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Exactly how I feel looking at the suburbs of Phoenix or Las Vegas with miles of SFH homes in repetitive bland format of the same color with little to no tree cover, and dry terrain everywhere. Gimme MD any day.
Those suburbs look lovely IMO.
Granted MD suburbs would be better if they cared- at all- about the appearance of their main strips and commercial corridors.
I'd have a hard time believing anyone would find Paradise Valley or Scottsdale ugly. Even the not as upscale suburbs like Mesa, Tempe, Chandler, and Gilbert have some very nice areas. Phoenix certainly does not belong in the ugly suburb conversation.
Well executed sprawl> ad hoc, mishmash pe-war suburbia that is poorly maintained and cluttered (suburban NE)
Pretty big difference between MD-DC suburbs and MA-Boston suburbs, but I agree with NE as a whole.
MD as a few cute, well maintained, organized pre-war suburbs.. Like Bethesda and Chevy Chase. I'd argue MA has that in spades, or at least, has many more notable downtown/main street pockets. Towns like Winchester, Newton, Wellesley, Brookline, Belmont, Arlington, Lexington, Concord, Marblehead, Melrose, Andover, Beverly, Newburyport.
Bay Area, not even a question. Chicagoland is a big Midwestern city, and DC/Baltimore is far more like the other Mid-Atlantic cities than its own thing. There's nothing like the Bay Area anywhere else in the country.
I’m finding really hard to find how outside geographics, the Bay Area’s 3 principle cities are more culturally & demographically distinct from each other than DC & Baltimore are from each other. The Bay Area still feels like part of one one giant symbiotic region despite each city having its own relatively identity.
DC & Baltimore feel like two giant cities that were accidentally plopped way to close to one another and we’re forced to “get along”
What I bolded is exactly why imo it's a more unique region than the DC-Bmore region. I'm not suggesting the 3 principal cities are more distinct from each other than Baltimore and DC. Baltimore and DC are very distinct from one another and that does make it one of the most unique regions in the country for having 2 cities so distinctly different from one another in close proximity from one another. But imo the entire region as a whole isn't as unique as the Bay Area.
For one that DC-Bmore region is surrounded by too many bland meh suburbs to compete with what the Bay Area has to offer. So the fact that the Bay area feels like one giant symbiotic region while cities and towns within that area still have their own relatively identity ALONG with it being situated in a geographically diverse part of the country imo makes it that much more unique.
Pretty big difference between MD-DC suburbs and MA-Boston suburbs, but I agree with NE as a whole.
MD as a few cute, well maintained, organized pre-war suburbs.. Like Bethesda and Chevy Chase. I'd argue MA has that in spades, or at least, has many more notable downtown/main street pockets. Towns like Winchester, Newton, Wellesley, Brookline, Belmont, Arlington, Lexington, Concord, Marblehead, Melrose, Andover, Beverly, Newburyport.
For sure. I sort of made that point when I distinguished NE suburbs from MD suburbs.
I honestly dont like either more than Phoenix OR Vegas suburbs. Really, I don't. you listed the best looking ones (onnitted Potomac And Rockville MD) MDs are uglier than MAs and Vegas’ are uglier than Phoenix’s.
On balance I find desert suburbs to be crisp clean modern and navigable and I appreciate the mountains and sunsets.. folks can keep their run of the mill Walpole or Gambrills.
Bay Area suburbs are nice too. All MA has for it's suburbs are boring and repetitive town centers rat aren't very useful, and green space which makes me cringe when I look a it thinking about how is so exclusionary- I honestly can't even appreciate it anymore..
For sure. I sort of made that point when I distinguished NE suburbs from MD suburbs.
I honestly dont like either more than Phoenix OR Vegas suburbs. Really, I don't. you listed the best looking ones (onnitted Potomac And Rockville MD) MDs are uglier than MAs and Vegas’ are uglier than Phoenix’s.
On balance I find desert suburbs to be crisp clean modern and navigable and I appreciate the mountains and sunsets.. folks can keep their run of the mill Walpole or Gambrills.
Bay Area suburbs are nice too. All MA has for it's suburbs are boring and repetitive town centers rat aren't very useful, and green space which makes me cringe when I look a it thinking about how is so exclusionary- I honestly can't even appreciate it anymore..
I mean I could live in the Phoenix suburbs in a second, Scottsdale in particular.
But it’s really hard for me to even compare a Phoenix to a SF or a DC. It might as well be a different country. And if I’m moving there, it’s for a lot of reasons that have very little to do with the aesthetics of the neighborhoods.
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