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What people outside California don't understand about California's large urban areas is that they are developed at a more uniform density than those in the East.
You may have clumps of tall apartment buildings in the centers of New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and the like, but as little as five miles out from the city center you can run into large single-family houses on half-acre or larger lots.
Most California suburbs feature SFRs on much smaller lots: 1/8 or even 1/16 acre, and these extend for miles. The cities have a similarly dense structural pattern, often with garden apartment buildings or mid-rises added. And there are very few of the mansion-on-large-lot suburbs that are found all over the hinterlands of the Eastern cities.
Thus California urban areas look more "suburban" but have higher overall population densities.
San Francisco and Oakland look more urban than all US cities not in the Northeast or named Chicago.
Cool story....the same San Francisco that has houses with garages right in the middle of the city?
Oh well we were discussing urban areas not cities.
SF has one of the strongest residential urban fabrics in the country. Yes, some of those row houses west of Van Ness have garages but they are still highly urban with corner stores on virtually every block.
That’s super impressive. There really a very many huge projects going on in the United States.
It's nothing compared to the early visions that Metro had in the 70's/80's. The Wilshire subway (purple line) was to be the centerpiece of the whole system, which IIRC was over 300 miles of track of 2nd generation Metro rail. They were gunning for NYC and they were serious.
So by the time the Olympics get here it will be 0 to 145 miles of L.A. Metro rail in 38 years, and 534 miles of regional rail in southern California in 36 years.
SF has one of the strongest residential urban fabrics in the country. Yes, some of those row houses west of Van Ness have garages but they are still highly urban with corner stores on virtually every block.
There are SFH neighborhoods complete with driveways and front yards right off of Market between The Castro and Stonestown. The lots are tight, but it's still straight-up suburbia right in the City.
9.2 mile San Fernando Valley line (this has been approved in time for the Olympics)
So more like 140+ miles by the Olympics-surpassing Chicago, D.C. and BART/Muni.
There's even more than that. The Crenshaw line South Bay extension and west Santa Ana branch are both shooting for 2028. Also small but important the downtown connector opens in 2022.
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