What is the second most urban city in the United States?

[JAYNYC]

Originally Posted by chris08876

IMO, #2 would be Los Angeles or if we want to look at it from a metro area standpoint of built urban nature, LA. Really I think because its just consistant density throughout the basin with pockets that can be quite dense, and several multi-nodal CBD's skyline.

Chicago is quite intense in a way, and Philly but LA has its advantages due to its size and the metro area. Kinda like Houston (although Houston is smaller nature), Los Angeles has that multiple cities in one vibe going. Its not just all centralized, but spread out and allows for some unique urbanism found in few American cities.

Even if we look at the NYC metro, there are areas where its extremely dense, and than it drops off dramatically. LA though retains this urban built environment that gives the illusion that it extends into the horizon if you see some aerial pics.

Chicago has this effect to an extent, but I think LA's multi-nodal nature gives it a perceptual edge.

That is not just your opinion, it is an indisputable fact. Drive 40 miles west of Willis Tower - which is as deep as one can possibly get in Chicago's loop / urban core - and you are sitting in a corn field in Aurora, IL.

Drive 40 miles in ANY direction from DTLA, and you will still find yourself in a heavily populated area. Whether that area has sparse pedestrian traffic or not is irrelevant.

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by JAYNYC

Right. Go do this ^ at the intersection of Hollywood Blvd and Highland and get back to us.

Or much of the historic core. or Venice. Or Santa Monica. etc. LA has a weird reputation on here. When people say they see "five pedestrians in one hour in every direction", I can't take it seriously.

[skysoar]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

Chicago differs from a lot of other cities in that it doesn’t have a favored suburbanesque single family home quarter close the the center of the city (eg like northwest dc or those areas north of downtown toronto, rosedale or whatever it is)

The wealth in the city is mostly in rowhouses and apartments , in neighborhoods spreading linearly north and north-northwest.

I agree, when I moved to Chicago I had no idea how many row house and older row house like apartments were in this city. And it is not just on the North side. Hyde Park, Chinatown , Near west side, Bridgeport, just to name a few. Another city that has an urban core that is very underrated is Pittsburgh, I would put it in a category much below Chicago but with Boston, DC, Philly and S.F.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by skysoar

I agree, when I moved to Chicago I had no idea how many row house and older row house like apartments were in this city. And it is not just on the North side. Hyde Park, Chinatown , Near west side, Bridgeport, just to name a few.

I'm pretty sure Bridgeport and Chinatown don't have rowhouses. Chicago doesn't have very much of this vernacular.

Unless you're talking newer construction townhouses, in which case I don't understand the point, as those are ubiquitous everywhere.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by skysoar

Another city that has an urban core that is very underrated is Pittsburgh, I would put it in a category much below Chicago but with Boston, DC, Philly and S.F.

Thanks for the Pittsburgh love.

It certainly has its impressive pockets of urbanity, but I don’t think we’re quite on the same scale as those big brothers.

It’s obviously smaller, but also due to the crazy topography, the continuous density seen in those other cities just can’t exist in Pittsburgh... and the city saw significant rustbelt widespread demolition that it is really just beginning to recover from and re-densify.

Pittsburgh collectively functions as a huge bunch of small, very urban towns on the rivers and in the hills, all connected together by a crazy maze of streets, bridges, tunnels, and staircases.

[Investing In Chicago]

Originally Posted by skysoar

I agree, when I moved to Chicago I had no idea how many row house and older row house like apartments were in this city. And it is not just on the North side. Hyde Park, Chinatown , Near west side, Bridgeport, just to name a few. Another city that has an urban core that is very underrated is Pittsburgh, I would put it in a category much below Chicago but with Boston, DC, Philly and S.F.

Rowhomes in Bridgeport?!

[Centropolis]

auto-ban for not knowing what a rowhouse is

[skysoar]

Originally Posted by Investing In Chicago

Rowhomes in Bridgeport?!

No one said rowhomes in Bridgeport, I said rowhouse like apartments. Yes in Bridgeport, I took my daughter last month to look at one in the area of 31st and Halsted and drove throughout those neighborhoods, not the whole area but many in that area were made in this fashion. The point being there are many communities in Chicago that are a lot urban than people realize.

