Study Reveals World’s Most Walkable Cities

[The North One]

Originally Posted by yuriandrade

I don't understand your agressive response. In a thread talking about urban form, I praised Philadelphia and you came here to dismiss it.

I don't mean to come off as aggressive, I apologize. I did not dismiss Philly though. Don't know how some of you are interpreting my posts like this. I engaged in the topic about why the city doesn't get the recognition it deserves, or why it isn't as well known worldwide compared to Boston. It was not a dismissal of the place.

P.S. Indeed I've never been to the US, but I dare to say I know more about the US that you ever do about mine or any other country. So I believe I can take part on those discussions as much as any American forumer. I'm here talking at tiny details of 2nd, 3rd, 4th tier US cities. Let's do the same about Brazil, Germany, South Africa?

Being an American doesn't make me qualified to speak matter of factly about every city in this country. The same applies to the American members here. This has nothing to do with you being Brazilian.

[iheartthed]

Current populations aside, Detroit and Philadelphia are obviously way more like than not. And the two cities are, quite obviously, much closer to each other than either is to a Sun Belt city. The two cities peaked at populations within spitting distance of each other (2M vs 1.85M), and also have very similar land areas (134 sq mi vs 139 sq mi). The architectural qualities in the two cities are different, but the scale is similar.

[summersm343]

Philadelphia, Chicago and Detroit are all very similar cities... Baltimore as well. All of them are post industrial cities. Chicago was the most successful at recovering, then Philadelphia, then Baltimore, then Detroit. Detroit has been the least successful at recovering to date, because it was almost entirely dependent on the car industry.

There's nothing wrong with Detroit, and I know it's on the come back, and I hope it does - it could be a beautiful city.

[Ant131531]

Originally Posted by The North One

You are flat out wrong, there is nothing, nothing in Atlanta or Denver, especially not Austin that looks anything like the form based mixed use code being implemented in Brush Park with a development like city modern that entirely hides or reduces parking. You will not find any examples. Go and try.



You're making zero sense here...



I'm sorry, did you want examples of renovations and redevelopments of old buildings? I can flood this entire thread with pages of that... I showed you how the city is developing new housing and urban infill and it's better than 80% of what is found in this country. This city is doing exactly what you say it supposedly isn't You can remain ignorant if you wish.

Glenwood Park in Atlanta comes pretty close with better architecture.



And yes, these traditional urban style rowhouses/townhomes do exist in Atlanta. Here's some below that exist in this neighborhood.


Source: https://www.estately.com/listings/in...d-avenue-se--2

[UrbanRevival]

Originally Posted by The North One

I'm not trying to take any dig at anything about Philly, it's a fantastic city, don't blame anybody for wanting to stay there forever. But that doesn't mean it's urbanism is beyond any criticism.

I'm sick of this site's obsession with certain housing typologies and the way they project/gaslight their biases and predictions. They've been saying the same things for years. In 2013 this site was so certain that Baltimore was gonna have a gentrification boom because the rowhomes were just too good to let go. Today the city still demos large numbers of probably the best examples of the typology in the country on a regular basis, they're still rotting. Clearly that didn't work out how they thought. Clearly their armchair theories for urban revitalization in the US or the preferences of tenants/homeowners is actually just opinionated garbage.

There's definitely a subset of urban "purists" on this site who sometimes devalue any deviation from traditionally-urban form, I would agree. But speaking in rational and realistic terms, we all know that one urban housing form isn't for everyone--nor should it be.

Speaking as an East Coaster myself, I personally find that all gradients of "urban" are critical and valuable to every city for the very reason that they provide housing options.

From the uber-dense rowhome neighborhood, to the semi-urban, leafy neighborhoods with bungalows or even small manses on grassy lots, these typologies all add greatly to a city's repertoire.

Yes, there are some differences in walkability, and yes, one has slightly less land-use efficiencies than the other, but to me it's splitting hairs. Great cities offer diversity in their neighborhoods, and even the more suburban oriented neighborhoods of any large city will be light-years more vibrant and urban-leaning than a post-war, cul-de-sac laden exurban subdivision 40 miles from the core. And that certainly includes a city like Detroit.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Philadelphia, Chicago and Detroit are all very similar cities... Baltimore as well. All of them are post industrial cities. Chicago was the most successful at recovering, then Philadelphia, then Baltimore, then Detroit. Detroit has been the least successful at recovering to date, because it was almost entirely dependent on the car industry.

There's nothing wrong with Detroit, and I know it's on the come back, and I hope it does - it could be a beautiful city.

I would throw Newark in as well. A lot of Newark's neighborhoods have a very 1990s east side of Detroit vibe.

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

Glenwood Park in Atlanta comes pretty close with better architecture.

Very beautiful! Love that oval shaped park.

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by The North One

Also I would say the vast majority of Americans aren't exactly desperate to live in harsh urbanity with small lower quality rowhomes like this. I mean there's not even trees on most of these streets and ironically most of the space is taken up by cars with small sidewalks, little room for walking. These homes also usually have tiny concrete backyards.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9294...7i16384!8i8192

Detroit's "suburban" portions of housing stock are hardly typical, more like irreplaceable per-war stunners that cant be recreated.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3827...7i16384!8i8192

I would say you're both right and wrong.

