How does Pittsburgh rank compared to its peer cities? (Denver: home, universities)

[PreservationPioneer]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

I think it is incorrect to claim that neighborhoods with their own business districts are "suburban like".

Okay, maybe I should have said "small town-like." Lawrenceville and Bloomfield actually remind me of a lot of the older small towns in the middle and eastern part of the state, although with more urban amenities. I mean this comparison in a good way.

[sskink]

I could live in Baltimore. Couldn't live in Cleveland or Buffalo. Maybe Cincinnati. I would shoot myself before moving to Tulsa.

Besides the Inner Harbor, I like that the Little Italy area of Baltimore is a short walk from Camden Yards. And the Hampden area beats anything we have here. Also that the major surrounding suburbs have some scale and their own identity with walkable downtowns, e.g. Towson.

[Herodotus]

Detroit is not a peer city to Pittsburgh. It's much larger. Basically double the size of Pittsburgh, both metro, and in the city.

[PreservationPioneer]

Yes, I know Detroit is much larger, and Tulsa is much smaller. My point was basically to list the cities you have been to that can be compared to Pittsburgh on some level, and rank them based on your impressions.

[bradjl2009]

More intact core neighborhoods in Buffalo than Pittsburgh? I've driven through and in Buffalo enough to disagree a bit.

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by Herodotus

Detroit is not a peer city to Pittsburgh. It's much larger. Basically double the size of Pittsburgh, both metro, and in the city.

But only 50% larger than Metro Pittsburgh in terms of jobs.

January 2012 Non-farm employees

Detroit MSA
1,772,500

Pittsburgh MSA
1,156,300

bls.gov

[hornet67]

OK, I'll add my 1 1/2 cents worth:

Buffalo Haven't been there in years, but I was unimpressed, and the
winters are awful. Seems like an old industrial city in decline.
Baltimore As said, Inner Harbor is nice, but the city itself is not as
appealing as Pittsburgh, and crime is rampant. Hot & humid.
St. Louis Serious crime problem, VERY hot & humid summers.
Indianapolis Attractive, clean , vibrant downtown, but nothing to get all
that excited about. it is close enough to Chicago for long
weekends.
Toledo Only passed through. As said, not close to Pittsburgh in size.
Detroit As a city, on t's last legs, the state of Michigan may have to
take over. Scary.
Tulsa Never been there
Cleveland Not a lot of love from Pittsburghers, but not a bad city, IMHO.
Have not been there in about 5 years, though
Akron As stated, much smaller than PGH, and another worn down old
industrial town. Could be included in Cleveland metro area.

[pman]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

Ok... quick hit thoughts on Angel's list:

Cleveland and Buffalo are actually pretty similar cities... much more so than the oft-compared Cleveland and Pittsburgh... which have very different cityscapes. Cleveland is like a supersized Buffalo. I'd say Cleveland has the better Downtown... Buffalo has the better city neighborhoods (which isn't saying much)... and Cleveland has the MUCH BETTER suburbs (specifically the urban inner-ring suburbs of Coventry Village, Lakewood, etc.) Both fall way short of Pittsburgh.

I love Baltimore... but it has some of the most hellish urban environments in the U.S.... which is a serious drag on the overall quality of the city. There are some fantastic areas immediately adjacent to Downtown and along a corridor north of Downtown.

Toledo, Tulsa, Akron are all sub-million metros and in no way can be considered "peers of Pittsburgh"... they all suck anyways.

Indianapolis has an attractive is somewhat antiseptic Downtown... some monumental architecture there... but there is very little in the way of interesting urban neighborhoods... it's a very bland city... one of my least favorite "major cities".

St. Louis is one of the more interesting Midwestern cities from a built environment perspective... but it has much worse problems with urban rot, crime, etc. I don't feel it comes close to Pittsburgh.

Detroit... I best not say anything...

My rough list of Angel's cities along with a couple other "peers"... I'll add Cincinnati to the list:

Pittsburgh (yes... I'm sure I'll be accused of being a homer... I think Baltimore is pretty competitive, however)
Baltimore
Cincinnati (similar to Pittsburgh in a lot of ways... but quite different in culture)

...

St. Louis

...

Cleveland (the inner ring suburbs and the potential that Downtown could do something some day put it over Buffalo for me)
Buffalo
Indianapolis (in many ways a better city/metro than Cle and Buf... but I just don't like it for aesthetic, cultural and cityscape issues)

...

Detroit (Made me yearn for Cleveland)

this seems pretty spot on, particularly cleveland as a supersized buffalo

[barneyg]

IMO (agree with many of Evergrey's descriptions btw) --

Pittsburgh
Cincy
Baltimore = St. Louis (both could be much better, but so much devastation inside the core)
...
Buffalo (don't care much for Allentown but I love Ellwood Village and the area around the Martin house.. Delaware Park I guess?)
Rochester (love upstate NY houses)
Providence (east of the river, Brown)
Columbus
...
Cleveland (love Ohio City, don't really care much for University Circle.. Shaker Heights is more impressive than anything in Pittsburgh, likely because of topography -- blocks and blocks and blocks of wealth)
Akron (Portage Path = nice, downtown = meh)
Syracuse
...
Albany
Indy (the only city to ever leave me completely indifferent)
Hartford

[Bong477]

I guess I can see how Baltimore might be attractive to a single gay guy in his 20's who likes blighted urban neighborhoods, but I hated living there. The inner harbor is a decent tourist draw, but of minimal value to those actually living in the city. My rooftop deck was nice and had a great view of the harbor, that and the crab cakes are really the only thing I miss at all.