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In terms of cities by themselves, Chicago is actually my favorite in the US. I love that its a mixture of historical, international, and its the essence of Middle America. Id love for Houston to emulate Chicago more, but it seems to be emulating LA moreso. Dallas (the city not the metro area) reminds me more of Chicago, but its still a good ways off.
I spent two years in Chicago. Id live in Chicago again if it wasnt for those frigid winters.
I also think Chicago is a great city to emulate. Denver has done an amazing job of marketing itself and building up the urban core. Our suburbs are still pretty blah and I think Chicago has the best Suburbs in the country. Connecting the rail to the burbs is a big step, but having each suburb have it’s own downtown and character is critical and something a lot of ours lack.
In terms of cities by themselves, Chicago is actually my favorite in the US. I love that its a mixture of historical, international, and its the essence of Middle America. Id love for Houston to emulate Chicago more, but it seems to be emulating LA moreso. Dallas (the city not the metro area) reminds me more of Chicago, but its still a good ways off.
I spent two years in Chicago. Id live in Chicago again if it wasnt for those frigid winters.
you've missed our city's most recent successful ad campaign: Global Warming to make Chicago the new winter hot spot.
In the case of my hometown (Atlanta), you've got a city that in the not-to-distant-future will no doubt be much larger than it is now.
Of any US city that I would like for Atlanta to emulate, I would choose Chicago. It has a vibrant and beautiful urban core, plentiful and well-maintained public areas, an iconic skyline, lovely suburbs with intriguing urban villages, superb connectivity and a positive and welcoming vibe among its population.
What are your choices for towns or cities that appear to be doing it right?
Yes! I've been thinking the same thing.
In addition to what you mentioned above:
1. A similar commuter rail network stretching to the exurbs (Atlanta could easily do this).
2. A similar heavy rail/light metro network stretching to the mid-suburbs.
3. Metro population size. I think Metro Chicago's population/size is a worthy and sustainable goal for Metro Atlanta.
4. The notion of "Chicagoland" as a unique region. Could also work well for Metro Atlanta.
5. Cherishing/supporting the city proper and urban core, while also cherishing/supporting all of the towns/suburbs that make up the region.
I'd say NYC is a role model of America and portrays a picture of America for international folks, but for myself, I'd say Seattle. This post is kind of like asking what your favorite city is. Seattle is a good role model for me, because it suits outdoorsy people, a city with beautiful nature and buildings, and it's going green just like most of the Pacific Northwest is.
Do you think Miami and Miami Beach could use NYC as a role model since they have water that seperates them like we do here for the 5 boroughs?
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Originally Posted by BrooklynJo
Do you think Miami and Miami Beach could use NYC as a role model since they have water that seperates them like we do here for the 5 boroughs?
I can see why you would choose NYC for the reason you state and for what potanta said as well:
Quote:
Originally Posted by potanta
I'd say NYC is a role model of America and portrays a picture of America for international folks.
Thing is, its tropical climate informs a lot of Miami's identity and what draws the international community to it. I moved from NYC to Miami years ago, and moving about in an island-and-canal city with a hot and humid climate presents its own special set of challenges. It's difficult to come up with a peer or mentor for Miami, because how many coastal cities in the tropic zones with a population of 6M+ are there?
So really, Miami only has Honolulu as a US peer in this category, and it's highly arguable as to whether they should be regarded as a worthy role model. What is Honolulu doing within its infrastructure and public spaces doing that Miami isn't already? And this is true of most of the international cities presented as well.
Really the candidates for a role model for Miami are the ones I highlighted.
Last edited by JMT; 07-17-2018 at 05:34 AM..
Reason: North America only
As a Chicagoan, I am well aware of similarities between your city and mine. In the 19th century, Chicago worked hard on PR to gain recognition and importance, selling the city as a product. A perfect example was the city's bid for the 1893 worlds fair which became the World's Columbian Exposition. Chicago was considered a wild horse in its bid against other US cities like New York, but it sold itself well as got the fair....and made sure it was magnificent.
Atlanta is the Chicago of the second half of the 20th century. No city after WWII did a better job of promoting itself than Atlanta. Atlanta was a driving engine for the "New South" and the moniker of "the city too busy to hate" resonated. The city used the Braves to help achieve "major league status". It created the incredible air hub that is Hartsfield. Got the CNN cable system. And the Olympics for Atlanta was what the world's fair was to Chicago. Atlanta saw how valuable lts location at the southern end of the Appalachians to its betterment, just as Chicago used its location where the Great Lakes and Mississippi river systems met to such an advantage.
Of course, Atlanta always was great at salesmanship. How else could a small town, well inland, at the terminus of a r.r. line been able to grab the role of state capital.
Iconographer, I'd say if Atlanta uses Chicago as a role model, it's doing a frankly-my-dear-damned good job it. Kudos to your great city.
This is a really good and informative post and I agree. Atlanta created a self fulfilling prophecy for itself. It initially oversold itself....then worked hard to live up to it and made it come true. Think good things about yourself and you bring it into fruition. Think bad things about yourself and you bring that into fruition. Detroit did the latter.
So I guess in terms of attitude......I would say Detroit should look at Atlanta as a role model, but just attitude. Detroit needs to just do Detroit. It used to be a top 5 city and metro and just needs to get its act back on track.
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