Best Small-City Skylines (Metro Population < 600,000) - Page 12

Sawtooth · #**221** Posted **Jun 27, 2012, 12:31 AM**

Billings has a great little skyline. I think I have a few of Coeur d'Alene which has a nice skyline too.

Boise's is tricky sometimes. The view you posted doesn't take in all of the towers and buildings and often the best views of our skyline are taken from an angle which allows more of the buildings to be in the photo vs the straight on view from the Depot. We finally have a new tallest under construction which will really change our skyline.

These are my photos of the Boise skyline, all are a year or more old. The building under construction in the first photo is completed.

Pre The Aspen condos

Boquillas · #**222** Posted **Jun 27, 2012, 1:07 AM**

Sorry, didn't mean to pick on Boise-- was looking for a comparable city to Billings in terms of climate and geography. Your pics show a much better skyline than I thought, and of course a fantastic landscape.

Sawtooth · #**223** Posted **Jun 27, 2012, 1:14 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boquillas

Sorry, didn't mean to pick on Boise-- was looking for a comparable city to Billings in terms of climate and geography. Your pics show a much better skyline than I thought, and of course a fantastic landscape.

No worries, I didn't take it as if you were picking on Boise

I shoot a lot of photos of this little city so I had to post a few that show a more in depth view of the skyline. I am a photo geek so I probably have more photos of the skyline in my collection than I should

Private Dick · #**224** Posted **Jun 27, 2012, 2:20 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by summersm343

Wilkes-Barre- City pop 41,498 - Metro pop 563,631 (shares metro with Scranton)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wi...e_Panorama.jpg

Scranton- City pop 76,089 - Metro pop 563,631 (shares metro with Wilkes-Barre)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Scranton_PA.jpg

State College- City pop 42,034 - Metro pop 153,990

http://victoria-weather.com/2012/02/...-pennsylvania/

Harrisburg- City pop 49,528 - Metro pop 528,892

http://northstargallery.com/aerialph...hotography.htm

I'll add Erie to the PA mix:

my photo

ChiSoxRox · #**225** Posted **Jun 27, 2012, 2:48 AM**

Of the Pennsylvania crew, I like that tight cluster that Harrisburg has.

Private Dick · #**226** Posted **Jun 27, 2012, 3:04 AM**

^ Yeah, Harrisburg definitely has the best skyline and likely most vibrant downtown in PA after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Benefits of being the capital.

MolsonExport · #**227** Posted **Jun 27, 2012, 1:12 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dralcoffin

Of the Pennsylvania crew, I like that tight cluster that Harrisburg has.

Second that. Those bridges don't hurt either.

SouthAmboyGuy · #**228** Posted **Jun 27, 2012, 10:57 PM**

Jersey City (Newport), NJ and Wilmington, DE

Private Dick · #**229** Posted **Jun 27, 2012, 11:53 PM**

Jersey City and Wilmington are parts of huge metro areas

speedyturbo11 · #**230** Posted **Jun 29, 2012, 10:43 PM**

Hartford, CT - pop. 125,000

Springfield, MA - pop. 153,000
This skyline is kind of weak, but at least it has the Basketball Hall of Fame.

mhays · #**231** Posted **Jun 29, 2012, 11:23 PM**

...With a rediculous surface parking lot. That's a tough part about smaller cities. Not that big cities are perfect usually.

TarHeelJ · #**232** Posted **Jun 30, 2012, 12:45 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by mhays

...With a rediculous surface parking lot. That's a tough part about smaller cities. Not that big cities are perfect usually.

Well, why not have ample parking when there is plenty of open space and no rail transit?

LMich · #**233** Posted **Jun 30, 2012, 12:59 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by TarHeelJ

Well, why not have ample parking when there is plenty of open space and no rail transit?

The goal should probably be to have the footprint of parking as small as you can. I didn't see an argument against parking in what he said, rather there was probably a better way to do it, like consolidate it into a smaller garage or something. Of course that adds costs.

