Quote:
Originally Posted by Crawford
Philly is very underrated, and has arguably the second best urban fabric in the U.S. It's a gem.
I wouldn't say there are "vast areas" that look like NY, Boston or London (maybe Boston, somewhat), but I'm not sure what is meant by this because the best sections of these cities don't really look similar. But Philly certainly has very nice townhouse neighborhoods and a great apartment neighborhood around Rittenhouse Square.
Also, I don't think prospects for "posh urban living" are heavily correlated with quality of building stock. There are plenty of metros with crap urban housing and yet tons of in-town wealth and plenty of metros with gorgeous urban housing and yet little in-town wealth.
|
I was checking near the opposite square, the Washington. Basically red bricks and tree lined streets. Reminded me a bit of residential areas of Manhattan and generic Boston.
Never been in Philadelphia, but those naked streets with simpler townhouses the forumer complained above, were the picture I have from residential areas of Philadelphia. At least on movies and TV series they are featured the most. For wealthy and "cool" urbanites, they prefer New York (Sex and the City, Friends, or whatever it's on TV those days).
About your last paragraph, the Northeast Corridor is a bit different. It's 50 million people area, where let's say 90% of Americans who have a close relation with real urban environments live. I guess "beautiful" urban areas will be at a high premium there, specially if the 20-year trend of returning to urban living keeps going on.