What Smaller U.S Cities Would You Like To See As Bigger Centers

[Buzter123]

I couldn't read this thread and not put a plug in for Fargo.

Metro pop at +200k (and growing fast), home to the 3rd largest Microsoft office campus in the world, growing high-tech research area ("Silicon Prairie"), major financial, insurance and health care employers, miles of sandy waterfront in the spring.

[chikid]

Originally Posted by Buzter123

I couldn't read this thread and not put a plug in for Fargo.

Metro pop at +200k (and growing fast), home to the 3rd largest Microsoft office campus in the world, growing high-tech research area ("Silicon Prairie"), major financial, insurance and health care employers, miles of sandy waterfront in the spring.

I would love Madison, WI to grow much bigger. I would acutally love it if Milwaukee grew much bigger too! I think it would be cool to have something like the BoshWash corridor with Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago.

[Urbanguy]

I'd like to see these cities become much larger: Honolulu (being biased here) not much room to grow outward but upward like Hong Kong or Singapore would be cool & others like Omaha, ABQ, Spokane, Salt Lake, Portland (Maine), Montpelier, Fargo, Manchester, Des Moines, Boise, Eugene, Salem (Oregon), Vancouver (WA), Columbia, Madison, Birmingham, Louisville, Buffalo, Rochester, Albany & Grand Rapids.

[NYC Rick]

Salt lake City, Birmingham, Louisville and a few others not on this list totally lead the category. I mean SLC alone is in a 35 mile long and 12 mile wide area with over 2 million people in 3 not so large counties.

SLC is making major inroads while the area is really growing.

Originally Posted by Urbanguy

I'd like to see these cities become much larger: Honolulu (being biased here) not much room to grow outward but upward like Hong Kong or Singapore would be cool & others like Omaha, ABQ, Spokane, Salt Lake, Portland (Maine), Montpelier, Fargo, Manchester, Des Moines, Boise, Eugene, Salem (Oregon), Vancouver (WA), Columbia, Madison, Birmingham, Louisville, Buffalo, Rochester, Albany & Grand Rapids.

[Stained]

It has not yet been mentioned that I saw, so I will throw out Chattanooga. The city has completely reinvented itself over the last 40 years. It has risen from the most polluted cities in the US to a center of green ideas, technology, and small business progress. It has recently obtained new industries and is currently undergoing an overall revival. If you do no know much about the city, I suggest you check it out. I would love to see it as a larger center for business and technology, especially with its prime location between Nashville and Atlanta.

[Razor]

Interesting results..Surprisingly, Even though I'm from Canada I heard of every city mentioned so far..They kinda fly just over the radar.Obviously we have have a lot less cities up here, but we do have a few that would make fantastic larger cities..The Halifaxes, and the London Ontario's of the world.Both just around the 400,000 mark..Maybe a little more for Halifax.

[SkyscraperGuru]

You realize you just called Philadelphia a small town, when it's one of the biggest cities in the world...?

Anyway, Erie is a city with just over 100,000 population. I think it'd be nice if they got a bump in modern architecture.

[Downtowner]

Woud absolutely love to see my city of Richmond Virginia grow more over the next few years. For a city with 1.2 million and close to 1.3 million people its doing pretty good for its self. But would really love to see it explode with more growth over the years. I think it has a ton of potential. A ton is going on in the city as far as projects go. Lots of rehabbing projects. We have a few midrises that are being converted to residential space. Recently completed was the John Marshall Hotel which was converted into high rise apartments and is now 88 percent leased.

[Nomad9]

I'll be a homer and say Pensacola. It's a city with a lot of potential that it's finally starting to realize.

On a regional level, I'd say the Gulf Coast/I-10 corridor. There are several medium-ish sized cities in the 250 mile stretch between Baton Rouge (800,000) and Pensacola (440,000): New Orleans (1.2million-if that's accurate), Biloxi/Gulfport (350,000+), and Mobile (500,000?). It could become quite the urban corridor if it were to experience some evenly distributed growth,

Otherwise, my runners up would be: Sioux Falls, OCK, Spokane, Albuquerque, Fargo, and Birmingham.

[kingchef]

re: post #20. i have noticed a markedly increased exposure of the canadian cities, their housing markets, urban emphasis, exposure of itself as a great vacation destination, etc. to me, it certainly has so much of what i like, as far as both exposure to rural life, if you wish, urban life, trade, technology, fairly easy to identify w/ their culture, likes and dislikes, music, education, etc. it is a large land mass w/ relatively few inhabitants; yet, off the cuff, much of the canadian population is in the large urban centers, which seem to be very much sophisticated. i have only been to toronto, as i accompanied my parents on a business trip when i was six. however, my most memorable experience on that trip was the marriage of my cousin in the cathedral of notre dame. i also remember some of the architecture, thinking and discussing w/ my parents and other family members how i was having difficulty distinguishing foreigners from americans---bringing about a rather loud chuckle from all, excepting me! i've noticed several companies from canada relocating their headquarters and all operations to memphis, and i understand their are to be others. i don't keep up w/ canadian politics, but i have friends in montreal, toronto, regina, and vancouver. my friends from regina paint a fairly blank picture of that particular area, and out of 7 children, 4 have left to attend university in tn. vancouver seems to continue to grow, the olympics have boosted various areas, areas such as vancouver. i would like to see toronto and detroit establish more local interdependance, and the potential for the cities near the canadian pipeline will no doubt cause stable growth for employment, establishment of educational institutions and families. just as the alaska pipeline provided many spinoff businesses, in order to provide needed materials for the line, people come to where the employment. too, i can very well see, if a government (politicans and their particular brand of self-serving policies and politics), a move of certain classes in america picking up individually using whatever skills they have and using them in a new life in canada. one more reason to get rid of that moron now in the white house, and the minions that protect him, as they shadow him and just how incompetent he really is, in his current position.