Anyway, not that I really care, but this has turned frm a "Best Small-City Skylines" to "Post ANY Small-City Skyline." lol Not only are some of these not the best, some of them are not even nice, and even more to the point, many of them are not even small cities as defined by the title of the thread (i.e. "Metro Population < 600,000). Hartford is the center of an area of 1.2 million. Even Worcester is the anchor of a metro area of nearly 800,000.

mhays · #**234** Posted **Jun 30, 2012, 1:51 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by TarHeelJ

Well, why not have ample parking when there is plenty of open space and no rail transit?

Economically it's tough to make anything other than a surface lot work in a small city, because land is usually cheaper than the construction cost for a garage. That's what I was referring to by "that's a tough part in smaller cities." That's why our small cities usually aren't very urban unless they started out that way, or they control growth, maybe aided by everything bunching along a beach or something.

However, in this case they could build a garage for added cost to avoid having surface parking. A park would be nice. Or replace half the lot with a hotel, and at least double-deck the rest.

Tourist attractions rarely want to make themselves hard to visit. But maybe a skybridge over the freeway (in addition to the underpass apparently shown) and a free shuttle bus could make it easier for tourists to get there, and reduce parking demand.

Unfortunately, the only way that sort of thing seems likely is if they get ambitous about building more stuff (like a hotel or a HOF expansion) and can only fit it in by stacking things. They won't do it for quality of life alone. That's why I like more expensive cities where land-efficiency is an economic imperative for most things.

J. Will · #**235** Posted **Jun 30, 2012, 3:39 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by TarHeelJ

Well, why not have ample parking when there is plenty of open space and no rail transit?

Why couldn't they have built it on the other side of the highway so people could walk there? That looks ridiculous.

Hadashi No Gen · #**236** Posted **Jun 30, 2012, 5:38 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by speedyturbo11

Hartford, CT - pop. 125,000

Springfield, MA - pop. 153,000
This skyline is kind of weak, but at least it has the Basketball Hall of Fame.

I had considered posting these two as well. Realistically, I think that Hartford, CT has one of the most impressive skylines of any North American city under 200,000 (along with Providence, RI). However, both Springfield, MA and Hartford, CT have MSA's that exceed 600,000. Hartford's is over one million.

Hadashi No Gen · #**237** Posted **Jun 30, 2012, 5:50 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Benindorm has got nothing on this beautiful burg.

I don't see the condemned Gennesse tower.

What a pleasure it is to hear you mention the name of one of my favorite skyscrapers!! Never before have I seen such a fantastic display of boarded up windows, at such impressive heights.

How about a shot of our favorite card-boarded cube in it's pre-glory days? It's my present to you.

Source: mlive.com

P.S. Is it possible to resize on this forum? All the BB Code that I try seems to not work.

Hadashi No Gen · #**238** Posted **Jun 30, 2012, 12:58 PM**

Since we've gotten to the point to where the 600,000 MSA rule no longer seems to apply... here is a city that I have wanted to include ever since running across this forum. My second-most favorite dead/dying small city (behind Flint, MI).

GARY, INDIANA (80,294)

Source: Forbidden-places.be

Also check this place out: http://www.forbidden-places.net/urba...host-town#gal1

Hadashi No Gen · #**239** Posted **Jun 30, 2012, 1:28 PM**

Tórshavn, Faroe Islands

Population 13,000, MSA 19,000.

Wins award for most colorful capital city.

stormkingfan · #**240** Posted **Jul 1, 2012, 8:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hadashi No Gen

I had considered posting these two as well. Realistically, I think that Hartford, CT has one of the most impressive skylines of any North American city under 200,000 (along with Providence, RI). However, both Springfield, MA and Hartford, CT have MSA's that exceed 600,000. Hartford's is over one million.

I think Providence is a part of Greater Boston, which is over 6,000,000.

Trenton, NJ, has a notable skyline, too, but again, it's considered a part of the Philadelphia area (same size).