Island neighborhoods

[memph]

Shamian Island in Guangzhou (colonial name - Canton) is a small island along the Zhujiang river separated from the mainland by a canal. It was home to the British and French colonial concessions. Although it's only 2 blocks by 6 blocks in size, it's certainly quite distinct and historically significant.


https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d3d514f3...7447919f1c.jpg


https://photos.nomadicnotes.com/img/...35391582-4.jpg


https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f6/8b...19b9ceee3f.jpg

[Austinlee]

Man, this is a fun thread.
- Cedar Rapids and Aurora, IL are pretty neat. Love those whimsical little islands.
- The one in Cairo is really interesting - Looks super dense.
- The mansion islands in Miami are always fascinating.
- Neville Island & Washington's Landing in Pgh are ones that I am familiar with so it's neat to see those on here as well.

[paytonc]

When settlers first arrived in Minneapolis, six islands dotted the Mississippi above St. Anthony Falls. Only one remains: Nicollet Island, population ~150. Most of it was purchased for parkland in the postwar years, but some Victorian houses, a Catholic high school, and an inn remain.


Nicollet Island by Payton Chung, on Flickr


dscf0097 by Michael Hicks, on Flickr


One of a handful of beautiful Victorian houses on Nicollet Island, Minneapolis by Eric Allix Rogers, on Flickr

[mrnyc]

^ nicollet island is a nice place to walk around!


***


what about city's with no islands, but ... with islands? cleveland has those, whisky island and duck island.

a very crooked river lends itself to that kind of thing, i suppose.

however, cleveland once could have an island, a man-made one. it was a funny, but very real plan put forward by nasa for a new airport, a jetport island on lake erie. they just assumed noisey supersonic travel was going to be a thing baxck then, so the plans had legs and went thru serious debates and expensive feasability studies. this plan dragged from 1969-1978 before it was formally quashed.

eventually the dredging from the cuyahoga that would have been used was and i think still is occasionally dumped further on the eastside lakefront and is a settling nature park peninsula.

https://clevelandhistorical.org/item...8#&gid=1&pid=6

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

There is something interesting about city neighborhoods that are islands. Maybe some of it is the obvious connection to water, whether it's accessible or inaccessible; every fringe of the neighborhood has some type of waterfront views. Maybe some of it is that the water is a barrier, which insulates the neighborhood. Maybe it's something else. In any case, there are quite a few island neighborhoods around the world.

Which are your favorites, and why?

Some examples:

~ Roosevelt Island in New York City, one of the only places in the borough of Manhattan that's not on the big island.
~ City Island in New York City, a section of the Bronx that has a New England feel.

well actually of course, four of the five nyc boros are islands.

and its funny, but for nyc all the boros also have islands, or islandlets ... and non-island islands, like coney island.

but you forgot the most populated small island of nyc. i understand, because its rikers. its got an average of 10k jail guests and 1-2k staff population. similar population to roosevelt actually, but with any upticks and with visitors often more by the day. of course, rikers has much lower population these days with drops in crime and covid related releases and the like. it fell to below 4k prisoners in april, thankfully, the lowest since the 1940s. city island has 4-5k.

also of some interest, the nyc area is actually an archipelago, so while i guess the islands are islands the rivers are not really true rivers. well, the hudson is eventually, but not until you get way up north past the ocean water around albany. there have even been whale sightings up there.

the area also becomes a fjord as you head just up the hudson way. it sure looks like one.

way back when the dutch explorers and settlers were quick to describe it this way, but we don't really think of it all an archipelago and fjord very much today, do we?!

[ThePhun1]

Originally Posted by JManc

Clear Lake Shores



Tiki Island

Don't forget Pelican Island neighboring Galveston.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

^ nicollet island is a nice place to walk around!


***


what about city's with no islands, but ... with islands? cleveland has those, whisky island and duck island.

a very crooked river lends itself to that kind of thing, i suppose.

however, cleveland once could have an island, a man-made one. it was a funny, but very real plan put forward by nasa for a new airport, a jetport island on lake erie. they just assumed noisey supersonic travel was going to be a thing baxck then, so the plans had legs and went thru serious debates and expensive feasability studies. this plan dragged from 1969-1978 before it was formally quashed.

eventually the dredging from the cuyahoga that would have been used was and i think still is occasionally dumped further on the eastside lakefront and is a settling nature park peninsula.

https://clevelandhistorical.org/item...8#&gid=1&pid=6

I raise you the 1970 plan for a third Chicago airport:

(from https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicag...t?oid=71436245 , see article for more details)

[mrnyc]

^ why of course daley heard about it and copied off the little chicago -- i see it didn't get as far along though and aggravate everyone for years and years -- luckily for chicago, only a couple years of the nonsense.

[TexasPlaya]

Tiki Island, TX (north of Galveston TX in the Houston metro)

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

I raise you the 1970 plan for a third Chicago airport:

here's a rough sense of how absurd a perfectly circular 5 mile diameter island would've looked on a map of the southern end of lake michigan.




thank god that went nowhere.

just think of all of those glorious "over the water" shots of the skyline from the dunes that would've been ruined!

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

here's a rough sense of how absurd a perfectly circular 5 mile diameter island would've looked on a map of the southern end of lake michigan.




thank god that went nowhere.

just think of all of those glorious "over the water" shots of the skyline from the dunes that would've been ruined!

On the other hand it would be super convenient for UChicago!

[TheShekelcounter]

The Town of Longboat Key...easy...second place Siesta Key (but not a town really)

[SpongeG]

There is a little one in Vancouver, it sits in south Vancouver in the North arm of the Fraser River. It is called Deering Island and is all residential with a small park. It's pretty exclusive and in a hard area to reach, and it is pretty close to the airport which is just south of it.


michaelgeller.ca


youlivechina.com


mapio.net

[RC14]

Perhaps, Hat Island, near Everett, WA?

[edale]

This is a cool thread. I love the Iowa City example, where they put their municipal buildings on an island in the river. Given the lack of spatial constraints in a place like Iowa, it seems like an unlikely place for such a thing. Also liked the Illinois example.

While it's not a neighborhood, per se, the town of Avalon on Catalina Island is part of LA County. It has a population of just over 3,700.

[SIGSEGV]

Sault Ste. Marie (US) seems to have a downtown on an island:



but it looks like it's really a canal?

[MolsonExport]

probably the old lock system

The falls proved a choke point for shipping between the Great Lakes. Early ships traveling to and from Lake Superior were portaged around the rapids[11] in a lengthy process (much like moving a house) that could take weeks. Later, only the cargoes were unloaded, hauled around the rapids, and then loaded onto other ships waiting below the rapids. The first American lock, the State Lock, was built in 1855; it was instrumental in improving shipping. The lock has been expanded and improved over the years.

[MolsonExport]

Prince Rupert (BC, Canada) is on an island

wikipedia

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

probably the old lock system

it's actually the feeder canal for the hydroelectric plant.

so downtown sault ste. marie, MI is on an man-made island.

[MolsonExport]

Richmond BC (where I lived for 3 years) is completely on an island (actually two, as it includes the island with the Int'l Airport, but the latter has few people residing). Lulu island also contains an enclave of another municipality (tip closest to the bottom), New Westminster.

bcrobyn


wikipedia