[Cash Money Samuels]

Salt Lake City is in possibly the most beautiful location in the world for a major city. Also the city is in a empty space where few large cities are found in the US(from Eastern WA,OR,and CA to MN and East CO). I would love if it could grow to have an impressive skyline as well. St. Louis has only built 2 modest sized skyscrapers in the past decade, i would love to see more growth there to compliment the Arch. I always want Chicago to continue making world beating skyscrapers but I fear that era may be ending. The two thousand footers that have been proposed in Chicago are taking forever to be confirmed and funded. Lastly I'd love to see Albuquerque take off for many of the same reasons for SLC.

[delts145]

Originally Posted by NYC Rick

Salt lake City, Birmingham, Louisville and a few others not on this list totally lead the category. I mean SLC alone is in a 35 mile long and 12 mile wide area with over 2 million people in 3 not so large counties.

SLC is making major inroads while the area is really growing.

Yeah, Salt Lake City proper is rapidly becoming more dense with the additional construction boom of a lot of missing middle, and mid-rise development. It's adjoining metro towns from north to south give it over 2.5 million people and rapidly climbing. I would like to see the cores of the many connected towns become denser and more walkable. Many 19th century villages which use to be around 700 to 7000 pop. a decade or two ago are now 30,000 to 60,000 plus people. They need to continue to restore and build up their cores. Hopefully, the many transit projects will continue to facilitate this.

Originally Posted by wjntoronto

Idaho Falls, Pocatello, Rexburg, Blackfoot, Idaho.

I understand these towns of southeastern Idaho are experiencing their own population boom. I hope so, as they are an important part of the Salt Lake City market for future major league franchises locating in the Salt Lake City metro.

I think one town in Utah that I would like to see become a major metro outside of the Wasatch Front of Salt Lake is Southern Utah's St. George. It's a beautiful little city surrounded by some of the most otherworldly scenery on the globe. It's definitely one of the fastest growing areas in the nation, and seems to be really focusing on it's core development also. I would like to see it become a metro of over 600,000 in my lifetime, while continuing to buildup an attractive walkable core.

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[eternallyme]

Originally Posted by chikid

I would love Madison, WI to grow much bigger. I would acutally love it if Milwaukee grew much bigger too! I think it would be cool to have something like the BoshWash corridor with Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago.

I'd love to see the Appalachian cities develop into majors and the gap filled between the Great Lakes region and the Northeast Corridor. That would require growth in cities like Scranton, Harrisburg, Albany, Syracuse, Altoona and State College to fill the gap. What is the eastern extent of that region? At what point does the line draw? Also to re-emerge the region as a whole, make it a megalopolis from the Mississippi Valley to the Atlantic and south to Florida, basically the entire eastern North America.

[ckh]

Originally Posted by eternallyme

I'd love to see the Appalachian cities develop into majors and the gap filled between the Great Lakes region and the Northeast Corridor. That would require growth in cities like Scranton, Harrisburg, Albany, Syracuse, Altoona and State College to fill the gap. What is the eastern extent of that region? At what point does the line draw? Also to re-emerge the region as a whole, make it a megalopolis from the Mississippi Valley to the Atlantic and south to Florida, basically the entire eastern North America.

I agree with Syracuse, as it has room to grow and there has been some construction in the area.

[ckh]

Originally Posted by eternallyme

I'd love to see the Appalachian cities develop into majors and the gap filled between the Great Lakes region and the Northeast Corridor. That would require growth in cities like Scranton, Harrisburg, Albany, Syracuse, Altoona and State College to fill the gap. What is the eastern extent of that region? At what point does the line draw? Also to re-emerge the region as a whole, make it a megalopolis from the Mississippi Valley to the Atlantic and south to Florida, basically the entire eastern North America.

I would call those cities listed a part of the Interior Northeast. I was thinking of this area as well, as it would kind of be a bridge between the Bos-Wash corridor and the Midwest.

[vetteking]

I would like to see my city Jackson, Mississippi as a bigger center comparable to Charlotte and Jacksonville, Florida.

[Patrick S]

Originally Posted by chikid

I would love Madison, WI to grow much bigger. I would acutally love it if Milwaukee grew much bigger too! I think it would be cool to have something like the BoshWash corridor with Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago.

Don't forget Rockford, IL too (and Janesville/Beloit, WI). Rockford is west/northwest of Chicago and almost due south of Madison. Rockford has over 150,000 people with a metro area around 350,000. I was born there, spent the first 5 years of my life there, and used to visit there a lot when I grew up in southern Illinois (I live in Tucson now, too far to drive, obviously) since my father lives in the metro area. Rockford's dull and boring though, so if it grew into a giant metro area there might actually be new entertainment opportunities.

[Tosin007]

Originally Posted by Buzter123

I couldn't read this thread and not put a plug in for Fargo.

Metro pop at +200k (and growing fast), home to the 3rd largest Microsoft office campus in the world, growing high-tech research area ("Silicon Prairie"), major financial, insurance and health care employers, miles of sandy waterfront in the spring.

I don't mean to sound Rude but as long as Canada exists their just isn't a huge reason to live in Fargo in general, similar climate with fewer amenities.
(Not that it isn't a nice City either, I too would also like to see it grow more). If anything because of it's Proximity to Canada.