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Your assertion is that Seattle's had too much construction in the last 60 years to be a legacy city? If that's the case I'd disagree.
Seattle has the built form/density of a legacy city IMO. I think it's one of the primary contenders in this poll. Seattle was also the 19th largest city in the country with over 500k people in 1960, It's the 18th largest now. Several legacy cities have had significant skyline infill during that period as well. There's no question that Seattle has emerged as an economic power in the last 40 years, but it's by no means new to the national lexicon. I think it's closer to a legacy city than one of the sun-belters that figuratively exploded out thin air in that same time period.
Your assertion is that Seattle's had too much construction in the last 60 years to be a legacy city? If that's the case I'd disagree.
Seattle has the built form/density of a legacy city IMO. I think it's one of the primary contenders in this poll. Seattle was also the 19th largest city in the country with over 500k people in 1960, It's the 18th largest now. Several legacy cities have had significant skyline infill during that period as well. There's no question that Seattle has emerged as an economic power in the last 40 years, but it's by no means new to the national lexicon. I think it's closer to a legacy city than one of the sun-belters that figuratively exploded out thin air in that same time period.
Yeah, much of the growth has happened in recent decades. Also future growth in the metro is largely in the Eastside suburbs like Bellevue, which is like one of those sunbelt cities that didn't really exist before.
I don't understand why Atlanta would be one and not Houston.
Houston, a major port city, has been the largest city in Texas since 1930.
For the 1950 census, Houston ranked 14th, which is pretty high considering this was a peak year for legacy cities.
Atlanta ranked 32, below Columbus and Rochester.
There is a reason Sherman marched they GA not SC or Alabama.
Playing a critical role in the US Civil War gives points to Atlanta. Although it was more of a logistics center (like say Amiens for the Entente in WWI) than a major industrial center so still doesn’t really figure as a legacy city.
What these pictures show is that Houston was just the same as these others cities back in the day, but just like Atlanta and the others it took a different route with the popularity of the automobile.
Atlanta was no closer to being a legacy city than Houston, and again using legacy city and this group of cities in the same sentence just doesn't sound right in my ears
Losfriscos assertion that Philly had the same skyline as Seattle in 1968 is simply laughable. I agree that of all the cities in the poll, Seattle on the ground looks more like a legacy city today, but that's mostly due to newer development that has focused more on public transit and density, rather than the fact that it was a legacy city. Philly is a legacy city. Seattle is not.
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