Where Is The Rust Belt?

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Eyeballing the immediate downtown areas on the map:

Highways: Columbus is worse than Indy. Downtown Columbus is completely surrounded by a ring of highways. In contrast, Indianapolis is only surrounded on three sides, with direct access to the west to neighborhoods across the White River.

White Flight: Columbus again is actually a bit worse, as there are black neighborhoods immediately to the Northeast and Southeast of Downtown. Indy's black areas start a bit further out from the core. It should be noted that the immediate black neighborhoods close to the core in both cities don't show much in the way of blight, however - Maybe 10% to 20% vacant lots, but not Rust Belt style urban prairie.

Residential development within core: Indy looks a bit better here again. There's big non-residential zones (like around the stadiums) but the historic residential neighborhoods of Fletcher Place and Lockerbie Square remain intact, with heavy infill in areas like Renaissance Place. In contrast, outside of a few blocks, Downtown Columbus really lacks a residential fabric. Downtown Indy has about 22,000 people as well, while Downtown Columbus has about 10,000.

Casual observer here with no skin in the game. But as someone who goes to both Indianapolis and Columbus for work occasionally, I find downtown Columbus to be FAR more lively than downtown Indy. Granted, I might not be thinking specifically of downtown because I don't know the exact definitions, but there's definitely more pedestrian activity in Columbus than in Indy. It could also be that there are just denser close in neighborhoods in Columbus like German Village and the Short North that sort of blend seemlessly with downtown and really I'm characterizing those, but I dont' remember seeing any close in heavily residential neighborhoods in Indy that felt connected and super walkable.