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Will we see a trend where skyscrapers are starting to be built in suburbs? the inner-ring suburbs obviously, not the exurbs. Will inner ring suburbs eventually look like the city?
They're built because they're more cost effective and aesthetically pleasing than a sprawling, four storey office park.
However, having a tall building or two doesn't make a city. Cities are also about density of housing, amenities. Suburban towers are usually built because of proximity to a freeway. A few eventually become cities. Two that spring to mind are Bellevue, WA and Stamford, CT.
I don't think they are a good idea. Too much traffic (though even low rise buildings can cause that) and many suburban fire departments are not set up to deal with them, even though that village approved the construction.
They're built because they're more cost effective and aesthetically pleasing than a sprawling, four storey office park.
However, having a tall building or two doesn't make a city. Cities are also about density of housing, amenities. Suburban towers are usually built because of proximity to a freeway. A few eventually become cities. Two that spring to mind are Bellevue, WA and Stamford, CT.
Tysons Corner, VA is an example of how towers don't make a city. There may be quite the skyline there, but at street level it is still suburbia.
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
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Quote:
Originally Posted by urbanlife78
Tysons Corner, VA is an example of how towers don't make a city. There may be quite the skyline there, but at street level it is still suburbia.
Check back in about 35 years on that when the Tysons "40 year plan" that started around 2010 actually gets closer to completion. Tysons is still every day very much a work in progress.
I'm stuck by how much Bellevue, WA looks like a game of SimCity, which I suppose shouldn't be surprising given home many tech-types have been there.
It's on the water. It has a freeway leading to the CBD with a strong street grid and mid-sized office buildings. It's surrounds by leafy houses with larger parks visible, even a small marina. It has a art museum and a community college. They're even trying to install a transit system to link it with Seattle and the airport.
It had a population of ~13,000 in 1960 and ~134,000 today. If a suburb is going to transform into a city nowadays, that is what it will look like.
Interesting thoughts on DFW, which is currently home for me over last 1 1/2 years.
The use of an A380 on the SYD-DFW run enables the world's longest non-stop commercial flight to run in both directions. LAX, JFK, and ORD are very limited by runways and geographic space. Maybe DFW will become more of a hub for the long haul flights from Asia and Europe.
The Earthscraper concept has been proposed for urban locqations (like the zocalo in Mexico City), but it may be a way to build striking structures near a major airport where height is impossible.
The tendency towards the construction of mega-airports in Beijing, Istanbul, Dubai, Mexico City, Madrid, and possibly in Vietnam and London (estuary airport), all of which could grow larger than Atlanta airport makes me think that we need a clear gateway for the ultra jumbo and long haul flights.
Although ATL and DFW are only 730 miles apart, I think the distance is significant, as it is already 8590 miles from SYD to DFW and 8121 miles from Hong Kong to DFW.
The top 11 USA airports for the first 8 months of 2014 are as follows.Three of them are not severely constrained by geography (DEN, DFW, and ATL). Although long haul flights tend to go to LAX, JFK, and SFO they won't be able to handle the traffic in another decade.
1. United States Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport Atlanta, Georgia United States ATL/KATL 64,451,086 Increase1.4%
4. United States Los Angeles International Airport Los Angeles, California United States LAX/KLAX 47,924,572 Increase6.5%
6. United States O'Hare International Airport Chicago, Illinois United States ORD/KORD 46,618,409 Increase4.4%
9. United States Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas United States DFW/KDFW 42,962,145 Increase5.0%
16. United States Denver International Airport Denver, Colorado United States DEN/KDEN 35,939,772 Increase2.2%
18. United States John F. Kennedy International Airport Queens, New York City, New York United States JFK/KJFK 35,635,723 Increase4.9%
21. United States San Francisco International Airport San Mateo County, California United States SFO/KSFO 31,651,495 Increase5.6%
24. United States Charlotte Douglas International Airport Charlotte, North Carolina United States CLT/KCLT 29,857,467 Increase2.4%
25. United States McCarran International Airport Las Vegas, Nevada United States LAS/KLAS 28,696,528 Increase2.4%
26. United States Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport Phoenix, Arizona United States PHX/KPHX 28,450,142 Increase4.1%
27. United States Miami International Airport Miami-Dade County, Florida United States MIA/KMIA 27,935,262 Increase1.1%
28. United States George Bush Intercontinental Airport Houston, Texas United States IAH/KIAH 27,649,219 Increase2.4%
Last edited by PacoMartin; 11-22-2014 at 10:12 AM..
Check back in about 35 years on that when the Tysons "40 year plan" that started around 2010 actually gets closer to completion. Tysons is still every day very much a work in progress.
Hopefully they will be able to transform Tysons into an urban city, but I don't have much faith it that.
I'm stuck by how much Bellevue, WA looks like a game of SimCity, which I suppose shouldn't be surprising given home many tech-types have been there.
It's on the water. It has a freeway leading to the CBD with a strong street grid and mid-sized office buildings. It's surrounds by leafy houses with larger parks visible, even a small marina. It has a art museum and a community college. They're even trying to install a transit system to link it with Seattle and the airport.
It had a population of ~13,000 in 1960 and ~134,000 today. If a suburb is going to transform into a city nowadays, that is what it will look like.
I never thought of it that way, but you are right, Bellevue does kind of look like a city I would have designed in Simcity, even down to the land topography and water.
The area in between Atlanta and Birmingham, and Atlanta and Greenville don't look even close to becoming a Megalopolis.
Its all hidden under the Kudzu :-)
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