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It is the case in Chicago, downtown is generally nice and pretty impressive with its skyscrapers. The neighbourhoods around are just awful with the exception of a few streets and in the far out suburbs it starts to get nice again.
Why are you stuck in the 70s-80s? come on and join us in 2015 where the world is a much better place
I'd argue that pattern is true for huge swaths of the country. It's really only the coasts and a few other places that escape that trend.
In the worst examples, you basically have suburban office parks crammed onto old grids with a handful of historic buildings, with the expectation that people will pay extra for the privilege for living somewhere that provides an "urban experience". It's completely illogical.
The Sun Belt probably does host some of the more extreme cases. Just look at an aerial of Atlanta. You have CNN and the Georgia Dome, and then right next door you can drive down Foundry or Magnolia and witness civilization receding into nothingness. Yet but a few minutes away, the Hilton Garden wants $159 a night for the privilege of staying at its ticky-tacky modern building.
It's absurd.
I suppose it depends upon what you call "urban." Most midwestern cities do have some 19th century residential neighborhoods which survive intact close to Downtown. Of course, because even then the vernacular was detached wood frame, you might not consider examples like this or this, or this particularly urban.
If neighborhoods like that don't do it for you, there are probably only a handful of cities you'd consider to have urban neighborhoods - mostly the big obvious ones, along with smaller cities in the "rowhouse belt" which runs from Philly to Saint Louis.
I'd consider those neighborhoods as urban, though I'd still maintain that the downtowns in those cities are noticeably out of scale with the surroundings (not as egregious as in a city like Atlanta or Phoenix, but not optimum, either). Those neighborhoods were intended to be linked to more modest, early 1900s-style downtowns.
If I'm going to pay a premium to be downtown, I want it to be in the center of desirable urban neighborhoods with good services, and I want strong links between downtown and the neighborhoods. Otherwise, why am I paying a premium? Might as well locate in a suburban office park and avoid the hassles of having modern skyscrapers hooked up to an archaic grid (given the traffic demands of many modern office buildings in areas with poor transit). I think that's why the downtowns underperform in most cities despite the lavish spending of public monies on those areas.
I'd argue that pattern is true for huge swaths of the country. It's really only the coasts and a few other places that escape that trend.
For those of us that do live on the coast, it'll help if you'd give an example to illustrate what you have in mind. The places that have dead areas right next to downtown IME don't have a downtown in much demand.
Nei, it's hard to quantify the true demand, but even in Pheonix you have places like Cityscape Residences: CityScape Residences Availability | Downtown Apartments | Phoenix, Arizona . Apparently there's enough "demand" to live in Downtown Phoenix that someone is potentially willing to pay 6 grand or more a month for the privilege. Over 4 grand for a little over 1300 square feet? IN PHOENIX?
"Surround yourself with luxury at CityScape Residences. Situated atop the contemporary 10-story Hotel Palomar, this high-rise apartment tower extends 24 stories above street level, offering a dynamic and exciting location for destination living in the heart of downtown Phoenix. Indulge in the cosmopolitan lifestyle with high-end home finishes, expansive downtown views and full access to 4-star boutique hotel amenities."
Meanwhile, in the Central City neighborhood bordering downtown Phoenix, they can't even keep the homes standing: https://goo.gl/maps/fJcDz . Apparently, it's not dynamic and exciting enough over there.
What shocks me is that cities like Phoenix can get people to pay urban rates for what - in reality - amounts to a suburban office park.
Most of the world adheres to more logical development patterns. Just as an example, I looked up two random Japanese cities that no one talks about, Shizuoka and Kumamoto.
Now see, those are urban cores that makes sense. The cores of most auto-dependent American metros are theaters of the absurd in comparison. Downtown Phoenix is no more a real downtown than the frickin' Telecom Corridor in Dallas/Richardson or Southfield, Michigan. The only difference is that the buildings inhabit a historic grid, albeit a grid torn to shreds and abused by modern development patterns.
Part of the problem is that the majority of Americans don't really understand how an urban city is supposed to function. They just see a bunch of tall buildings on a grid and think "OMG ITZ LIKE MANHATTAN!"
Last edited by one is lonely; 02-02-2015 at 01:30 PM..
No, it's true for European cities. It's not true for many American cities, either.
If you think heart of London and Paris rent cost the same as its outskirts, then i think you need to get out more. Right bang in the middle of the city will always be more expensive that any other parts of the city.
If you think heart of London and Paris rent cost the same as its outskirts, then i think you need to get out more. Right bang in the middle of the city will always be more expensive that any other parts of the city.
Yeah, but does Paris have bordering neighborhoods that are returning to nature? No, instead you see areas that would be considered amazing downtowns in America.
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