Good walk-able cities, with public transit in the US. (NYC, development, metro)
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I said I was not interested in because of a lot if the issues I heard about. However if these issues are way overblown and are in fact not that much an issues to day to day life, and the people are nice then I will have to look into Portland.
Never been to Portland but most issues people talk about in any city are way overblown-except Baltimore
I think the biggest differentiator for the top two besides a denser rapid transit system is a solid suburban transit network that feeds into the city and into each other. Neither Dallas or Atlanta really have that.
While it is more difficult outside of NYC, Chicago, Portland, DC, Philly, and Boston to live off of public transit, I think people are seriously underestimating the public transit systems of other cities, even if they aren’t as comprehensive.
Here’s a list of cities in the USA that have some sort of streetcar/rail system that aren’t heritage lines, commuter rail, or “people movers” because I don’t think those are very useful for getting around the city itself.
NYC
Chicago
Los Angeles
San Francisco
Boston
DC
Portland
Philadelphia
Detroit
Minneapolis
St. Louis
Cleveland
Baltimore
Pittsburgh
Kansas City
Milwaukee
Cincinnati
Atlanta
Dallas
Houston
New Orleans
Denver
Salt Lake City
Seattle
Miami
San Juan
Phoenix
Austin
Buffalo
Trenton
Charlotte
El Paso
Little Rock
Newark
Norfolk
Oklahoma City
Orlando
Sacramento
San Diego
Tacoma
San Jose
Tucson
All of these cities probably meet the bare minimum for usable public transit. Also many college towns as some people have pointed out have very very well developed bus systems.
They were noted several times over: Philadelphia and DC, both of which the OP didn't seem to have an outright aversion to.
Unless I'm interpreting the original post incorrectly, it seems like OP was just arbitrarily listing high-profile cities whose problems are amplified by the media. I don't think he/she has an aversion to any of the cities specifically (except Boston). I suggested Portland because it didn't seem like OP knew a lot about it and it could potentially be a good fit.
It's unfortunate that no US city compares to anything in Europe.....but all cities in the US are built the same, which is really sad.
Even....dense cities like Chicago....lack small buildings in a row with no setbacks that make it easy for people to walk between blocks, or in between shops and apartments, without traversing car-scale buildings taking up entire blocks while on foot...... They don't have good pedestrian interaction.
This just might be the most wildly inaccurate description of Chicago that I have ever read.
You are right that Chicago's urban development is very American but you are incorrect about the lack of small buildings, setbacks, row homes.
Chicago was the fastest growing city in the world during the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s. By 1900, Chicago had grown to become the 5th largest city in the world.
The real estate boom that occurred during these years of explosive growth was oriented around street cars, horse drawn buggies, elevated rail lines, and pedestrians - because this was before the advent of mass automobile ownership.
Take a look at the photos of Chicago's neighborhoods today to see what I mean!
^ lol exactly, people have the weirdest misconceptions of Midwest cities in general. I feel like a lot of people think of places like Chicago and Houston being the same with Chicago only having more skyscrapers.
^ lol exactly, people have the weirdest misconceptions of Midwest cities in general. I feel like a lot of people think of places like Chicago and Houston being the same with Chicago only having more skyscrapers.
Lol nobody here thinks that at all. Most people in the country likely don't think that.
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