Las Vegas very strange

nec209 · #1 Posted **Apr 1, 2007, 8:57 AM**

This is very strange I was looking at Las Vegas and it does not look urban like or suburb like but a modified urban city with nothing but homes .

The city is compact and densely packed but less compact and densely packed than New York. It does not have a suburb feel but it has a city feel why is that?

They use the grid-system and every thing is compact and densely packed. But they are using strip malls not storefronts. What is strange I can't find any box stores or power centers.

Many strip malls and parking lots. But it has a city feel not a suburb feel that is what is so strange.

I took some screen shots using Virtual Earth at http://maps.live.com/
see Las Vegas link to see more shots

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=...&scene=5073658

Note you can zoom in and out and move around the city to see what I mean, I only took some screen shots. And some of the new areas in Las Vegas are not on the classic grid system but a modified grid system.

Also does anyone know what is uniform moderate density and uniformly urban?

LMich · #2 Posted **Apr 1, 2007, 9:34 AM**

Vegas is not unlike most cities located in deserts/semi-arid areas in that it's sprawl is tightly packed. But, I can tell you from first-hand experience, it is hardly urban. It is just as auto-oriented as any typical, modern suburban area, and that's the hallmark of a suburban area. The fact that the housing is so tight doesn't change much of anything. It's still very much a city where you would have to get in your car and drive to retail and your job like any other suburb.

nec209 · #3 Posted **Apr 3, 2007, 12:54 AM**

Well it may be really auto-oriented , but it does not have a suburb feel at all .. And I should say it has a city feel this is what is so strange.

Looking at the map it is not spread out like the suburbs

And very much on a grid system and so compact and densely packed.

Well just looking at this picture it looks like a city not a suburb but I don't know why, it looks so city like not suburb like.

Note many strip malls

More screen shots I took from Virtual Earth ..

brickell · #4 Posted **Apr 3, 2007, 4:09 AM**

no offense, but you seem to have a litteral sense of suburb and urban. You have to really get out and travel to understand the differences.

LMich · #5 Posted **Apr 3, 2007, 6:33 AM**

He doesn't even have to do that, simply looking up the words in an urban dictionary would do. Vegas doesn't look city-like, and it's not city-like in function. Dense sprawl is still sprawl, and Vegas is as auto-centric as any suburb out there.

nec209 · #6 Posted **Apr 3, 2007, 7:08 AM**

May be why I think it looks so city like is because the roads and parking lots bleed into each other and most suburbs are anti-grid and have more green-space and have more of a enclose look than open look where the roads and parking lots bleed.

And it gives you that look like the city was build on one big parking lot and than slice up into roads and parking. And they have many strip malls but not power centers or box stores.

And may be also too that strip malls are on straight road than on a cluster like many suburbs.

wrendog · #7 Posted **Apr 10, 2007, 3:47 AM**

Vegas has tons of suburban neighborhoods...

LosAngelesSportsFan · #8 Posted **Apr 10, 2007, 11:40 PM**

Vegas is definitley very suburban, outside the strip area. Big Box Stores, Cul-de-sacs, Chain stores, blah blah blah. The type of sprawl you see in Vegas is very similar to other west coast cities.

LMich · #9 Posted **Apr 11, 2007, 1:37 AM**

It's not just 'very suburban', it's nothing more than a collection of suburbs, like Phoenix.

nec209 · #10 Posted **Apr 15, 2007, 3:52 AM**

Quote:

Vegas is definitley very suburban, outside the strip area. Big Box Stores, Cul-de-sacs, Chain stores, blah blah blah. The type of sprawl you see in Vegas is very similar to other west coast cities.

I was not saying that Vegas is not auto-oriented it is very auto-oriented, it is just Vegas looks different than todays suburbs.And yes it does not look urban at all, it just it looks different .

Now yes may be in the new areas in Vegas are into Big Box stores,Cul-de-sacs and less density so on

LMich · #11 Posted **Apr 15, 2007, 4:00 AM**

Actually, most of the new areas are built more densely than the more historic areas.

