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A majority? Maybe. The towns between 128 and I-495 (the Outer Ring) are pretty sparsely populated, and 495 skirts the edges of the Worcester and Providence MSAs.
Breaking it down by town is a bit trickier. If Cambridge and Somerville are “core”, then so are others like Chelsea, Everett, and Dorchester (neighborhood, but Cambridge’s twin in terms of size and population). If I look at the area on Google maps, I’d kind of draw it out like this:
So the entire city of Boston as well as Somerville, Cambridge, Watertown, Dedham, Waltham, Quincy, Winthrop, Revere, Chelsea, Everett, Malden. Maybe Arlington, Belmont, and Norwood. The line leaves out Newton, Brookline, and Milton which may be controversial. That’s the real core of the area. Salem and Lynn to the north are kind of their own things. Same with Woburn, Stoneham, and Wakefield.
Newton, Milton and Brookline arent questionable. They are core.
The largest cores by density, feel, and population.. not subject to city borders, probably include
1. NYC (Obvious)
2. Chicago (Obvious)
3. LA (Obvious)
4. SF/Bay (Very dense, continuously)
5. Boston (The core is impressive, then literally dies after that)
6. Philadelphia (Pretty solid density.. outside the 'core' would leapfrog both SF and Bos)
7. DC (Obvious)
8. Miami
9. Houston
10. Atlanta or Dallas
I'm not sure if Chicago is that obvious and it having one of the top 3 largest in terms of square miles. The OP seems to define "core" as something akin to a "city" within the city, or in case of Miami then the city proper+ some of the principal suburbs. Colloquially, all of Chicago is called "the city", but there is big difference between Hegewisch and the South Loop or Edison Park and Lincoln Park in terms of built environment. There is no consensus of what is Chicago's version of Manhattan or the Inner Loop, though there is a defined central business district, which covers no more than 2 square miles(not a contender for largest core for the purpose of this thread). In Chicago, there are areas considered trendy or likely places to attract tourists that is not exclusive to downtown. From north to south an area from Lakeview to Chinatown/Armour Square; Navy Pier to West Loop/Little Italy/Pilsen and Bucktown/Wicker Park/Ukrainian Village, east to west and northwest could be considered the core. Another measurement is to use the 312 area code, covering 18.22 square miles centered in downtown and the immediate areas.
Last edited by Chicagoland60426; 08-20-2021 at 01:18 AM..
I'm not sure if Chicago is that obvious and it having one of the top 3 largest in terms of square miles. The OP seems to define "core" as something akin to a "city" within the city, or in case of Miami then the city proper+ some of the principal suburbs. Colloquially, all of Chicago is called "the city", but there is big difference between Hegewisch and the South Loop or Edison Park and Lincoln Park in terms of built environment. There is no consensus of what is Chicago's version of Manhattan or the Inner Loop, though there is a defined central business district, which covers no more than 2 square miles(not a contender for largest core for the purpose of this thread). In Chicago, there are areas considered trendy or likely places to attract tourists that is not exclusive to downtown. From north to south an area from Lakeview to Chinatown/Armour Square; Navy Pier to West Loop/Little Italy/Pilsen and Bucktown/Wicker Park/Ukrainian Village, east to west and northwest could be considered the core. Another measurement is to use the 312 area code, covering 18.22 square miles centered in downtown and the immediate areas.
Yeah I’d say by OP definitions Houston’s core is larger by area than Chicago despite the latter being orders of magnitude more built up
Milton and Newton are in the core of the area. No doubt at all there.
In what way is Milton core of anything? It's suburban to the core. The transition from Boston to Milton in fact is shocking in how quickly suburban and woodsy things get. The public transit in Milton feels like any other crappy suburban transit (like PACE in Chicago).
I agree Quincy is part of the core, but Milton is a hard no. Even Boston Shudra's satellite photo very clearly highlights this. If you call Milton the core, you might as well call Hingham the core too.
Based on the expanded definition folks are using, Miami’s core would be everything from South Miami/Coral Gables up to the Sunny Isles/Aventura/Hallandale Beach area, a distance of some 25-30 miles end to end.
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fitzrovian
Based on the expanded definition folks are using, Miami’s core would be everything from South Miami/Coral Gables up to the Sunny Isles/Aventura/Hallandale Beach area, a distance of some 25-30 miles end to end.
The better question in case of Miami would be, how many square miles would that be?
The better question in case of Miami would be, how many square miles would that be?
If you mean to say that Miami's core is long but thin and linear -- I agree (except at the waist).
But that doesn't make it feel any less impressive when you drive north to south... I mean it's pretty frickin cool when after driving half an hour from Downtown Miami you cross the bridge into Sunny Isles and see another skyline with a dozen+ supertalls. I can't think of any other city in North America where you can do that.
If you mean to say that Miami's core is long but thin and linear -- I agree (except at the waist).
But that doesn't make it feel any less impressive when you drive north to south... I mean it's pretty frickin cool when after driving half an hour from Downtown Miami you cross the bridge into Sunny Isles and see another skyline with a dozen+ supertalls. I can't think of any other city in North America where you can do that.
Only Toronto, that's about it.
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