While a lot of people do not prefer that type of tight, urban living accommodations, there is certainly a large number of people who desire living in these type of urban environments. More to my point, you just so happened to plop down on a street view of the Newbold neighborhood. Newbold is a neighborhood in South Philly that has been going through rapid gentrification. In fact, the 19146 zip code is one of the fastest growing and gentrifying urban zip codes in the United States, and it encompasses the already establish neighborhood of Graduate Hospital/Southwest Center City, as well as the northern half of Newbold, the Northern half of Point Breeze, and the Northern half of Grays Ferry - all areas that are very quickly rebuilding and gentrifying.

See link:
https://www.rentcafe.com/blog/rental...ied-zip-codes/

Of course, we'll see what COVID does to American cities....

Also, you're really harping on South Philly, like it's the only living option in the area. While I love South Philly, and think there are some really awesome urban neighborhoods like Graduate Hospital/Southwest Center City, Queen Village, Bella Vista, Passyunk Square, Pennsport, etc.... there are A TON of different urban neighborhoods with different housing types in and around the Philadelphia region, including many neighborhoods that are similar to that example you provided in Detroit.

In Philadelphia, check out Packer Park and Girard Estates in South Philly. In West Philly, check out Powelton Village, Spruce Hill, Cedar Park, Southwest Cedar Park, Garden Court, Overbrook Farms and Wynnefield. In Northeast Philly, check out Mayfair, Tacony and Holmesburg. In Northwest Philly, check out East Falls, Morton, Roxborough, East Mount Airy, West Mounty Airy and Chestnut Hill.

In Montgomery County, PA, check out Bala Cynwyd, Merion Station, Wynnewood, Narberth, Ardmore, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Conshohocken, Ambler, Wyndmoor, Elkins Park, Glenside and Jenkintown.

In Delaware County, PA, check out Wayne, Havertown, Drexel Hill, Swarthmore and Media.

In Camden County, NJ, check out Collingswood, Haddonfield, Haddon Heights, Audubon and Merchantville.

These will all give you a similar urban neighborhood style to what you're looking for.

[summersm343]

Spruce Hill, Philadelphia

https://www.longandfoster.com/PA/Phi...ia/Spruce-Hill

Girard Estates, Philadelphia

https://www.thewynnegroupre.com/phil...irard-estates/

Cedar Park, Philadelphia

https://www.thewynnegroupre.com/phil...ht-cedar-park/

East Falls, Philadelphia

https://www.extraspace.com/blog/movi...-philadelphia/

Roxborough, Philadelphia

https://www.longandfoster.com/PA/Phi...hia/Roxborough

West Mounty Airy, Philadelphia

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...9_M48070-86057

East Mount Airy, Philadelphia

https://www.longandfoster.com/PA/Philadelphia/Mt-Airy

Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia

https://patch.com/pennsylvania/chest...pensive-suburb

[Docere]

Spruce Hill looks a bit like the Annex in Toronto.

[edale]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

You're just trying to start an argument.

I really wasn't. I find some of the Detroit boosters here to be a bit delusional in their claims. The Motor City is now in the business of hiding cars away from public view? The poorest city in America is exclusively building subterranean parking for its residential infill? Detroit's housing typology isn't dominated by detached housing? Come on...

Detroit, outside of its core, is basically suburban style development. This isn't a knock on the city- and I'd say Detroit is not really unique here. Los Angeles, among many others, is very similar. Suburban, single-use residential districts (with varying degrees of density) adjacent to massive, oversized commercial streets.

Detroit has sadly demolished almost all of its old business districts and either replaced them with drive thrus and strip malls, or they're just vacant land. Any street view exploration of the city will easily show this. So the notion that these non-core portions of Detroit will be built back in some hyper-dense, east coast (let alone European) style just doesn't make sense to me. New development may come, but it will almost surely be similar to the shit that gets built everywhere else-- sunbelt included.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by edale

I really wasn't. I find some of the Detroit boosters here to be a bit delusional in their claims. The Motor City is now in the business of hiding cars away from public view? The poorest city in America is exclusively building subterranean parking for its residential infill? Detroit's housing typology isn't dominated by detached housing? Come on...

Detroit, outside of its core, is basically suburban style development. This isn't a knock on the city- and I'd say Detroit is not really unique here. Los Angeles, among many others, is very similar. Suburban, single-use residential districts (with varying degrees of density) adjacent to massive, oversized commercial streets.

It doesn't really matter what Detroit's predominant housing type is, because Detroit isn't building new housing in single family neighborhoods. Most of what is under construction in Detroit right now is multi-family. I was looking at a listing for a vacant lot in Detroit earlier today which stipulated that the lot must be developed for multi-tenant residential.

Originally Posted by edale

Detroit has sadly demolished almost all of its old business districts and either replaced them with drive thrus and strip malls, or they're just vacant land. Any street view exploration of the city will easily show this. So the notion that these non-core portions of Detroit will be built back in some hyper-dense, east coast (let alone European) style just doesn't make sense to me. New development may come, but it will almost surely be similar to the shit that gets built everywhere else-- sunbelt included.

Well, I don't know what to tell you. I guess wait a few years until Google updates the street view.