I believe that Milwaukee, like imho Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, even Kansas City is a seriously underrated city.
Buffalo is underrated too but having
hundreds of thousands more residents in a Metro makes a huge difference in the former list of cities mentioned.
While 1 million may be unrealistic, a Milwaukee of 700-750k seems doable!
Check out this 8 min drone video.
• Video Link
I should mention the Milwaukee RiverWalk is probably one of the coolest things the city has to offer. 3 miles of riverfront walkways with bars and restaurants, rentals for boats, kayaks/SUP.
Skip the to Riverwalk chapter of the video below to see what I mean
• Video Link