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Every one of those cities is unquestionably the economic and cultural engine of its metro. Middle-class families people may have chosen to move out of the city, but the city is still the show.
Sure, there are more companies in Detroit than any single surrounding area. But for a metro of 4M+, it's a glaring example of a strong MSA with a weak core city. Almost identical situation in Cleveland.
By the way, two of the three largest employers in greater Detroit are in the suburbs. And while Detroit is picking up steam, Ann Arbor is the much stronger step-sister city.
Las Vegas does not really have a downtown at all. The center of the city is in fact the Strip...but the Strip is not a downtown in any of the normal ways. And the area known as "downtown" is in fact another smaller entertainment area. For practical purposes the Strip and Downtown are industrial zones where the population works.
The actual infrastructure normally present in a downtown area is distributed all over the place in suburban centers of various sorts. And there is no overall municipality but a set of 3 municipalities with the plurality of the population living in none of them.
Kansas City, Kansas, is a forgotten urban backwater. It has only about 20% of the Kansas side of the metro (the rest is in Johnson County), and virtually none of its development or business.
Detroit, ATL, Baltimore, Cleveland come to mind immediately. ATL based on population and size, the rest based on economy.
If you're going to use that parameter to define a 'weak' core city, I guess you'll have to lump San Francisco and Boston in with Atlanta. All three are cities with small populations and land area relative to their metros.
If you're going to use that parameter to define a 'weak' core city, I guess you'll have to lump San Francisco and Boston in with Atlanta. All three are cities with small populations and land area relative to their metros.
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