Is the Valley of the Sun (Phoenix metro) considered Urban or Suburban? (Glendale: school district, live)

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by Jnvlv247

More urban = more problems

If I recall, there was a rap song in the '90s about more money = more problems (I'm probably not saying it right). While this is true to a certain point, we all know there are many more positives to having money than NOT having it. Same with being more urban: there are some harsh negatives, such as more crowded conditions, but the positives generally outweigh the negatives. Why would anybody want the nation's fifth largest city to not be more urban? Phoenix did pretty well with its low density, suburban feel for a number of years when it was a small/mid sized city, but we can't continue on that same path now that it's one of the largest populated U.S. cities.

[Psykomonkee]

Originally Posted by locolife

This comes up all the time and just gets a little old. The Phoenix MSA is a lot denser than the Atlanta MSA, meaning the average person here lives in a denser area than Atlanta. It doesn't mean that our densest area has a higher PPSM ranking than Atlanta. I would also say it's subjective to where you live, does your daughter live in a highrise in downtown Phoenix or in Carefree? That'd be a big difference.

We live in the suburbs of Scottsdale. Very nice. Very suburban IMO. And I love it.

[BIG CATS]

Originally Posted by Psykomonkee

We live in the suburbs of Scottsdale. Very nice. Very suburban IMO. And I love it.

Scottsdale is a suburb.

[wase4711]

Originally Posted by BIG CATS

Scottsdale is a suburb.

thats what I thought too, but, hey what do I know?

[ShampooBanana]

Phoenix is very much a city, but it is definitely not a very "urban" city. A City is simply a measure of population and form of government (versus a town, village, etc). Urban and suburban really imply a reference to the built form and feel of a place. The term "urban" implies higher density, fewer single family homes and more apartments and mixed use buildings, high rises, and less dependency on cars to get around. There are relatively few cities in the US that I would consider a majority urban: New York City, San Francisco, DC, Boston, Miami, Chicago, and maybe Philly and Seattle (and Honolulu off the mainland). That's about it. The rest tend to have a relatively small urban core compared to their overall land area but are majority a suburban feel with maybe a few non-downtown commercial/business nodes.

[gearedtowardssalad]

I disagree with most participating in the poll. Phoenix is quite urban. I completely understand why most believe it to be "suburban" because it really is in terms of how it's developed, but urbanity means more than just density. Mesa, Chandler and Gilbert for instance I would consider suburban, but Phoenix I would say is mostly urban.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by gearedtowardssalad

I disagree with most participating in the poll. Phoenix is quite urban. I completely understand why most believe it to be "suburban" because it really is in terms of how it's developed, but urbanity means more than just density. Mesa, Chandler and Gilbert for instance I would consider suburban, but Phoenix I would say is mostly urban.

In what ways? Much of Phoenix is laid out in the same street grid pattern, same type of subdivisions, and same type of shopping areas as Mesa, Chandler, or Glendale. The only real difference is a good part of Phoenix is older and has more of an ethnic mix ... however, even that's not anything like many other large cities.

I'd say close to 90% of the city of Phoenix has a suburban look & feel. The remaining 10% is truly urban, but is concentrated in areas like downtown & the Central Corridor, and perhaps parts of Camelback East. I suppose you could say parts of Maryvale are urban as well (based on population density alone), even though Maryvale's design was meant to be suburban.

[BIG CATS]

Originally Posted by gearedtowardssalad

I disagree with most participating in the poll. Phoenix is quite urban. I completely understand why most believe it to be "suburban" because it really is in terms of how it's developed, but urbanity means more than just density. Mesa, Chandler and Gilbert for instance I would consider suburban, but Phoenix I would say is mostly urban.

Most of the neighborhoods in PHX look just like those in the burbs. The downtown area is getting better, but not more so than most suburbs elsewhere in the country. Most of PHX isn't serviced by train. At night Phoenix becomes a ghost town. There are no rumbling trains, no taxis backed up for blocks, no subways, no dense urban core, no mass cultural diversity/neighborhoods. It definitely feels more suburban than urban.

[Java Jolt]

A lot of big cities have suburban areas, even eastern cities like New York and Boston have suburban-styled neighborhoods.

A small minority of the population lives in dense downtown areas inside multi-story apartment buildings and takes cabs or public transportation everywhere. This is mostly found in places like Manhattan, Chicago's inner loop, or the heart of San Francisco.

Imho Phoenix has a good mixture of urban and suburban with a heavier focus on suburban.

It's not going to change very much because Phoenix is a typical western city designed for automobiles but public transportation has improved slowly.

[Pink Jazz]

It really depends on the city. Of the cities, Phoenix and Tempe are probably the most urban. Most of the rest of the cities with populations over 100,000 are suburban. Gilbert and Peoria have portions that are rural in character.