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Is being "coastal" really as relevant as we think? do american cities along the coasts really operate differently from inland cities due to pure location?
seems like a crazy concept to me. coastal cities, at one point in man's development, were different. due to the transportation of the times, these were the places that were connected to lands from off, the points of entry, the Ellis Islands.
but that is not true today. Nobody takes an ocean liner just for the sake of getting to New York from Europe; in fact, few take one for any reason. Speaking of Europe, I don't even think there is a concept of "coastal".
so does "coastal" really matter? do inland cities have to be different from coastal ones?
and doesn't the very notion of "flyover country" really stem not only from being away from the coasts, but also an equally crazy concept to me: that NY and LA are the two flash points in a polar perspective on the US and nothing outside them matters.
I think coastal is still very important for a number of reasons:
1) The rise of global trade means that now, more than ever, ports are a big deal. There are so many commodities flowing into and out of most of these coastal cities, and that generates some big dollars.
2) People are attracted to the coastlines. Many like being near to the water for recreation, but I'm a firm believer that just as many enjoy the climate that such proximity to the ocean produces.
3) Aside from Chicago, all the most major urban areas are on salt water. I mean, go down the list -- Philly (the Delaware is an estuary there), NYC, Boston, Houston, San Francisco, Seattle, Miami -- most of the big ones are close to the ocean. There's a perpetual draw to cities -- once they get big, they generally remain so (Rome has been a going concern for thousands of years now). Ergo, I don't think that a place like Phoenix or Denver will ever truly rival the size of NYC, even with the continuing growth of the southwest.
So, no, I don't think the appeal of the coastal cities has faded, or will fade. They're as strong as they ever were, and -- if anything -- stronger with the decline of interior railroad and rustbelt metropolises.
Since a large amount of wealth and influence (financial, political, cultural, social) is concentrated on the east & west coasts, "coastal" remains relevant today.
Since a large amount of wealth and influence (financial, political, cultural, social) is concentrated on the east & west coasts, "coastal" remains relevant today.
i agree with you, daydreaming. so i have to wonder: does coastal have any meaning based on the attributes it has or does "coastal" have meaning in the US because of the power structure of the northeast corridor and California (particularly in terms of LA/Bay Area)?
another poster mentioned that Chicago really takes on the attributes of the coastal areas in ways that nothing inland does. So one wonders if attributes are not really on the coast, but just the way that an area operates.
there would be vast areas south along the Atlantic Coast and much of the Gulf Coast and to far lesser degree, areas along the Pacific that don't' operate that much in a "coastal way".
i agree with you, daydreaming. so i have to wonder: does coastal have any meaning based on the attributes it has or does "coastal" have meaning in the US because of the power structure of the northeast corridor and California (particularly in terms of LA/Bay Area)?
another poster mentioned that Chicago really takes on the attributes of the coastal areas in ways that nothing inland does. So one wonders if attributes are not really on the coast, but just the way that an area operates.
there would be vast areas south along the Atlantic Coast and much of the Gulf Coast and to far lesser degree, areas along the Pacific that don't' operate that much in a "coastal way".
Chicago got as big as it did because of what a railroad hub it was. It wasn't so much because there was some huge demand for a second megacity. Rather, it was due to the fact that the city is, quite literally, the hub of every major railroad in the country. Just look at a map of the lines and they radiate out from the windy city like the spokes on a wheel.
Basically, Chicago found itself right smack in the middle of things during the industrial boom, and being in the middle can be quite handy.
Being coastal changes the very nature of the environment of the area and deeply influences the character of the city. Being on the coast means you are where international arrivals meet the country. Seattle, San Francisco and LA have a strong Asian influence because of their location just like Florida does to Latin America and Boston and New York to Europe. Flyover cities can be largely insulated from foreign culture making them bland and provincial.
While coastal cities tend to welcome the influence other cultures bring, flyover cities tend to regard the same influence as an invasion they need to stop, making them more insulated and in some cases, even reactionary. After living many years on the coast, our family thought it would be fun to return to Denver where we grew up. The difference was startling and we lasted barely a year before fleeing to Boston where we could breathe. We returned to Seattle soon after, knowing that only the coast works for us so it's just a matter of choosing the weather. We may not be foreign but we really like the character those influences bring to a city in addition to the proximity to water, beauty and everything else being on the coast brings.
Not being on the coast has not hindered other large cities like Chicago and Dallas, but if they were on the coast, their character would be different. There is nothing wrong with flyover country; it's a good thing for all of us that not everyone is drawn to the coast.
yes they Function different, for example Columbus has a wheel and spoke kind of thing going on, Boston has to adjust is infustructure because it has nearly all the people west of DT, same with Miami, also it creates and urban "String" up the coast, for example Greater Boston is consistantly urban from Quincy to Salem, but suburban in Newton, a town over. While Columbus or DC are a round circle of Urbanity, so if signifigantly effects infustructure.
Lots of good points have already been raised by previous posts and my opinion is pretty close to that expressed by some people already. Being on a coast is advantageous to a city for several reasons, some of which are current, and some of which are historic.
Current Advantages:
Port: it is beneficial for a city to have a port as they are important facilitators of trade and to a lesser degree of people. It isn't a make or break issue, as some cities are successful without ports, but having a port certainly helps.
Character: Humans tend to like being near water, for both recreation and aesthetic purposes (in other words, we like to swim and boat and we also like to just see the water).
Oceans: In additon to ports, access to the ocean can provide economic benefits b/c of the natural resouces in the ocean, such as fish, oil, etc.
Boundary: Another possible advantage of being on a coast is that it provides a clear geographic boundary line for development. If you think about the skylines of most major cities, they are on or near the water (NYC, Chicago, Miami, etc). This helps concentrate development and reduce sprawl. Cities without a coast tend to be a bit sprawlier b/c there is no geographic contraint and the cities just go out in all directions (think of cities such as Atlanta, Dallas, etc).
Historic: In the past ports were even more important than they are today as centers for trade and for immagration. That means that they have a "head start" in developing. Thus, even if ports were not necessarily advantageous today, the cities with ports would still tend to be more well developed b/c that is where the people and money were concentrated in the past.
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