Quote:
Originally Posted by Chicagoland60426
Structurally, after Chicago, I'd say it's St. Louis. St. Louis (slightly edging Detroit) was once the 2nd most densely populated Midwest city and it shows especially in its southern half and the Victorian era/French style homes in neighborhoods such as Lafayette Square.
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I think in most of the postwar era this was the case. The hundreds of midrises that have been built in Minneapolis over the last decade may have changed the equation. The old knock on Minneapolis' urban form (especially its commercial areas) was that it had some good old legacy buildings but the fabric was too destroyed by urban renewal and postwar development. When I moved here in the '80s the pattern in a lot of the city was gap toothed: you would have a couple nice old school buildings then a vacant lot, then a strip mall, then a 1970s suburban style store with parking in front. Outside of the core of downtown that was the case for most of the city until recently. Most of the new midrises have been built around the old buildings and have replaced the vacant lots and strip malls. Significant swathes of the city that used to have gap toothed fabric are becoming genuinely urban. Neighborhoods like Uptown, Lynlake, Dinkytown, Northeast, the Mill District, Downtown East, and Stadium Village have been transformed or at least are in the midst of it. Minneapolis is definitely in the process of going up a level in terms of urbanity.
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