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Seattle feels bigger than its population. Partly because of the hills, you can see more of the city and residential areas and it feels very built up. Driving southbound on I-5 north of downtown you see the downtown/South Lake Union area in front of you as well as QA/Westlake to the right and Capitol Hill to the left.
This is made more impressive when you cross Lake Washington on the floating bridge and then see the neighboring suburb Bellevue’s downtown skyline which looks bigger than most medium sized American cities. Seattle is also the major city in the PNW region, and is a level one trauma center for four states.
To answer the OP, I would say SF, DC, Seattle, Miami would be the next 4. Dallas and Houston don’t do anything for me other than the feeling of being in a non-ending strip mall.
I'd say DC or Miami could be fits. I've never felt like I was missing out on other stuff living in NOLA though. We are the center of our own universe, hah, and it may be a very inebriated one...
Seattle feels bigger than its population. Partly because of the hills, you can see more of the city and residential areas and it feels very built up. Driving southbound on I-5 north of downtown you see the downtown/South Lake Union area in front of you as well as QA/Westlake to the right and Capitol Hill to the left.
This is made more impressive when you cross Lake Washington on the floating bridge and then see the neighboring suburb Bellevue’s downtown skyline which looks bigger than most medium sized American cities. Seattle is also the major city in the PNW region, and is a level one trauma center for four states.
To answer the OP, I would say SF, DC, Seattle, Miami would be the next 4. Dallas and Houston don’t do anything for me other than the feeling of being in a non-ending strip mall.
So many times when I'm driving people on 405 and they see the Bellevue skyline they say "is that Seattle?" Gorgeous place and yes it feels like a big city.
There is definitely a top 3-5, NY, Chicago, LA, San Francisco, Philly. But there are a few that are definitely "forming" and will become major in feel, if not already. I would include Boston, Seattle, Miami, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta in this group. With a second tier of Minneapolis, Denver, and maybe Phoenix, but Phoenix is not particularly urban.
One litmust test for me would be how often (if ever) people have to travel from one end of the metro area to another, and also how easy/hard it is to do so.
In DFW for example, people who live in Denton vs. Rockwall or McKinney vs. Burleson might as well
be in different countries because of how long it takes to travel between them, even though they're all connected by contigious development and unmistakably part of the same Metroplex.
If it's a metro area where I can easily get across town without feeling far away or it feels like you're in tge "middle of nowhere" as soon as you leave downtown, it's hard to consider it a "big city."
One litmust test for me would be how often (if ever) people have to travel from one end of the metro area to another, and also how easy/hard it is to do so.
In DFW for example, people who live in Denton vs. Rockwall or McKinney vs. Burleson might as well
be in different countries because of how long it takes to travel between them, even though they're all connected by contigious development and unmistakably part of the same Metroplex.
If it's a metro area where I can easily get across town without feeling far away or it feels like you're in tge "middle of nowhere" as soon as you leave downtown, it's hard to consider it a "big city."
I agree that metro area size is one metric, but wouldn't the density of said area come into play as well?
Crossing some metros takes forever, but it's all strip malls and gas stations and doesn't give that big city feel.
Seattle feels bigger than its population. Partly because of the hills, you can see more of the city and residential areas and it feels very built up. Driving southbound on I-5 north of downtown you see the downtown/South Lake Union area in front of you as well as QA/Westlake to the right and Capitol Hill to the left.
This is made more impressive when you cross Lake Washington on the floating bridge and then see the neighboring suburb Bellevue’s downtown skyline which looks bigger than most medium sized American cities. Seattle is also the major city in the PNW region, and is a level one trauma center for four states.
To answer the OP, I would say SF, DC, Seattle, Miami would be the next 4. Dallas and Houston don’t do anything for me other than the feeling of being in a non-ending strip mall.
You think Seattle feels bigger than Philly? Or is Philly just too close to NYC to get that center of everything feel. Since you can easily bolt up and back to NYC for something as small as a broadway show
Personally speaking, I feel that way in the Bay Area and Southern Florida as well.
DC is a no for me. Things are more broken up and nodal so it doesn't feel as grand and expansive even though it is a large urban area.
Dallas felt tiny to me, sorry to say. Atlanta, too.
Have you walked across D.C.'s urban core? It's the size of Manhattan. Over 20 sq. miles. It's larger than LA, Philadelphia, and Boston's urban core. It's also growing outward every day which is not happening in most cities. Most cities build upward in their urban core, but protect their neighborhoods outside of the urban core from overdevelopment. D.C. can't do that because of height limits, so all neighborhoods have to reach 9-15 stories wherever possible.
I agree that metro area size is one metric, but wouldn't the density of said area come into play as well?
Crossing some metros takes forever, but it's all strip malls and gas stations and doesn't give that big city feel.
The false assumption being made is "Big City feel" = "high density" or "walkability."
I don't agree with that, because that would dismiss the vast majority of major metros in the US as not having a "big city feel," even though they're indusputably big cities.
Pacing and magnitude are equally as important as high density and walkability when determining whether a place has a big city feel.
The false assumption being made is "Big City feel" = "high density" or "walkability."
I don't agree with that, because that would dismiss the vast majority of major metros in the US as not having a "big city feel," even though they're indusputably big cities.
Pacing and magnitude are equally as important as high density and walkability when determining whether a place has a big city feel.
I agree. Providence RI literally has a denser urban core than every city below Minneapolis/St Paul or so. In 77 sq miles there is ~450,000 people. The difference between it and Cleveland which is less populated is the fact that you can walk to rural areas in about 2.5 hours from the Center of Providence. The city is not that big. You don’t leave Dallas for over 2 hours on the highway.
Last edited by btownboss4; 12-24-2020 at 08:22 AM..
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