Are the Twin Cities among America's best places to live? (Minneapolis: condo, townhouse)

[lalife]

Oh boy, here we go again. A Minnesotan trying to convince themself and others that this is the best place on earth. It isn't ok...Get over it and travel more.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by emcee squared

The Twin Cities are sprawled compared to metros of similar size. Our MSA, in square miles, is larger than Miami, Philadelphia, Seattle, Detroit, San Francisco, and Boston. All of which are more populous.

Our MSA is about 6,300 square miles. Atlanta, the de facto 'sprawl capital,' is about 8,300 square miles.

I know, using MSAs isn't a perfect way of defining sprawl, but it is an indicator. Our relative lack of natural boundaries to contain suburban growth greatly contributes to it.

Our MSA includes St. Cloud..there is a LOT of open land between the Twin Cities and St. Cloud....

Go visit some of those cities, you certainly can't get from the southern tip to the northern tip or east to west in under an hour in most of those places, even without traffic.

And if you just take Minneapolis or St. Paul..remember we have 2 cities here...there is very little "sprawl".

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by golfgal

Our MSA includes St. Cloud..there is a LOT of open land between the Twin Cities and St. Cloud....

Go visit some of those cities, you certainly can't get from the southern tip to the northern tip or east to west in under an hour in most of those places, even without traffic.

And if you just take Minneapolis or St. Paul..remember we have 2 cities here...there is very little "sprawl".

Agreed. Drive in the Phoenix metro area. The Valley of the Sun is how I define sprawl!

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Agreed. Drive in the Phoenix metro area. The Valley of the Sun is how I define sprawl!

Been there, done that....which is why I say MSP has very little Sprawl...same with the St. Louis area.....most of New Jersey, Boston is a nightmare, Chicago, heck, even Des Moines is sprawled given it's size...Kansas City...California is just one big city

[StanleyVegas]

Originally Posted by golfgal

California is just one big city

Does that include the third of the state north of the Bay Area & Sacramento, The Sierra Nevada mtns, the Central Valley farmlands or the deserts in the southeast?

[iNviNciBL3]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Agreed. Drive in the Phoenix metro area. The Valley of the Sun is how I define sprawl!

Desert SW cities do seem to go on forever but the suburban communities themselves are pretty dense compared to those in the Midwest.

(i don't really think of "sprawl" as such a horrible thing btw)

[rzzz]

Sprawl means a low density MSA with longer distances between nodes. Atlanta is probably the prime example of this. LA is huge, but is one of the densest areas in the US. There are a lot of natural barriers in California. The Twin Cities MSA is a lot more like Atlanta than LA.

[chessgeek]

Originally Posted by lalife

Oh boy, here we go again. A Minnesotan trying to convince themself and others that this is the best place on earth. It isn't ok...Get over it and travel more.

Happy New Year (a day early), Troll!

[chessgeek]

Originally Posted by FierySun

Regarding sprawl. One of the best things about the Twin Cities is that you have two urban cores that are right next to each other with the various neighborhoods of both. You can easily avoid the sprawl. Also, neither Minneapolis or St. Paul have much of the issues many other inner cities have. Neither city has wide swaths of urban decay and run down neighborhoods. You can live in either city and have access to good schools, nature, light rail, local and ethnic restaurants, farmers markets, historic architecture, both downtowns and other amenities.

Other "twin cities" in metro areas across the country are usually farther apart. Dallas is about 30 miles from Fort Worth and Washington DC and Baltimore are a good 25 miles apart. All the other things you say above are true, too!

[chessgeek]

Originally Posted by StanleyVegas

Does that include the third of the state north of the Bay Area & Sacramento, The Sierra Nevada mtns, the Central Valley farmlands or the deserts in the southeast?

From the big smiley icon after her statement, she was exaggerating a little. California certainly has some sprawling areas. I am fortunate to be in an area that is less sprawled than LA and the Bay Area. There are some open spaces between most of the towns.