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I was sure that the Sunbelt cities would be in the crosshairs of this thread before I read it. I will say YET AGAIN that what I observe on this forum is the residents of Atlanta/Houston/Dallas being put in the position of defending their cities against the myriad of disparaging comments being made by outsiders. I don't really see Atlanta or Houston posters exhibiting "puffed-up" behavior with regards to their city...I think most of us know our cities' deficiencies; in Atlanta's case, infrastructure, lack of responsible leadership, transportation and crime are most definitely problems that we are well aware of. On the other hand, there are reasons why these same cities are experiencing rapid growth...and they don't all have to do with 'cheap housing', 'jobs' and 'weather'.
It seems to me that the comparisons of Atlanta, Dallas and Houston to more 'evolved' cities such as NYC, Boston or San Francisco are unfair considering that they only began to really hit their stride in the late 20th century. It's rather like how the residents of London and Paris looked down their noses at American cities such as NYC, Pittsburgh and Chicago in the mid-19th century (Henry James' novel The Golden Bowl is, among other things, a meditation on European snobbery against American cities). Over time, like it or not, Sunbelt cities will have their day in the 'Sun'.
Last edited by Iconographer; 03-31-2009 at 08:17 PM..
I was sure that the Sunbelt cities would be in the crosshairs of this thread before I read it. I will say YET AGAIN that what I observe on this forum is the residents of Atlanta/Houston/Dallas being put in the position of defending their cities against the myriad of disparaging comments being made by outsiders. I don't really see Atlanta or Houston posters exhibiting "puffed-up" behavior with regards to their city...I think most of us know our cities' deficiencies; in Atlanta's case, infrastructure, lack of responsible leadership, transportation and crime are most definitely problems that we are well aware of. On the other hand, there are reasons why these same cities are experiencing rapid growth...and they don't all have to do with 'cheap housing', 'jobs' and 'weather'.
It seems to me that the comparisons of Atlanta, Dallas and Houston to more 'evolved' cities such as NYC, Boston or San Francisco are unfair considering that they only began to really hit their stride in the late 20th century. It's rather like how the residents of London and Paris looked down their noses at American cities such as NYC, Pittsburgh and Chicago in the mid-19th century (Henry James' novel The Golden Bowl is, among other things, a meditation on European snobbery against American cities). Over time, like it or not, Sunbelt cities will have their day in th 'Sun'.
Not really. The problem with the 'sunbelt' cities is that they were recently built up over the last couple decades. And they were all built around the car. No true city lover can love a city that for the most part, is unwalkable. Strip malls and chain restaurants doesn't excite a lot of people (atleast people who enjoy urban enviroments that are dense and have energy to them).
Look at Atlanta. A metro area that has 5+ million. But the city core only has a little over 400,000 people. That's a prime example!
Denver is looking at us weird and I'm not so sure about Charlotte (if you know what I mean). Can you switch us, San Diego and Phoenix with Dallas, Houston and Atlanta? Thank you.
LA is completely diffent than NYC. That doesn't mean that they don't envy NYC. Besides Hollywood, they live in NYC's shadow in just about every other dept. Plus, there's a lot of movies filmed in NYC. And over the years, alot of celebs actually chose NYC as home over LA.
People in LA could afford to live in LA.
I have friends who have lived in both cities. Usually they would never want to live in the opposing cities. They are two different lifestyles.
Believe it or not, not everybody wants to live in an extremely dense, gritty urban environment like NYC, CHI, Philly. People have different tastes
People in LA have great weather, an interesting scene, beautiful landscape, beaches etc. Most of them would feel trapped in NYC.
Denver is looking at us weird and I'm not so sure about Charlotte (if you know what I mean). Can you switch us, San Diego and Phoenix with Dallas, Houston and Atlanta? Thank you.
Yours truly,
Minneapolis
I've actually always wanted to go to Minneapolis. I've heard its a great city.
Below is a quick list of cities that were grouped with other cities that I feel are on the same level.
In bold is a list of cities that in my opinion have Napoleon Complex displayed on cd.
The people in these cities need to stop puffing out their chest to compete with cities higher than them because members can see through it and it gets old!!!
I am sure people are going to argue what group some cities should go into. But, my point is to let the people know what cities display the Napoleon Complex!
Does anyone agree or feel differently?
GROUP 1
New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco
GROUP 2
DC/Baltimore, Boston, Philly
GROUP 3
Miami, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Seattle
GROUP 4
Denver, Charlotte, San Antonio, Raleigh, Austin, Phoenix, Minneapolis, San Diego, Tampa, Portland
GROUP 5
Jacksonville, Knoxville
Your Group 4 is wrong. Denver, Minny and San Diego should NOT be grouped with Charlotte, Raleigh, etc.
Not really. The problem with the 'sunbelt' cities is that they were recently built up over the last couple decades. And they were all built around the car. No true city lover can love a city that for the most part, is unwalkable. Strip malls and chain restaurants doesn't excite a lot of people (atleast people who enjoy urban enviroments that are dense and have energy to them).
Look at Atlanta. A metro area that has 5+ million. But the city core only has a little over 400,000 people. That's a prime example!
All true (except the city core has 520K, not 400K)...but that is changing, and quickly. It is silly to assume that a city growing as fast as Atlanta will remain in its' current state. 'Strip malls'? 'Chain restaurants'? 'Unwalkable'? In case you haven't been here lately, those very generic and outmoded adjectives no longer describe our city. And the growth has reached a point where it's no longer going out, but up...the fact that the core city has gone from 300K to 520K in less than two decades is evidence enough of that.
It depends on what you are comparing. Metro or city?
Also, Dallas is a sprawl and Boston is not!
2.
Dallas has 30 buildings at 400 ft
Boston has 26 buildings at 400 ft
So they are similar in height. However, as far as density goes (buildings under 400 ft) Boston kills Dallas.
IMO, their are three things holding Dallas back from being on boston's level
A. Dallas is not dense. It is a sprawl
B. Dallas does not have good transit and boston does
C. Dallas lacks food options/walkable neighborhoods/culture.
I am not clear on your criteria for the size of a city and its listing here. If by skyline there is already a criteria i.e. buildings over 500 ft. But another way to gage a cities size is measured by its CBD ranking.
1 New York 1,736,900
2 Chicago 541,500
3 Washington 382,400
4 San Francisco-San Jose 305,600
5 Boston 257,000
6 Philadelphia 220,100
7 Seattle 155,100
8 Houston 153,400
9 Los Angeles 143,700
10 Atlanta 129,800
11 Denver 126,000
12 Minneapolis-St. Paul 105,400
13 Cleveland 100,300
14 Baltimore 98,500
15 Miami 98,000
16 Pittsburgh 95,600
17 Columbus 88,800
18 Austin 86,000
19 New Orleans 81,400
20 Dallas-Fort Worth 79,900
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