Why do most cities BESIDES the US have residential/apartment buildings?

[yellowboy06]

Why do most other cities that are not in the US have residential/apartment buildings?

What I mean...

*uncredited images deleted*

[Austinlee]

Because in ALL other countries besides the usa people are too poor to live in houses.

[yellowboy06]

Originally Posted by PA Pride

Because in ALL other countries besides the usa people are too poor to live in houses.

Serious? I never knew that...

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by yellowboy06

Serious? I never knew that...

YES. It is 100% true.

[ue]

LOL!

First you're implying the US has lots of residential high rises. Compared to Canada, for example, there is much less in MOST cities. The rest of the world, including very Americanized places like Canada never had the 'white-flight' after WWII, or at least not to the same extent, so instead of the rich or otherwise middleclass (not necessarily white-rich/middle class) moving out to the outskirts, more stayed central, increasing density. Go ahead, compare Calgary, Alberta and Austin, Texas's skylines, you wouldn't know the two are the same size. The US, instead ripped up neighborhoods and urban fabric with freeways and road widenings, destroyed trolleys, and just saw the downtown as a business centre. So most downtown skylines are comprised of office buildings in America.

[LMich]

Originally Posted by edmontonenthusiast

LOL!

First you're implying the US has lots of residential high rises.

You read his (silly/naive) question incorrectly.

[mthq]

^I don't think it's really a naive question. It's put a little weirdly, but I think what the poster was getting at is why American cities don't have the large number of apartments and condos as other cities around the world. Miami, New York, and Chicago may be doing fine in the apartment department, but on the whole, downtown cores elsewhere empty out by 6 pm as people leave work.

[LMich]

It's naive because it's so obvious, in most cases, if someone bothers to think about it for ten minutes. I hate to be "that guy", but a lot of his questions show that he's justing posting first before he even tries to think about the question. It's not about stupidity, but about laziness.

Have you forgotten about such classics are "US, skyscrapers look kinda old?" and "Which has older buidlings NYC or Chicago?"? These are questions asinine enough where he should have done his own personal research if he wanted to know the answers so badly, instead of wasting everyone else's time.

[mthq]

^If the poster lives in NA and has been a longtime member of this forum to know better, I suppose, but I don't know where he lives and he seems kinda new being that he joined this year. I probably would have asked or at least wondered the same questions back in 2002.

[DJM19]

Most people in Los Angeles are apartment dwellers. Not necessarily of the high rise variety.

[youngregina]

I really wish people weren't so judgemental for one thing, and think they are more intelligent than others just because the question seems dumb to some people on this forum. When i first joined, a few years back, I had prior knowledge about urban engineering, city infrastructure layouts, towers, houses, transit, the way people form dense urban centres etc. But some people I'm sure like to join forums like this one poster, to gain information that they never knew about before. Learning shouldn't be looked down upon and i am a firm believer in the saying, 'there are no stupid questions. The only stupid question is the one never asked'. I think it is perfectly fine that this poster has asked a question like that. To some, it is easy to answer, but for the poster, please give him/her some slack.. considering we should be welcoming and as informative and sharing as possible on this site. I do beleive this forum is meant for things like that anyways....

[jcchii]

quite a few buildings in your chicago photo are residential, fyi

[new.slang]

to edmontonentusiast
Calgary is kind of an exception though isnt it? Miami is pretty built up for only having 500 thousand but i guess Vancouver is too...

And the US builds taller buildings than most countries. It doesnt make that huge of a difference but compare Chicago to Toronto. Toronto has way more highrises but Chicago has 18 buildings over 700 feet. Toronto only has 6. And like PAPride said people in Brazil, China, India are mostly poor, so to them, living with 5 other people in a shoe box is nothing.

[wrab]

Yellowboy06, of Chicago's four supertalls, two are predominantly residential/apartment towers, although Hancock has office space on the lower floors.

Just in the downtown area there are at least 45 residential or predominantly residential towers of 500 feet (150 m) or more, and many, many others under that height.

Other high-rise neighborhoods such as the Gold Coast and Hyde Park are almost exclusively residential.

-----

As for SF - your picture is misleading because it shows only SF's financial/business district. In SF, as with La Defense in Paris or the Old City in London, the bulk of residential buildings are outside of the CBD.

