Quote:
Originally Posted by Cirrus
It's still geography, ultimately. Denver was originally settled on the east bank of the South Platte River. As a result of being on the east bank, most of Denver's early development was also along the east side, since one would've had to cross the river to go west. Thus Denver's core city neighborhoods flow directly east and south of downtown along Colfax and Broadway.
Once that pattern was established, it built upon itself over the decades. After World War 2, Cherry Creek emerged as Denver's most important commercial uptown, strengthening the southeast's hold further. Then in the 1980s the Denver Tech Center became Denver's most important suburban edge city, pushing southeast even more. But if you go back to the beginning, it was the river.
Boulder's favored quarter OTOH faces south simply because that's the direction of Denver, and Denver exerts a strong pull.
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That sequence of events makes sense, though simply being the initial side of the river, or general direction of early urban development, doesn't inherently make that direction or side favourable in every case.
In Edmonton, the city was initially settled on the north banks of the North Saskatchewan River, and the general direction of development was northeasterly, yet the most favoured quarter is the exact opposite, southwest. Northeast Edmonton is the least favoured. More broadly, south is most favoured, followed by west; north is least favoured (Edmonton's east side is more nebulous and can be construed as part of south or north sides).
But the history of events is also different here. Heavy industrial development mostly occurred in the east or north, with more light industrial only in the south and west ends. The University of Alberta was built on the south side of the river, in the then City of Strathcona. Edmonton's first wealthy neighbourhood, Glenora, was built due west of the central core, across a ravine, atop the river valley. The favoured suburban shopping malls were built in the south (Southgate) and west (WEM).
Geographically, southwest had access to the untamed river valley and its associated geography, as well as various creeks and ravines. There is a bit of this also along the river in the NE, but it faces refineries and other heavy industry on the other side of the river, so, less desirable. In a fairly flat prairie city like Edmonton, the river valley is the most geographically interesting part of the city, and the non-industrialized parts are where home values and growth are highest.
Because of that thinking, I'd still expect places like Golden or Valley Barrington to have some favourability in terms of wealth, development, and general interest in Denver, though initial development, reinforced by postwar employment and shopping hubs, makes sense.