Phoenix surpasses Philadelphia as the 5th largest city (Bethlehem, Darby: 2013, construction)

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by Scarlet Witch

Lancaster is about an hour away from Philly on a good non traffic day.

Bucks, Montgomery and Delaware counties make more sense.

PHL will be a more attractive city cause people are moving out of NYC in droves. It is not a livable place to be at anymore, the rent is too high and it is prone to terrorism.

Philadelphia is a big city but it has small town feel which confuses New Yorkers.

Buck, Montgomery, Delaware, and Chester Counties are already in the Philadelpha MSA. I meant absorbing Lancaster County into the CSA.

[MarketStEl]

"Bosnywash" is already a megalopolis. Philadelphia is very much part of that huge conurbation.

The U.S. has two others, by most accounts: The Great Lakes conurbation, stretching from Pittsburgh in the east to Chicago and Milwaukee in the west, and the California coastal megalopolis-in-formation from San Francisco to San Diego.

"Cascadia" - the urbanized Pacific Northwest from Portland to Seattle - could also have the potential to become one.

[MB1562]

Originally Posted by Scarlet Witch

Philadelphia is a big city but it has small town feel which confuses New Yorkers.

Not it really doesn't. I come from an actual small town, and no part of Philly that I have lived in or been to feels ANYTHING like a small town. This is simply not a true assertion.

[AJNEOA]

Originally Posted by MB1562

Not it really doesn't. I come from an actual small town, and no part of Philly that I have lived in or been to feels ANYTHING like a small town. This is simply not a true assertion.

Another one of my favorites is that Philadelphia is a city of neighborhoods. And it is. Like all other cities.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by Scarlet Witch

Lancaster is about an hour away from Philly on a good non traffic day.

Bucks, Montgomery and Delaware counties make more sense.

PHL will be a more attractive city cause people are moving out of NYC in droves. It is not a livable place to be at anymore, the rent is too high and it is prone to terrorism.

Philadelphia is a big city but it has small town feel which confuses New Yorkers.

The poster you responded to, though a Phila. area native, lives in NYC, btw. He loves it. But, clearly, he can afford to be there.

[1ondoner]

May be Reading and Berks County. Lancaster is a bit too rural and is not connected to the interstate highway

Originally Posted by cpomp

Buck, Montgomery, Delaware, and Chester Counties are already in the Philadelpha MSA. I meant absorbing Lancaster County into the CSA.

[Lenses & Lights.]

Originally Posted by Scarlet Witch

Lancaster is about an hour away from Philly on a good non traffic day.



Philadelphia is a big city but it has small town feel which confuses New Yorkers.

:





Huh? What

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by AJNEOA

Another one of my favorites is that Philadelphia is a city of neighborhoods. And it is. Like all other cities.

Well, yes and no. Not all cities have clearly defined neighborhood feels. Nor is Philadelphia the most neighborhood-oriented city I've been to. For me, Pittsburgh wins that category.

As a counter-example, I'm currently visiting in Minneapolis, and there's a lot more "sameness" from place to place. That's not intended as a knock against the City, which I think is very nice without feeling sterile. Nor is it necessarily an Upper/Midwestern phenomenon. St. Paul seems to have much more neighborhood differentiation.

[PhilliesPhan2013]

DISCLAIMER: I have nothing against the city of Phoenix. I do, however, have an opinion that may be misconstrued as such.

To be very honest, I really don't care if Phoenix surpasses Philly in population numbers.

The only reason why Phoenix, along with a few other cities, continue to grow at their current respective rates can largely be attributed to their sheer size. Philadelphia doesn't (and shouldn't*) have the power to readily annex land. I wouldn't want miles of homogeneous suburban McMansions (save for parts of the Far Northeast) to be within the boundaries considered to be the City of Philadelphia, which is precisely the case in Phoenix. This is why I consider Phoenix (and Houston to an extent) to be more of an overgrown suburb with polycentric cores than an actual city. It may sound harsh, but Phoenix lacks the density, transit infrastructure, cultural amenities, global profile, business environment, educational institutions, media market, GDP profile, etc. to be considered an actual city, or at least one that is on par with Philly. I would never live in a city where a car is almost required to live.

The important things to remember: Philly is still growing, looks better than it has in a long time, is well-poised for future job and population growth, and is more of a world-class city than Phoenix. We also have MUCH more to offer at the MSA and CSA levels, and in terms of connectivity with other great Northeast Corridor cities.

*=I wouldn't mind annexing Lower Merion, Cheltenham, and Tinicum Townships, however. I also wouldn't be opposed to swapping our southwestern border with the Darby Creek instead of Cobbs Creek. Any annexation would be interesting, as Philly is a consolidated city-county. If Philly did annex land, would Philadelphia County simultaneously be expanded to include these new city areas? Would Philly then become a city that lies within multiple counties? The legalities would certainly be interesting.

[PhilliesPhan2013]

Originally Posted by 1ondoner

Unfortunately, the city has a long way to go going by the number of vacant lots or derelict buildings that are a reminder of it's glory days. I also doubt if the city can accommodate 2 million residents like in the 50's.

The city can actually accommodate more than 2 million residents. What a lot of people forget is that much of the Central and Far Northeast was nothing more than farmland before the end of World War II. This is also what explains the development pattern in the Andorra and Roxborough sections of the Northwest, and the Eastwick section of the Southwest. If we rebuilt all of the underdeveloped sections of North and West Philly, revitalized the Lower Northeast, and encouraged denser development in the Northeast, then we could fit more than 2 million people.

In order for the city to surpass 2 million residents, transit projects must happen. The Roosevelt Boulevard Subway-Elevated, an El extension to Rhawn Street via Frankford Avenue, a PATCO extension to University City, a northern and southern extension of the Broad Street Line to Cheltenham Avenue via Stenton and Ogontz Avenues and to the Navy Yard respectively, and turning the Ridge-Spur into an actual subway with termini at Bells Mills Road (via Ridge Avenue) and Oregon Avenue (via 8th Street). The 52 should also be converted into a Subway-Surface trolley line, and Cottman, Lehigh, and Allegheny Avenues could all use trolleys traversing their respective lengths.