why Detroit didn't feel as isolated as Chicago?

[Indentured Servant]

Originally Posted by michikawa

I ran the numbers using this US census data service: CAPS10C - Missouri Census Data Center


With 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, and 300 mile concentric circles around Detroit and Chicago, the populations look like this:

Detroit:
5,105,096 - 50 miles
9,271,229 - 100 miles
15,762,059 - 150 miles
22,323,561 - 200 miles
38,451,837 - 250 miles (Detroit meets Chicago)
47,884,919 - 300 miles

Chicago:
7,480,213 - 50 miles
12,006,754 - 100 miles
20,242,040 - 150 miles
26,364,429 - 200 miles
40,347,352 - 250 miles (Chicago meets Detroit)
47,840,230 - 300 miles


This doesn't include the 10+ million that live in Southern Ontario that would be included with Detroit, nor is it weighted for the higher percentage of water in the Detroit radius. So it would appear that Detroit and it's environs that are within a four hour drive are significantly more densely populated than Chicago's

That is the same data tool that I used......and yes those numbers leaves out Canada. Great presentation by the way.

I think Detroiter's (not just proper) and most people in the country don't realize how heavily populated the Detroit region is. Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix....and all these new "boom towns" are commuting magnets because they are the only show that is playing in the area. Detroit has a much smaller MSA definition that does not really reflect the population of the area. There are many shows playing in the Detroit area and thus Detroit does not get a high enough commuter percentages to boost its MSA numbers and the MSA only includes the USA and not Canada.

[michikawa]

Originally Posted by Indentured Servant

I think Detroiter's (not just proper) and most people in the country don't realize how heavily populated the Detroit region is.

Just for reference, the same 300 mile circle around Philadelphia yields a population of 68,032,925. Now Philly is in the center of the Northeast Corridor, and its 300 mile radius is about a third Atlantic Ocean, but compared to Detroit's 47 + 10 million, it's not as big of a difference as one would expect between the Midwest and the Northeast.

[Vicman]

Baltimore has a stop on the Acela Express, which goes to New York.

Originally Posted by brodie734

I just think it speaks to an attitude you only see on this website where closeness to other cities is supposed to be a major selling point... it's not uncommon for somebody here to say something like "Baltimore is better than St Louis because Baltimore is closer to New York", as though people in Baltimore go to New York constantly or as though cheap airfare doesn't exist.

I can't imagine how anybody could feel isolated in one of the world's largest airport hubs.

[mttzakr87]

I don't know if Chicago is isolated, It's close to Milwaukee, 3-4 hrs from Detroit, 3 hours from Indianapolis, 5 1/2 from Cleveland, but as many have said, its a place where people go for its amenities

[goofy328]

This is why I don't understand why the Great Lakes is considered to be a megalopolis. The cities are not close to each other in the way that they are on the East Coast. Michigan and Ohio are exceptions. Maybe Indiana, depending on how you look at it, but this idea of this being an interconnected region is a farce. Perhaps if there was rail, or other physical connections other than the highway that would be one thing.

[clearlevel]

What about Toronto? Have you been there?

[brodie734]

Originally Posted by goofy328

This is why I don't understand why the Great Lakes is considered to be a megalopolis. The cities are not close to each other in the way that they are on the East Coast. Michigan and Ohio are exceptions. Maybe Indiana, depending on how you look at it, but this idea of this being an interconnected region is a farce. Perhaps if there was rail, or other physical connections other than the highway that would be one thing.

This region is more auto-centric... pretty much anyone within a ~5 hour drive time of Chicago likely thinks very little of spending a weekend there. That covers everything from Cleveland west to Des Moines, and Traverse City south to Evansville. It's less easily connected than the Northeast, but it is a spoke/hub pattern with Chicago at the center and a population easily accustomed to 300 mile drives.

[newengland17]

Is Chicago the center though? Geographically Detroit is the center since Toronto and Buffalo are both Great Lakes cities.

[brodie734]

Chicago is not geographically at the center of the megalopolis, no, but it is the central city (or a co-anchor with Toronto, which gets way less play being in a different country... people go to Chicago far more frequently than Toronto, even in places like Cleveland). Think of it as the Detroit region writ large, Detroit isn't at the center geographically and the second most important city culturally and economically (Ann Arbor) lies on the very edge.

This map visualizes the importance of the specific cities involved well: