Best Small-City Skylines (Metro Population < 600,000)
There are so many threads discussing which major city has the best/second best/third best skyline, and let's face it, small cities just can't compete with the Chicagos and San Franciscos of the world.
Let's see some of the best 'small city' skylines (from cities with metros with less than 600,000 people). Post pictures along with what city it is as well as the metro population. TOP 5... 1. Corpus Christi, Texas http://www.ccmorf.org/images/SunsetS...pusSkyline.jpg (Source: http://www.ccmorf.org/) Metro Population: 431,741 2. Des Moines, Iowa http://www.desmoines.org/images/DesMoinesSkyline.jpg (Source: http://www.desmoines.org/) Metro Population: 556,230 3. Peoria, Illinois http://givingbackpeoria.org/PeoriaSkyline.jpg (Source: http://givingbackpeoria.org/) Metro Population: 371,206 4. Reno, Nevada http://www.snapreno.com/files/RenoSkyline.jpg (Source: http://snapreno.com/) Metro Population: 577,386 5. Boise, Idaho http://appliancerepairboiseidaho.com...ylineFall2.jpg (Source: http://appliancerepairboiseidaho.com/) Metro Population: 587,689 |
Madison, WI has a sick skyline:
http://www.december.com/places/mad/images/madsky.jpg december.com Its not very tall, but each building is very high quality and it is located on an Isthmus where excellent views of the skyline abound from all directions. The reason the skyline is relatively low and uniform is that Madison has a height restriction limiting the buildings to the crest of the the Capitol Building dome so that the dome will always be the sole peak of the skyline. I'm very conflicted about the height restriction because Madison could certainly support some very tall buildings and has already begun to take on the aire of Paris with just solid 5-10 story buildings across much of the city. However, I don't want it lifted because the crown jewel capitol dome effect would disappear rapidly. I've always thought it would be interesting if they lifted it in the area of the University of Wisconsin campus where the most development pressure seems to be. That would be off to the side and away from the capitol dome and would satisfy the demand for the tallest buildings. |
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Pretty nice, just needs taller buidlings.
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for "very small" cities, I'd go with Hot Springs, Arkansas (pop. 37k). Kinda tough to get a skyline shot there, but the density and variety of its buildings is very impressive... not to mention that most of the city was built during the Art Deco era.
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You can't really see all of the skyline, but here is a small capture of Mobile, Alabama's skyline. Definitely one of the best in the 'small' category. Tallest building is 745 feet.
http://www.lumis.com/images/sized/ph...tmas-0x600.jpg Lumis.com |
Look up Regina, SK. I think my city has a fairly impressive skyline for a city of only 200 000.
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Des Moines
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Windsor, Ontario, Canada
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Winston-Salem, NC (MSA: 468K)
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1196/...fa946b30ef.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1364/...bd77010ceb.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1196/...fa946b30ef.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1364/...bd77010ceb.jpg Shreveport-Bossier City, LA (MSA: 390K) http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/p...m/23337804.jpg http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/p...m/23337804.jpg Mobile, AL (MSA: 406K) http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3174/...c04c9a3b04.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3174/...c04c9a3b04.jpg |
600,000 is an awfully high threshold for a "small" USA city, yellowboy, given that it includes such places as Denver, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Washington DC, Las Vegas, Portland, Atlanta, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Honolulu, St Louis, Buffalo & Cincinnati.
But given that those are your parameters, my vote goes to Seattle (pop. 598,707), followed closely by Minneapolis (pop. 382,605), Cleveland (pop. 433,748) and Pittsburgh (pop. 310,037). |
^Read the title again.
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Des Moines. |
Montgomery, AL's also isn't too shabby:
http://soulofamerica.com/content/ima...95d23929d6.jpg Soul of America Chattanooga, Tennessee https://www.rastn.com/images/Chattanooga%20Skyline.jpg RAS |
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The new tower is awesome by the way. |
Des Moines, Yellowknife, Regina, Victoria, Winnipeg (I guess it's slightly over 600), Boise, Madison, Halifax, Mobile, Burnaby-New Westminster (technically apart of Vancouver...) and Bellevue (technically apart of Seattle...) have pretty good small city skylines.
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^Agreed. The crown comes across purely as a cheap afterthought.
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Here is a slightly old photo of Halifax, which has about 400,000 people:
http://westinnovascotian.files.wordp...at-pier-21.jpg Source Another angle: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2603/...87ede999_b.jpg by dcnelson1898 |
Asheville, NC...408,000
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/1/878889_8311712071.jpg http://www.flickr.com/photos/zen/878889/ Augusta, GA...528,000 http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3089/...e1cf2a2cf1.jpg http://www.flickr.com/photos/ourview...hy/3370868021/ Fort Wayne, IN...411,000 http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3233/...07e00822eb.jpg http://www.flickr.com/photos/31431611@N08/2939364886/ Myrtle Beach, SC...300,000 http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3373/...7a63d6d02f.jpg http://www.flickr.com/photos/31142169@N03/3481121869/ |
Lexington, KY...437,000
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...onDowntown.JPG |
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
2006 census: City: 216,473 Metro: 323,342 http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2310/...0e078880_o.jpg rich-s http://www.flickr.com/ http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1407/...d120965c_b.jpg Steve Brandon http://www.flickr.com/ http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3471/...fc8de2f4_b.jpg exbrit2 http://www.flickr.com/ |
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A few Canadian cities.
Halifax, NS (400,000) Source London, ON (450,000) Wikipedia Regina, SK (200,000) Our very own HIMS Saskatoon, SK (230,000) Source |
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http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2310/...0e078880_o.jpg Credit rich-s http://www.flickr.com/ |
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Canadian cities in general have excellent skylines relative to their populations.
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Although it is a very small metro area, Burlington VT certainly has a scenic skyline (both photos courtesy of Wikipedia).
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...tonskyline.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...nt_skyline.jpg |
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Further evidence of this lies in the fact that other cities that never had height restrictions also never had parking lots until freeways were punched through the middle of them. |
Evanston, IL is a small city of ~75,000 and has built a pretty decent little skyline for itself. if the economy ever turns around, there will be a new 400' tall centerpiece tower built right in the middle of the skyline in the coming years
http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/7101/58355970.jpg Andy Tucker/ flickr |
Rochester, Minnesota
http://pics4.city-data.com/cpicc/cfiles5371.jpg Omaha, Nebraska http://www.emgnebraska.com/images/ci...haNebraska.jpg |
:previous: Omaha doesn't fit the thread criteria of metros<600,000...
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Rochester NY
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l179/jdcamb/B3.jpg image by: jdcamb http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l179/jdcamb/RocMe.jpg image by: jdcamb http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ug_17_2007.jpg image by: Chris Tomkins-Tinch City pop. = 220,000 Metro = 1,100,000 (I think of it as a small city) |
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Balneário Camboriú
pop: 88k (no metro) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...bori%C3%BA.jpg Novo Hamburgo pop: 260k (a quite independent city which is located at the northern edge of Porto Alegre contiguous urban area) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/6...03smallat1.jpg Maringá pop: 329k (no metro) http://maringamaringa.files.wordpres...ga_skyline.jpg authoer: Gustavo T. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2209/...25c7db47_b.jpg author: Fábio Guillen Caxias do Sul pop: 360k (no metro) http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/2...osul331gh2.jpg author: Luis Chaves |
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city: 94,344, but summer population of 700,000+ Metro: 390, 990 Quote:
city: 329,800 metro: 570,094 Quote:
pop 527, 858 |
Brazil wins
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I didnt knew it had a metro area (which are stablished by law in Brazil). Many of the cities in Maringá metro are not even connurbed with Maringá. Quote:
Its true I got confused and posted Caxias population from several years ago (I could swear it was still in the 300k). But official ESTIMATES for 2009 is only 410k... no WAY it even reaches 500k! these are the metro areas in Brazil 1 Região Metropolitana de São Paulo São Paulo 19.223.897 2 Região Metropolitana do Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro 11.571.617 3 Região Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte Minas Gerais 5.397.438 4 Região Metropolitana de Porto Alegre Rio Grande do Sul 4.063.886 5 Região Metropolitana de Salvador Bahia 3.967.902 6 Região Metropolitana do Recife Pernambuco 3.843.326 7 Região Metropolitana de Fortaleza Ceará 3.602.319 8 Região Metropolitana de Curitiba Paraná 3.172.357 9 Região Metropolitana de Campinas São Paulo 2.633.523 10 Região Metropolitana de Belém Pará 2.249.405 11 Região Metropolitana de Goiânia Goiás 2.007.868 12 Região Metropolitana de Manaus Amazonas 1.933.327 13 Região Metropolitana de Vitória Espírito Santo 1.624.837 14 Região Metropolitana da Baixada Santista São Paulo 1.606.863 15 Região Metropolitana de Natal Rio Grande do Norte 1.255.409 16 Região Metropolitana de São Luís Maranhão 1.211.270 17 Região Metropolitana de Maceió Alagoas 1.111.678 18 Região Metropolitana de João Pessoa Paraíba 1.049.290 19 Região Metropolitana do Vale do Rio Cuiabá Mato Grosso 815.392 20 Região Metropolitana de Aracaju Sergipe 759.998 21 Região Metropolitana de Londrina Paraná 741.928 22 Região Metropolitana de Maringá Paraná 570.094 23 Região Metropolitana do Cariri Ceará 554.945 24 Região Metropolitana do Vale do Aço Minas Gerais 438.059 25 Região Metropolitana de Macapá Amapá 436.251 |
Santa Maria
pop - 268k http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...a_maria007.jpg Criciuma pop: 188k http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/5860640.jpg author: Felipe Ghisi Cascavel pop: 300k http://xs433.xs.to/xs433/08454/cvel186.jpg |
Evanston is a Chicago edge city. It doesn't qualify.
Here is Ocean City, MD. Year-round population: 7,173 Summer weekend population: ~340,000 http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2657/...c65df47f_b.jpg source |
Davenport, Iowa.
City: 100,000 Metro: 376,000 http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...kyi/022_3A.jpg My photo |
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Wichita: http://www.wichitacasinoparties.com/images/wichita.jpg http://www.wichitacasinoparties.com/ |
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Since these inevitably turn into "post your area/state/province's small skylines", I'll go all in for Michigan. I'd not consider any of these the best, but they are all definitely notable. Battle Creek: ~53,000 (city), ~79,000 (UA), ~136,000 (MSA) http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3595/...610fcc8a_b.jpg Roxy2135 http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3645/...7170590c_b.jpg Roxy2135 Kalamazoo: ~72,000 (city), ~188,00 (UA), ~324,000 (MSA) http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3341/...67748b78_b.jpg c.f. mason Saginaw: ~56,000 (city), ~141,000 (UA), ~201,000 (MSA) http://farm1.static.flickr.com/79/22...b04cef7f_b.jpg g.s. george Traverse City: ~14,500 (city), N/A, ~142,000 (MSA) http://farm1.static.flickr.com/151/4...f3ee78cd_o.jpg Jon-O Lansing: ~114,000 (city), ~300,000 (UA), ~455,000 (MSA) http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3271/...8280a491_b.jpg Doug Langham http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2132/...daf45d39_b.jpg Macdane http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3024/...46161e02_b.jpg Doug Langham Ann Arbor: ~114,000 (city), ~284,000 (UA), ~347,000 (MSA) http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1198/...1a19d5e0_b.jpg Airplane Lane |
That aerial angle of Ann Arbor looks like you took a Sim City 4 Rush Hour city, and turned it into a real city. Especially with that block of property that is cleared-out and under construction. I have both been to and flown over Ann Arbor and it's a nice place without a doubt! Granted it doesn't have the largest skyline in the world, but it's still a fresh city with some coolness happening all the time it seems!! That's a great shot!
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Obviously a resort town has advantages.
Here's Naples, FL - 315,258 http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3249/...c10929d8_b.jpg src: me |
Riverside, California (Population 310,000)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3222/...9a4579ef_o.jpg RXSQ http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...e_DSCN0700.JPG |
lmich you def left out jackson, mi - more impressive than some you posted above (yet population only 33k!)
http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/1590/164682.jpg http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/6982/268285.jpg images innocuously jacked from emporis |
Benidorm (67,627 [Wiki])
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2522/...14fcdca3_o.jpg Recesvintus http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3079/...ec96b933_b.jpg by Yokusho / Christian Gold Coast (402,648 [Wiki]) http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3012/...5b2ec5fcd1.jpg lazyevaluator http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3471/...be9af502bd.jpg scottrudkin http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1072/...34f6dfcf04.jpg by flash62_au http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3074/...7c388a9bc9.jpg by d.i. |
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