[emathias]

There are multiple reasons, but the three biggest reasons:

1) Renters vs. owners. America has a very high home ownership rate, even compared to other developed countries. Ownership is a more clear-cut benefit when you can live in a single family home, because you have more control over the entire property. For rental landlords, it's a lot easier to build a tower of apartments than to build an entire neighborhood of small buildings.

2) Wealthy auto ownership. America has led the world in car ownership rates, which makes living in single family homes more possible, because it allows people to live far from destinations at low densities and still have relatively easy access to a wide area. Without cars, you need density to maintain access to a diversity of services and products and/or to provide efficient, cost-effective mass transit.

3) Power. This manifests in multiple ways. In the U.S., individuals often have far more power to interfere with land use, and many individuals don't want to live near new residential towers. The governments here are also relatively weak compared to local governments in other countries. And corruption that can cut the costs of building any kind of tower, while still existing in the U.S., is far less than in some of the cities you showed pictures from.

[ue]

Originally Posted by new.slang

to edmontonentusiast
Calgary is kind of an exception though isnt it? Miami is pretty built up for only having 500 thousand but i guess Vancouver is too...

And the US builds taller buildings than most countries. It doesnt make that huge of a difference but compare Chicago to Toronto. Toronto has way more highrises but Chicago has 18 buildings over 700 feet. Toronto only has 6. And like PAPride said people in Brazil, China, India are mostly poor, so to them, living with 5 other people in a shoe box is nothing.

Calgary really isn't the exception, but it's probably Canada's best example of it.

Here, I will compare Edmonton (1.1 million) and Ottawa's (1.2 million) skylines to Providence (1.6 million) & Indianapolis (1.7 million). You'll note the American cities are slightly larger, but based solely on skyline (and yes, I know there are many other factors, but high rises are the topic of the thread) which do you think is larger or looks closer to perhaps 2 million?

Edmonton:

source: me

Ottawa:
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k28/segaert/oddstuff/ottawa_pano.jpg
source: flar on ssp (http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=175045)

Indianapolis:

source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/scopycat/40626745/sizes/o/

Providence:

source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dippy_duck/1347763602/

Also, I don't think the tallness of buildings matters as much as the number of high rises. But that's my personal opinion.

[yellowboy06]

BTW, when I was talking about residential/apartment buildings I didn't really know what to call them.

My REAL question is, why do most other cities outside the US have different looking buildings (residential/apartment). Not just the plain square like structures like we have here in the US?

Also, I think the only city in the US that has the 'residential/apartment' buildings is Miami, Florida (although only a few).



MIAMI SKYLINE

--------------^R E G U L A R^--------------------------^R E S I D E N T I A L / A P A R T M E N T^--------------------------------------------------

[yellowboy06]

Originally Posted by edmontonenthusiast

Calgary really isn't the exception, but it's probably Canada's best example of it.

Here, I will compare Edmonton (1.1 million) and Ottawa's (1.2 million) skylines to Providence (1.6 million) & Indianapolis (1.7 million). You'll note the American cities are slightly larger, but based solely on skyline (and yes, I know there are many other factors, but high rises are the topic of the thread) which do you think is larger or looks closer to perhaps 2 million?

Edmonton:

source: me

Ottawa:

source: flar on ssp (http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=175045)

Indianapolis:

source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/scopycat/40626745/sizes/o/

Providence:

source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dippy_duck/1347763602/

Also, I don't think the tallness of buildings matters as much as the number of high rises. But that's my personal opinion.

Fixed. You should 'quote' this and 'copy' my message then 'edit' your previous message then 'paste' it.

[LSyd]

i've found a lot of college towns/cities tend to have more high-rise apartment buildings than cities that don't. there also tends to be a lot of high rise "elderly communities."

i can think of 9 apartment/condo towers and one senior high-rise in Columbia, SC off the top of my head, plus a residential conversion. there's also 4 high-rise dorms. there's also half a dozen mid and high-rise "game condos" around the stadium.

-

[plinko]

Originally Posted by yellowboy06

BTW, when I was talking about residential/apartment buildings I didn't really know what to call them.

My REAL question is, why do most other cities outside the US have different looking buildings (residential/apartment). Not just the plain square like structures like we have here in the US?

Also, I think the only city in the US that has the 'residential/apartment' buildings is Miami, Florida (although only a few).

Uh, what? Are you talking about the form and architecture of the buildings or something else? You're phrasing your question in an odd way and leaving out enough information about what you are asking for anyone to give you a comprehensive (or even simple) answer.

What's a regular building?