Worst skyline

[KB0679]

Originally Posted by c@taract_soulj@h

Really, if you look at areas that have had large population spurs in the last 10-15 years, many of their skylines just look meh for example...Phoenix, Norfolk, Orlando, Jacksonville, Sacramento, Mississauga (haha local humour) and hell I don't even think LA's is that great. They're unique as their own for sure but maybe the city would spend their money elsewhere...like another sprawling suburb?

I really don't get why people mention Jacksonville in these kinds of threads. Maybe because they are looking at the city population (inflated due to city-county consolidation) independent of metro population, or they take the classic, limited view of the skyline to be all that there is to the skyline? Personally, I think this is quite appropriate for a metro of 1.3 million and adequately reflects that size:


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3293/...f7d10192_b.jpg

[pj3000]

^ I agree. The skyline is actually more impressive than those in many larger metro areas.

[c@taract_soulj@h]

Washington has a hell of a downtown! But the skyline isn't as pleasing but for a federal city and it's reasons...I like the layout of it!

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by KB0679

I really don't get why people mention Jacksonville in these kinds of threads. Personally, I think this is quite appropriate for a metro of 1.3 million and adequately reflects that size:

That skyline is miniscule for a metro of 1.3 million. Calgary is a smaller metro than Jacksonville and represents the other extreme. Most metros of 1.3 million have skylines far smaller than Calgary, but much bigger than Jacksonville. This is Calgary (metro population 2009: 1,230,200). Jacksonville looks like a small town by comparison.

Calgary, Alberta



Other puny skylines are Phoenix, Ottawa, Washington, and San Jose. Beyond north America, there are many more.

[ColDayMan]

Yes, but per capita, Bartlesville beats Calgary. Whoopdy do. Jacksonville has a fine skyline for 1.3 million.

[Evergrey]

Erie has a rather underwhelming skyline

[Trantor]

Originally Posted by Phil McAvity

Sao Paulo Brazil.

Density Shmensity. How can you take one of the worlds largest cities (with a a metro population of around 20 million people) seriously when it doesn't even have a 600 footer?!?!?! Des Moines has a 600 footer!

many big european cities also dont have 600 footers.

São Paulo had the tallest building in the world outside USA, in 1950. It seems the inhabitants got tired of very tall buildings.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by ColDayMan

Jacksonville has a fine skyline for 1.3 million.

Yes, and the size of India's economy is fine for a nation of 1.3 billion people.

[ColDayMan]

Ex...act...ly.

[hammersklavier]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

Erie has a rather underwhelming skyline

Erie, I think, takes the cake, as far as underwhelming skylines are concerned.

P.S. D.C.'s skyline is the way it is because of height traditions. Once upon a time Philadelphia had a very underwhelming skyline for a major U.S. city, for much the same reason.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by hammersklavier

Erie, I think, takes the cake, as far as underwhelming skylines are concerned.

The above photo is definitely not the best angle by far since it cuts off the west side which has the city's tallest, 3rd, and 4th tallest buildings, among others, and also lines up all of the tallest buildings along State St as the photo is straight-on, not to mention it also doesn't include the new convention center and waterfront hotel... but still it's not as if all of those buildings are stunning skyscrapers anyway (more like 8 - 15 story forgettable structures).

Erie knocked down 5 of its tallest buildings in the 70s and 80s, but Erie has always been more of a long, low manufacturing city than a tall, banking/headquarters city anyway. It's not much of a skyline to look at, but I don't think too many people would expect it to be. Remember, it's only around 300K or less metro area... and surrounded by bigger centers of manufacturing and commerce... within a hundred miles of Buffalo, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh. So to say Erie takes the cake as far as underwhelming skylines are concerned is kinda silly... kinda like saying the handicapped kid is the worst athlete in gym class.

[Lamario]

Originally Posted by Patrick

You must remember that Jacksonville is the "largest" city in the nation, it's size is practically all of Duval County.



We have plenty of highrises, but yes, nowhere near enough skyscrapers. These buildings all look like the belong in suburban office parks instead of a downtown. (1.5 million, 5th largest in the nation)





(Wikipedia)

This picture is a picture of midtown Phoenix and not its downtown. I think that the midtown looks nice in phoenix but I do agree that downtown is very small compared to cities of the same size such as Philadelphia, Dallas, and Houston. I shake my head in shame everytime I have to go downtown for anything because there's nothing going on in Central Phoenix.

[pj3000]

How about Allentown... 3rd largest city in PA... 700,000 metro. Has one really nice 20+ story building, but that's about it... and a pretty blah location.





flickr

[Lamario]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

No offense, but it is clear by this statement that you know nothing or very little about Norfolk and Hampton Roads. In most cases, you would be correct that beyond local governments, city boundaries are arbitrary to the overall population in the metro...what is different with Norfolk is that it is a small 250K city in the middle of a metro of 7 cities, all with their own downtown and skyline (well not every one of them.)

Virginia Beach has the tallest building in the state...Portsmouth, Hampton, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Newport News...they all have at least one skyline in the metro...a couple of those cities have more than two...while at first glance this might not mean much, but you must understand that this is not a typical metro and there are a number of urban centers and skylines within this city...if they were all together, then it would be seen as a much larger city for its size, but Norfolk is not the center of Hampton Roads anymore...heck it is hard to argue where the center of the region is beyond the military bases.