And, auto-centric makes it suburban in function.

nec209 · #12 Posted **Apr 18, 2007, 4:46 AM**

I'm not saying it is urban at all but it is different than most suburbs, but I don't know why or why it has that city feel.

The more density may be because of high demad to do the growth and low supply.And because it is in a desert may be they say why build green and more space.

Well the city streets and parking lot gives you that look like it is bleeding into each other and city build on one big parking lot.

Now if they start building box stores and power centers it will look even more suburb like

Quote:

Vegas is definitley very suburban, outside the strip area. Big Box Stores, Cul-de-sacs, Chain stores, blah blah blah. The type of sprawl you see in Vegas is very similar to other west coast cities.

Are you saying the photos I posted are in the strip area the old area? And the new areas are not into the strip at all but power centers?

LMich · #13 Posted **Apr 18, 2007, 5:02 AM**

I'm not sure you know the city well, at all. Most of it is dominated my mini-malls, shopping centers, and 'power' centers. Take Sahara Avenue, Charleston, Rancho...outward from downtown and the strip. It's nothing but one strip mall after the other. There is only one truly walkable section in the whole city, and that's downtown.

And, as for it looking different, it looks much like Phoenix or Albequerque, so I'm not sure why you're calling it different. I guess if you've never heard of the other two it would be different, but, outside the Strip, Vegas is any other sprawled city in a semi-arid region.

nec209 · #14 Posted **Apr 20, 2007, 4:37 AM**

Quote:

I'm not sure you know the city well, at all. Most of it is dominated my mini-malls, shopping centers, and 'power' centers. Take Sahara Avenue, Charleston, Rancho...outward from downtown and the strip.

But that is out of the down-town area? And it is not in any of the above pictures ? In the above pictures is the down-town area and they are using a store strip that a power center?

Quote:

t's nothing but one strip mall after the other. There is only one truly walkable section in the whole city, and that's downtown.

But they are using strip for the plazas or mini-malls than power center at a intersection that appose the strip .

Quote:

And, as for it looking different, it looks much like Phoenix or Albequerque, so I'm not sure why you're calling it different. I guess if you've never heard of the other two it would be different, but, outside the Strip, Vegas is any other sprawled city in a semi-arid region.

Well where I'm confused is the old suburb and new suburb thing.And may be old suburbs used the commercial strip after old classic store-fronts and also used malls.Well may be new suburbs are into box stores and power centers

LMich · #15 Posted **Apr 20, 2007, 6:53 AM**

Huh?

nec209 · #16 Posted **Apr 20, 2007, 10:19 PM**

The old suburbs look different than new suburbs and you seem to have problem understanding this and that old suburbs don't use box stores or power centers.

The pictures I posted above run in conflict of what you are saying because they are using strip along the road.And box stores or power centers DO NOT use strip but stores in parking lot by a intersection.

I'm saying this is how it is in most Toronto suburbs.

Just look at the store strip along the road you will not find this in new suburbs.Look how the stores are almost at the street and the density.

fflint · #17 Posted **Apr 20, 2007, 10:25 PM**

If *that* is "density" then everything is dense and nothing is sparse.

arkhitektor · #18 Posted **Apr 20, 2007, 10:41 PM**

I don't understand where this thread is going. Are you arguing that Vegas has an urban feel? If so have you ever been there? Aside from the strip, there is nothing urban about the place.

LMich · #19 Posted **Apr 20, 2007, 11:16 PM**

That's the thing, I'm not sure what he's arguing, and this wouldn't be the first time. Regardless of whether buildings are entered from a square parking lot, or a strip of parking is irrelevant. This functions all the same: as auto-centric sprawl. I used to live in Vegas during the summers for many years. There is almost nothing urban about it. Like Phoeniz or Albequerque or any of those other cities in semi-arid regions, it's just one suburban subdivision after another, even in many of the 'older' parts.

nec209 · #20 Posted **Apr 21, 2007, 1:22 AM**

Well for one it is very dense not like the suburbs in Toronto.

Just look at the homes very small lots and almost at the street not like many of the suburbs in Toronto .

Here are some pictures from live search maps ..Most of the areas are on a grid system or a modified grid system

Live Search Maps
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=...7372&encType=1