Which of these cities is most likely to become a legitimately urban place? (best, places)
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We often hear hype about "hot" cities that "everyone" is moving to.
"Stop moving here, we're full" is common refrain that can be heard even from places with less than 2000 ppsm population density.
Population growth is one thing, but making the transition to a world-facing metropolis is another thing entirely. Some cities with runaway population growth struggle to get modest high rises approved and vote down mass transit proposals.
When all the talk and hype dies down, which city has the best chance of joining the ranks of America's legacy urban metros?
Of those choices I'd pick Austin. Although, I don't think any of these places will be legacy cities any time soon. Their growth is mainly sprawl. Some of them haven't even been able to make concrete long-term plans for transit, so definitely not promising.
Honestly.... None of them, or at least not for several decades even assuming they keep the current rate of growth.
Legacy cities like San Fran, Pittsburgh, Philly, DC, Boston, Baltimore, NYC etc.. all had literally 1-2 century head starts in building their urban fabrics, all are substantially smaller in geographic foot print and hence their population densities shows.
Couple this with how they were built (an era before the car where people either had to train, horse or walk) and you end up with a cities that revolve around a hyper dense & extremely built up urban cores thats almost impossible to replicate simply due to cultural, technological and economic shifts in how we live and build cities today.
These cities can and probably will have great big bustling downtowns, and have characteristic of a legacy city but their never going to look and feel like one.
Usually hype is a four letter word, it implies undeserved recognition or reputation. Not in Nashville's case. It will at least meet the deserved hype and honestly shouldn't be on this list. It's rubbing elbows (and putting a scare) in the NYC, LA, and Chicago's of this world.
Of this list I foresee Austin and Columbus being the most likely to increase their densities quickly via infill in their cores with Nashville a close second-place behind them.
Usually hype is a four letter word, it implies undeserved recognition or reputation. Not in Nashville's case. It will at least meet the deserved hype and honestly shouldn't be on this list. It's rubbing elbows (and putting a scare) in the NYC, LA, and Chicago's of this world.
Dude... What??? I assure you, NO ONE in NYC, LA or Chicago is "scared" of Nashville, and most know little to nothing about it outside of sports and music.
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I assure you, NO ONE in NYC, LA or Chicago is "scared" of Nashville, and most know little to nothing about it outside of sports and music.