Most urban southern metro outside of South Florida? (compare, Boston, difference)

[polo89]

Originally Posted by whereiend

Can't speak for Charlotte (I haven't left the airport there), but Austin is just smaller than these other metros moreso than "less urban".

These cities are all very suburban at the metro level. I'd probably pick Houston as the most urban outside of downtown, as it has consistent medium density inside the loop (which is quite a large area, though still a smaller percentage of the metro).

For most urban downtown it's probably Atlanta, at least during business hours.

How are we judging “urban”? Ppl seem to have beef with SoFlas exclusion, because they feel it’s an insult to just consider SoFla to be the most urban as a foregone conclusion. But SoFla has the most uniform density for the longest stretch than any of these metro areas. Using your criteria and the criteria of many others in here, SoFla would/should run away with this.

[annie_himself]

This thread is terrible.

[theurbanfiles]

FWIW... Pinellas County has 975K people in only 274 SqMi. If that was a single metro area, and the whole picture, I would think that it would win quite easily.

That said, it's not, and so here is a more full picture, at least on a density basis, by Urban Area:

Tampa-St. Petersburg: 2,551 PSQM
Atlanta: 1,707
Austin: 2,604
San Antonio: 2,944
Charlotte: 1,685
Houston: 2,978
Dallas: 2,878
Miami: 4,442
New Orleans: 3,579
El Paso*: 3,205
Hampton Roads: 2,793

I do wonder whether straight up, Tampa might be able to win a densest 50 SqMi, 100 SqMi, 200 SqMi, because A) Tampa and it's surrounding cities have a more traditional urban grid and form than a number of these cities, and B) in a sense, geography, like in Miami, simply dictates a need for a higher level of density than some of these other places require. In any case, I certainly think that this is far from clear cut outside of Miami, and New Orleans of course being the densest city after that (and most traditionally urban).

[kemahkami]

Originally Posted by annie_himself

This thread is terrible.

How so?

[theurbanfiles]

A couple other notables:

Laredo TX UA: 3588 PSQM
The CBD of Laredo has the highest WalkScore rating in all of Texas and in all of the plains states. I think more than any of the other border cities, it seems like the grid between urban Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and Laredo, Texas, seamlessly transitions. https://www.google.com/maps/place/La...!4d-99.5075519

Lexington KY UA: 3315
UK helps to be sure

I don't think big necessarily equals urban and vice versa. Whether numbers reflect it or not-I think Richmond, and even Charlottesville warrant some level of consideration here.

Another question-does Laredo or El Paso belong in the discussion? We seem to have established that Baltimore and DC do not. But if they don't-why not? Does Richmond also perhaps not belong? Miami? San Antonio? Just some food for thought.

[ShenardL]

Atlanta ITP (Inside The Perimeter or I-285) is the most urban out of the cities with the best public transportation (MARTA, pre-covid almost 500,000 people ridership per day). For the suburbs, they're pretty much equivalent for the most part.

[KodeBlue]

Baltimore

[Shakeesha]

Originally Posted by ShenardL

Atlanta ITP (Inside The Perimeter or I-285) is the most urban out of the cities with the best public transportation (MARTA, pre-covid almost 500,000 people ridership per day). For the suburbs, they're pretty much equivalent for the most part.

It will be interesting to see Atlanta fill in the gaps and surface parking lots while improving transit options. This decade will be all about infrastructure improvements for the region.

[R1070]

Originally Posted by ShenardL

Atlanta ITP (Inside The Perimeter or I-285) is the most urban out of the cities with the best public transportation (MARTA, pre-covid almost 500,000 people ridership per day). For the suburbs, they're pretty much equivalent for the most part.

Still lots of very low density areas ITP with lots of trees, big yards, single family homes, winding narrow roads and minimal sidewalks. There are urban nodes with transit connectivity, but overall it's not a consistent density.

[gwillyfromphilly]

Originally Posted by elchevere

I didn’t realize Philly and Chicago were part of the South

The Philly metro includes Delaware and Northeastern Maryland, so that would technically make Philly a Southern metro. So that would make Philly the most urban metro in the South.