Small metros that punch above their weight

[Dariusb]

We discuss mid to large metros regularly but what are some small metros that punch above their weight when it comes to skyline, amenities, healthcare, cultural/ethnic diversity, etc.?

[Steely Dan]

In the midwest, the two smaller metros that immediately jump out at me for punching above their weight are Madison and Ann Arbor, not so much for their skylines, but for the higher quality urbansim found in their city cores. Of course, both being home to massive state flagship universities certainly helps on that score.

[M II A II R II K]

Des Moines has a decent skyline.

[xzmattzx]

I think my metro of Wilmington punches above its weight. Technically we aren't even our own MSA, based on the Census Bureau, but Wilmington operates pretty much separately from Philadelphia and it's Pennsylvania suburbs.

Anyway, we have a good skyline for our city's size and county's size. Wilmington was/is the Credit Card Capital of the World, and the Pharmaceutical Capital of the World. A lot of people that move here from bigger cities like New York or Baltimore see Wilmington as just a few amenities away from beginning to really be on par with the bigger cities on the Bos-Wash Corridor. (Of course, who knows if we will ever catch up to those bigger cities.)

We have a lot of ethnic diversity, too. There are a lot of Chinese and Indian immigrants here, who work for the big companies. Then you have your typical mix of ethnicities that have been here for several generations: Irish, Italian, Polish, Greek, African American, etc.

[JManc]

Portland (ME), Burlington (VT) and Manchester (NH)

[Shawn]

Originally Posted by JManc

Portland (ME), Burlington (VT) and Manchester (NH)

Beat me to it. Sans skylines of course. Portland in particular feels substantially larger than it is when you're in the middle of Old Port on a busy day. You can add Bangor (ME) to the surprisingly-robust smaller New England metros.

Rochester, Minnesota always struck me as impressive, but I'm not sure how much of that is the Mayo Clinic. Never actually been there.

[CaliNative]

Hartford, CT has an impressive skyline for a smaller metro area, and of course is an important insurance center and the state capital.

Sioux Falls, SD has a diversified economy and has an increasing financial presense (many credit card companies have operations there). Skyline not that impressive though.

Boise ID is a smaller metro area with rapid growth and probably a much bigger future. Lots of Californians are moving there to the chagrin of locals, driving up housing costs.

The Reno-Carson City NV area have a bright future. Reno has now diversified its economy away from gaming, and Carson City is growing rapidly and diversifying away from government jobs.

Pittsburgh PA, a medium sized metro area, punches aboves its weight as a corporate and education center. Nice skyline too.

[Chef]

Originally Posted by M II A II R II K

Des Moines has a decent skyline.

Originally Posted by Shawn

Rochester, Minnesota always struck me as impressive, but I'm not sure how much of that is the Mayo Clinic. Never actually been there.

In terms of small metros with quality classic urbanism, Duluth and Madison are the winners in this part of the country. Both Des Moines and Rochester (and Fargo and Sioux Falls) are really wanting when it comes to street level urbanity.

[Docere]

Kingston, Ontario. Very vibrant core for a city of 150,000.

[Razor]

Originally Posted by Docere

Kingston, Ontario. Very vibrant core for a city of 150,000.

+1 I agree!

[JAYNYC]

Wilmington, DE
New Haven, CT
Hartford, CT

[Dariusb]

Originally Posted by Chef

In terms of small metros with quality classic urbanism, Duluth and Madison are the winners in this part of the country. Both Des Moines and Rochester (and Fargo and Sioux Falls) are really wanting when it comes to street level urbanity.

Cool. I've heard nothing but good things about Madison.

[Razor]

Originally Posted by Chef

In terms of small metros with quality classic urbanism, Duluth and Madison are the winners in this part of the country. Both Des Moines and Rochester (and Fargo and Sioux Falls) are really wanting when it comes to street level urbanity.

I know that Duluth is a destination for cross border shopping trips, so it has that catchment area as well. Thunder Bay, etc.

[Chef]

Originally Posted by Razor

I know that Duluth is a destination for cross border shopping trips, so it has that catchment area as well. Thunder Bay, etc.

The thing about Duluth was that it was built out like a real city prior to the depression but after WWII it stagnated so the old stuff was never torn down to build autocentric post war developments or podium towers like in more prosperous American cities but it also didn't get bad enough that it was cleared by urban renewal, so most of it is still there. It is rough around the edges. It kind of reminds me of a bigger city in the '70s/'80s - bohemian but not hipster, ungentrified, unselfconsciously weird, lots of characters. The whole thing is built on a steep hillside next to a big port. It is far enough away from everywhere else that it kind of stews in its own juices culturally speaking. It feels like a little coastal city at the edge of the world.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Shawn

Rochester, Minnesota always struck me as impressive, but I'm not sure how much of that is the Mayo Clinic. Never actually been there.

Rochester kinda sucks. Remember that Mayo is still a US medical center, so it's got huge monolithic buildings, blank ground floors, and lots of parking garages and underutilized spaces.

Now, take a huge medical center from, say, Houston or LA and drop it into a small Midwestern town with the bones of a small Midwestern town. The traditional urbanism is very patchwork and not cohesive at all, and occupied by the usual mix of sleepy Main Street businesses - insurance salesmen, thrift shops, cutesy coffee shops, etc. Then the new buildings are all connected by skyway, so any life that exists in town is squirreled away from street level.

However, the original Mayo Clinic tower from 1955 is very cool in a Mad Men kind of way...
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.0222...7i13312!8i6656

And the Plummer Building is a beautiful Spanish Gothic tower that would not look out of place on Central Park West:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plummer_Building

But yeah, that's two buildings surrounding by dreck...

[SIGSEGV]

New Haven, Boulder, Madison, Burlington

[Metro-One]

For western Canada it’s Victoria.

[Razor]

I remember a similar thread awhile back.
Anyways, the entire metro of Calgary is still south of 1.5 million and so it's still relatively small in the grand scheme. Having said that, I think it has the most impressive skyline for any similar sized metro I've seen. It's very diverse and well serviced too from what I understand. Also, check out Vancouver..Larger and may not qualify as smaller metro but amazing skyline for a metro essentially the size of Pittsburgh. While Vancouver may not be isolated, Calgary is fairly isolated. I sometimes wonder if this has anything to do with cities having that extra "punch" factor.

[Crawford]

Maybe Hartford? It's dismissed as a stagnant, boring pit-stop between NYC and Boston (which is all true), but Hartford is also one of the richest metros in the U.S. with really nice suburbs, excellent schools, strong cultural institutions and very hilly, rocky, scenic landscape.

And RE is dirt-cheap for the NE corridor, and you now finally have commuter rail to Grand Central. You could do worse.

[Razor]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Maybe Hartford? It's dismissed as a stagnant, boring pit-stop between NYC and Boston (which is all true), but Hartford is also one of the richest metros in the U.S. with really nice suburbs, excellent schools, strong cultural institutions and very hilly, rocky, scenic landscape.

And RE is dirt-cheap for the NE corridor, and you now finally have commuter rail to Grand Central. You could do worse.

Bring back the Hartford Whalers!

I honestly find that fascinating about U.S cities..Before they had that NHL team I honestly never heard of Hartford, yet it's a million+ Metro.
Because Canada is small, there are less secrets when it comes to cities. Anything over 100,000 is heard of. Larger countries have more to discover when it comes to that.