[Investing In Chicago]

Originally Posted by skysoar

No one said rowhomes in Bridgeport, I said rowhouse like apartments. Yes in Bridgeport, I took my daughter last month to look at one in the area of 31st and Halsted and drove throughout those neighborhoods, not the whole area but many in that area were made in this fashion. The point being there are many communities in Chicago that are a lot urban than people realize.

If a "rowhouse like apartment" is not a rowhouse, then I'm not quite sure what it is or what you are talking about.

I know all about Bridgeport, I own 7 buildings in the neighborhood.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by Investing In Chicago

If a "rowhouse like apartment" is not a rowhouse, then I'm not quite sure what it is or what you are talking about.

I know all about Bridgeport, I own 7 buildings in the neighborhood.

A real estate investment mogul like yourself shouldn’t have the time to worry about he’s talking about.

[maru2501]

this has stayed unlocked for much longer than the prior 1,116 iterations of this same thread idea.. impressive!

[pj3000]

Made it to page 8... and now teetering on the brink of full-on Philly vs. Houston

[ATXboom]

Feel of urbanity / density when spending time in their core (which is what I believe this thread is focused on):

1. NYC
...big gap
2. Chicago
...big gap
3. San Francisco
4. Boston
5. D.C.
6. Philly


As opposed to regions that feel endless or massive in breadth (ie. largely sprawl based on distance):

1. L.A.
2. NYC
3. D.C./Baltimore
4. Bay Area
5. DFW/Houston
6. Atlanta/Phoenix

[ChrisLA]

Originally Posted by LA21st

Or much of the historic core. or Venice. Or Santa Monica. etc. LA has a weird reputation on here. When people say they see "five pedestrians in one hour in every direction", I can't take it seriously.

Yes I’m with you, I have to respectfully disagree with those who say you might see may only pass 5 people on the streets within an hour. Perhaps up in some rugged steep hillside community, but even there I’m sure you’ll see plenty of hikers. Generally there are pedestrians walking around city sidewalks all around LA CITY neighborhoods.

I live on the edge of LA city in the San Fernando Valley Woodland Hills district. Just stepping out my door going to my car, I encounter at least 10 people walking within the 2 minutes it takes for me to drive off. Believe me I have to watch out for pedestrians, and folks on bikes, scooters etc. just to get out of my townhouse. I wouldn’t say it low density, but it’s a suburban neighborhood for sure LA style.

[LA21st]

People love to say nobody walks in LA and I've discovered it's just some weird bias against the city or someone's experience in the 1970s.
It's not NYC in any stretch, but does well against most cities overall. Several neigborhoods are always full of pedestrians.

As someone put it, "human activity". There's just more here than any city outside of NYC.

[dc_denizen]

Originally Posted by softee

Sure, but North York has basically functioned as part of the city since the 1950's when it became a borough within the two-tiered Municipality Of Metropolitan Toronto, which became the single tier City Of Toronto in 1998. Yonge and Eglinton is within the Old City of Toronto.

Brooklyn is only part of NYC due to amalgamation, too.

I meant Etobicoke, not Eglinton

You can arbitrarily redefine this far flung suburban area as being functionally part of the city all you want, but the fact remains, apples to apples, if North York were in the US, it would be a textbook edge city, similar to Tysons or North Miami Beach or Bellevue or Clayton or Buckhead.

You have to forget about city limits when making these comparisons, as I thought everyone here already knows.

[dc_denizen]

Washington DC:

Central Washington, DC by Dan Macy, on Flickr

Tysons, 12 miles away (old pic, from 2013)

Over Tysons Corner by Brian Allen, on Flickr

Reston, VA (slightly farther out than Tysons)

Reston, Virginia by Ingrid, on Flickr

[pj3000]

^ and that is really just a small portion of core DC.

[dc_denizen]

exactly, and those are only two of many other urban high rise nodes (eg Bethesda, Silver Spring, Shirlington, Four Corners, Alexandria, Dun Loring)..

(Reston is obviously marginally urban, but so is a 2-mile long line of high rises plunked down in the middle of 1950s and 1960s suburbia).

[dc_denizen]

plus that other major suburb, Baltimore haha