around University of Alabama Birmingham - have hundreds of people. But the whole area must really empty out at night with no residential zones nearby.
Around UAB?
UAB is surrounded by residential areas. That's where a lot of the students who don't live on campus stay, especially the international kids.
I would rather have rail transit infrastructure than highways, which have served to wall-off, isolate and in many cases destroy neighborhoods they pass through as wide, concrete barricades. I would hardly say Cleveland rapid transit system is "overbuilt." It was just built and has been a way underutilized asset -- but as I noted, above, with the resurgence in downtown and the sudden TOD activity, this happily appears to be changing.
The Infrastructure is there and that's a good thing, but the thing is one of the biggest things that clue you into the size of a city is how congested it is.
Since a lot of Rust Belt Cities (and Birmingham, and Memphis to some extent) are built bigger than they are they have an empty feeling.
UAB is surrounded by residential areas. That's where a lot of the students who don't live on campus stay, especially the international kids.
Look at the map I linked to.
There's clearly a lot of residential areas immediately to the south of UAB. The Five Points area has some residents too. But the blocks to the north are almost totally depopulated.
There's clearly a lot of residential areas immediately to the south of UAB. The Five Points area has some residents too. But the blocks to the north are almost totally depopulated.
Ohhh, that's the Medical District, it's mostly Hospitals (UAB, Children's, VA, etc.) and other small businesses. It's looks depopulated on that Map, but trust me, it's very active, it has one of the largest employers of the state. There's also Residential projects that's sprouting up around that area as well (Parkside, Denham, 20 Midtown, Flats on 4th, etc.)
Ironically, the movie was shot in Cleveland not for its similarities to Detroit, but for its differences. An excerpt from an article by Joey Morona, entitled: So, how much of Cleveland is in 'White Boy Rick?' (in today's cleveland.com) lays it out...
"Director Yann Demange flirted with the idea of shooting the movie entirely in Detroit, but as the production notes point out, 'they found that the city no longer resembled the Detroit of the 1980s.' So, they turned to another former manufacturing center in the Midwest.
'In choosing locations, the filmmakers sought out rundown exteriors, which were unfortunately still prevalent in certain parts of Cleveland following the Great Recession,' the production notes state.
'We wanted a bombed-out, post-riot, urban decay look,' production designer Stefania Cella said. 'Everything is faded. Everything is rundown. Everything is falling apart. Their lives are falling apart.'"
Yeah, I'm not sure which city should be insulted more. But I don't think any Clevelanders will deny that large swaths of the city's east side describe what the filmmakers were looking for. Incidentally, the area they shot the neighborhood scenes (Union-Miles Park) actually aren't that bad in terms of decay. It's a rough and high crime area, but it hasn't experienced the sheer abandonment as other east side neighborhoods.
I'm not that insulted. Every American big city has rough areas. At least many Cleveland rough areas on the East Side are still in tact and, in many cases, unless there's an abundance of 'condemned' plywood on the windows and doors, Cleveland bad areas don't always look that bad and, are in fact, rehab-a-table. Fact is, many of the ones in Detroit are simply urban prairies with a few dilapidated, burned out and/or boarded up/collapsing houses. Check out the scare-flick "Don't Breathe" of a few years ago to get the idea... It seems there's no middle ground in Detroit, because the other parts are in-tact with substantial homes, some mansions (Indian Village, Palmer Woods, Boston-Edison) and/or solid middle class areas -- in other words, TOO NICE for a gritty docudrama set in the Detroit 1980's like "White Boy Rick." It's just a reality both cities face... and deal with.
... These are pretty much typical Cleveland neighborhoods on the south east side town. I'm not saying these areas are Shaker Heights or Westchester County, but I've seen worse... MUCH worse.
... These are pretty much typical Cleveland neighborhoods on the south east side town. I'm not saying these areas are Shaker Heights or Westchester County, but I've seen worse... MUCH worse.
I'm not gonna lie and say I'd be comfortable walking around a lot of that neighborhood, but if your going for bombed out, its hardly the one I would go for. Your shots capture it, but there are actually other parts that are way better, as well. As a westsider, who used to do home renovations, I was shocked at how nice some of the streets were in the Lee-Miles neighborhood. In parts, it reminded just of Fairview Park (just all black, lol.
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