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LA does well for being so large. NYC of course does ridiculously well given its size. But it's not really useful to compare based on municipal city boundaries. Technically Long Beach is more densely populated than LA, but no one really thinks of it like that.
On the other end you have places like Jersey City, Hoboken, Union City, Gutenberg, etc that are really small individually, but have much higher contiguous population densities than any of the places on this list.
The other thing worth noting when comparing what are effectively large suburbs is that many suburbs are disproportionately filled with housing. Many LA suburbs are only statistically "dense" because they have a large residential population. They aren't structurally dense and many are characterized by single family homes.
It is interesting that Philadelphia is on the verge of taking over Chicago as being more dense.
They are literally neck and neck with one another. Philadelphia development is on fire so I can see it overtaking Chicago by 2030.
DC has seen lots of solid growth, and I do not see it stopping anytime soon, but the fact it has height restrictions, I see its density peaking at a certain point and staying in the 6th spot unless certain new zoning overalys can come into play to allow for taller development.
For example. Just this past month. Two 600 foot apartment projects have been proposed in Philadelphia. With some 1,000 units combined. DC just can't match that with the height restrictions.
You couldn’t be more misinformed than you are right now. DC benefits more than almost any city because of height limits. We build taller across our city than practically every city in America because of height limits. Philadelphia actually needs to build apartment/condo buildings in its row-house neighborhoods to match the capacity DC has because of zoning. DC is building 7-15 story buildings in all 8 wards of the city. DC won’t run out of space till it hits around 1.2 million people in 61.1 sq. miles of land. Now, if Philadelphia starts building up south and north Philly to look like Center City, then you would be right.
The mostly inland—and, yes, suburban—areas you reference are countered by the miles and miles of high rises along the coast (mainland and the beach). Keep in mind Miami does have the 3rd largest skyline in the country with the overwhelming majority of these high rises being residential as opposed to a more balanced mix of commercial/residential elsewhere and going south-north, rather than being consolidated in a more compact 4 direction manner.
Came to say this.
No, at street level, there is nothing "dense" about Miami for the most part. But the miles of residential towers definitely helps to put those numbers up.
Came to say this.
No, at street level, there is nothing "dense" about Miami for the most part. But the miles of residential towers definitely helps to put those numbers up.
On a much smaller scale, you can see this play out in Guttenberg, NJ, which is officially the most densely populated municipality in the US at 57K per square mile. But, this is largely because it is a small sliver of land and contains 3 massive condo towers. It doesn't actually feel particularly dense, certainly not more than Hoboken, Jersey City or Union City (which are incredibly dense, and feels like it).
You couldn’t be more misinformed than you are right now. DC benefits more than almost any city because of height limits. We build taller across our city than practically every city in America because of height limits. Philadelphia actually needs to build apartment/condo buildings in its row-house neighborhoods to match the capacity DC has because of zoning. DC is building 7-15 story buildings in all 8 wards of the city. DC won’t run out of space till it hits around 1.2 million people in 61.1 sq. miles of land. Now, if Philadelphia starts building up south and north Philly to look like Center City, then you would be right.
Yes, and Philadelphia has long suffered from fear of heights, density, etc. and has issues with improper zoning regulations.
Things are changing (slowly), and for the first time, there are several very large / dense projects either under construction or in the works in Lower North Philadelphia and South Philadelphia. But there needs to be a greater emphasis on multi-family / mixed-use projects outside of Center City. Initiating TOD (transit oriented legislation) would be a logical idea in areas outside of Center City, but asking city council to make logical decisions is largely a pipe dream.
But lets remember, Philadelphia could easily house 2-3M people within city limits, there are just a lot of roadblocks. But either way I am happy to see positive trends.
Here is an example of what I mean in an area outside of Center City.
Generally, there are very few single-family homes in Roxbury, Boston. If you look closely you will see either multiple entrances, multiple doorbells, or multiple entrances.
One house could possibly be an SFH but form the structure of it and the 2 cars in the driveway, 1 car in front of the house-it makes me believe its a 2 family, possibly with a smaller apartment in the attic.
Given the neighborhood, I seriously doubt there are more than 1 or 2 homes on Carlisle Street are SFH. Mostly because I can see 90% of them aren't, any that aren't immediately apparent they are built like multi-family housing.
You couldn’t be more misinformed than you are right now. DC benefits more than almost any city because of height limits. We build taller across our city than practically every city in America because of height limits. Philadelphia actually needs to build apartment/condo buildings in its row-house neighborhoods to match the capacity DC has because of zoning. DC is building 7-15 story buildings in all 8 wards of the city. DC won’t run out of space till it hits around 1.2 million people in 61.1 sq. miles of land. Now, if Philadelphia starts building up south and north Philly to look like Center City, then you would be right.
I use to live in DC for a long time. I am very familiar with the benefits with the height restrictions in terms of "spreading development".
I think overall it has led to a great deal of vibrancy in many different parts of the city, and yes it has led to a healthy amount of density.
I am not denying any of that.
My point is, that DC will meet a point in time, where the height restrictions will limit its total density potential.
Parts of NW DC with a majority of Single Family homes, are not going to see multi unit developments, and the same can be said for large portions of NE DC.
I think there has been some fantastic infill in DC over the past ten years. And DC is one of my Top 5 favorite cities in the USA.
But its density potential can only go so far.
Philadelphia is more dense than DC, and I do not see DC overtaking that, with the continued development of major high rise buildings in its core. 600 foot + residential buildings are under construction and proposed throughout the core currently.
And neighborhoods outside the core are also seeing a large insurgent of midrise multi unit buildings.
All in total about 5,000 new units with just one project, all within about three blocks of one another and at the same or higher density levels than DC. And like DC this is out of the Philadelphia core and in an outlying neighborhood.
I do not see DC passing Philadelphia density. That is just my take.
If anything, I see Philadelphia passing Chicago density within the next decade.
Last edited by rowhomecity; 01-29-2021 at 11:06 AM..
The reincarnation of Philly 's old industrial buildings and vacant lots in N. Philly are going unnoticed for the most part but is happing all over the city of neighborhoods . See attached Naked Philly Blog Posts Archive - OCF Realty
U of P is donating 100 million $ for education for N Philly youth for high tech positions in the Bio Tech Ind. lifting thousands out of poverty and other universities are following Penn's
lead .
That brown area around east New Orleans is mainly uninhabitable.
The actual Inhabitable area is probably less than a 3rd of the land area of Orleans parish. That's why the urban area shoots up when you look at the density of those habitable tracks
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