Sorry to disagree with your post but NORFOLK IS STILL THE CENTRAL CITY! Yes all metro areas of more than one city will have a downtown in the major cities of that area but Norfolk has been the central city for years and their downtown is very small but it's still growing. Virginia Beach may be the larger city due to it's merger with Princess Anne county but the city's downtown is nothing comparable to Norfolk's regardless if they built that building with a spire on top to make it VA's tallest building. Remember that Norfolk is still the cultural, financial, and historic center of the Hampton Roads region and their CBD is the CBD that defines our region so therefore it is very small compared to other metro areas of the same size.

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by KB0679

I really don't get why people mention Jacksonville in these kinds of threads. Maybe because they are looking at the city population (inflated due to city-county consolidation) independent of metro population, or they take the classic, limited view of the skyline to be all that there is to the skyline? Personally, I think this is quite appropriate for a metro of 1.3 million and adequately reflects that size:

i would differ....

calgary and even edmonton are anomolies that few north american cities twice their size can match as far as size of downtown skyline goes, but here is a comparison to winnipeg....a city with a metro of only 750 000 and not generally considered to have a terribly impressive skyline....

[pj3000]

^ when you are driving on 95 on the bridges over the water around downtown Jacksonville, the skyline is much more impressive. The setting enhances downtown Jacksonville tremendously. The same cannot be said for Winnipeg, Calgary, or Edmonton.

It is a difficult and truly invalid to attempt to compare any of those Canadian cities with Jacksonville anyway. They are completely different situations. Those cities basically serve as the only population and commerce centers in their provinces. Probably greater than 80% of Alberta's population lives in Calgary and Edmonton and probably 70% of Manitoba's lives in Winnipeg. They should have large skylines, considering there is really nothing else around for hundreds of miles. Jacksonville is only the 4th largest metro area in Florida. Comparing them is pointless.

[LMich]

Count me as another not impressed with Jacksonville's skyline. Sorry, it can look pretty large when viewed from certain angles, as it's pretty strung out, but you really see it's lack of size and density from the air. It's just a generally sparse, spread-out kind of place.

[MOTOR]

I agree, LMich.

Indianapolis has an underwhelming skyline also. There are like three skyscrapers.

[Spocket]

Yeah , what's so bad about Milwaukee's skyline ? It's not great , no , but it certainly isn't bad. I guess it's spread out a little too much but really , I can think of a lot of other places that are far stumpier , more spread out , and also in metros a lot larger than Milwaukee.

Besides , what's a skyline ? Is it defined specifically by the number of tall buildings it has ? It shouldn't be. I just spent seven hours on a train from Changchun to Tianjin. Every town here (and there are an awful lot of them....like , there is no place where a town isn't in sight) has a skyline. There are apartment towers absolutely everywhere including in the middle of what we in North America would think of as the countryside. I saw hundreds of construction cranes on my trip (I'm not exaggerating and I'm not even including the ones I would have seen from the other side of the train) Farmer's fields have "skylines" here.
The point is that if it's just a matter of saying that tall , densely-packed buildings define a skyline , there are cities of half a million in North America that can't compete with some farmer's field here in China.

[Phil McAvity]

^Farmer' fields in China have skylines? What are you talking about?

Originally Posted by pj3000

The above photo is definitely not the best angle by far since it cuts off the west side which has the city's tallest, 3rd, and 4th tallest buildings, among others, and also lines up all of the tallest buildings along State St as the photo is straight-on, not to mention it also doesn't include the new convention center and waterfront hotel... but still it's not as if all of those buildings are stunning skyscrapers anyway (more like 8 - 15 story forgettable structures).

Erie knocked down 5 of its tallest buildings in the 70s and 80s, but Erie has always been more of a long, low manufacturing city than a tall, banking/headquarters city anyway. It's not much of a skyline to look at, but I don't think too many people would expect it to be. Remember, it's only around 300K or less metro area. So to say Erie takes the cake as far as underwhelming skylines are concerned is kinda silly... kinda like saying the handicapped kid is the worst athlete in class.

I didn't see anyone comparing Erie to a larger city, although it's metro population of about 300k wasn't mentioned and it probably should have been but even for a city of 300k, that's a pretty weak skyline. I live in Victoria and we have had a height restriction for decades accompanied with a very provincial (excuse the pun), small town mentality and our skyline blows Erie away even though Victoria isn't much bigger. Also, saying that, "Erie knocked down 5 of its tallest buildings in the 70s and 80s, but Erie has always been more of a long, low manufacturing city than a tall, banking/headquarters city anyway" is obviously a contradiction but what I would like to know is, why? Did a lot of companies up and leave to Philly and Pittsburgh?

Trueviking, Canadian cities in general are anomalies because of the far greater number of residential towers we have over the states. In that regard, Calgary is the most American city in Canada in that it doesn't have countless residential towers the way other large Canadian cities do.

I think we have a new winner in Allentown Pennsylvania. With a metro population of over 800K the city basically has one building. It actually makes Phoenix look good.