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  #21  
Old Posted Aug 20, 2020, 4:13 PM
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Originally Posted by eschaton View Post
I wanted to keep the discussion kinda broad. Didn't see the reason to have threads for both medium-small and tiny cities. The point was more to avoid discussing major metro areas.
I see. I guess for an US discussion that might be appropriate as a 500,000 urban area feel much less urban than a Latin American: https://www.google.com/search?q=Lond...w=1600&bih=766 or European: https://www.google.com/search?q=Edin...t=firefox-b-ab

I've never been to the US, but from pictures Duluth seems to be urban, not so sure how it looks on the ground.
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  #22  
Old Posted Aug 20, 2020, 4:23 PM
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I lived in Peterborough NH for a while...quaint little town.


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  #23  
Old Posted Aug 20, 2020, 4:38 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by yuriandrade View Post
I see. I guess for an US discussion that might be appropriate as a 500,000 urban area feel much less urban than a Latin American: https://www.google.com/search?q=Lond...w=1600&bih=766 or European: https://www.google.com/search?q=Edin...t=firefox-b-ab

I've never been to the US, but from pictures Duluth seems to be urban, not so sure how it looks on the ground.
Dude, just look at Google Streetview for Duluth. Not very urban at all.

In fact, looking at some of the towns people have mentioned on Google Streetview, they don't seem to meet the criteria of the OP.

When I saw the thread title, for me, my favorite North American small urban city is San Francisco.
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  #24  
Old Posted Aug 20, 2020, 4:58 PM
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Originally Posted by sopas ej View Post
Dude, just look at Google Streetview for Duluth. Not very urban at all.

In fact, looking at some of the towns people have mentioned on Google Streetview, they don't seem to meet the criteria of the OP.

When I saw the thread title, for me, my favorite North American small urban city is San Francisco.
The criteria is under 150,000 residents

In what world is SF a small city?
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  #25  
Old Posted Aug 20, 2020, 5:02 PM
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Originally Posted by sopas ej View Post
Dude, just look at Google Streetview for Duluth. Not very urban at all.

In fact, looking at some of the towns people have mentioned on Google Streetview, they don't seem to meet the criteria of the OP.

When I saw the thread title, for me, my favorite North American small urban city is San Francisco.
Duluth has a pretty urban downtown, but the density level drops quickly after that. It starts transitioning to single-family houses only six blocks up from the lakefront. There is a little bit of "old urbanism" left however.

I do think the stance that nothing smaller than San Francisco is urban is kind of extreme though.
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  #26  
Old Posted Aug 20, 2020, 5:02 PM
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Nearly 10 million in CSA. One of the largest metropolitan economies on the planet. Sounds pretty small to me.
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  #27  
Old Posted Aug 20, 2020, 5:13 PM
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Originally Posted by sopas ej View Post
When I saw the thread title, for me, my favorite North American small urban city is San Francisco.
You must be from Coruscant.

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  #28  
Old Posted Aug 20, 2020, 5:14 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by edale View Post
The criteria is under 150,000 residents

In what world is SF a small city?
When I saw the thread title, San Francisco was the city that instantly popped into my head. And then when I clicked on the thread, I saw the criteria.

San Francisco is physically small; it's basically 7 miles by 7 miles. In my multitude of visits to it, I think I can pretty much say that I've walked nearly in all sections of the city, and I've literally walked from east to west (Financial District to Sutro Baths), and north to south of it (Sutro Baths to Lake Merced). I didn't do both walks in the same day; I did east to west on one day and north to south another day... but I can say I've done both.

Seattle to me is a small city too. I've never been there, but I know the population is smaller than SF, and it's not big in area either. Maybe it's because I'm from LA? I have a friend who around 2001 or 2003 moved to Seattle, and after a year, he moved back to LA. He got bored with Seattle really fast.
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  #29  
Old Posted Aug 20, 2020, 5:16 PM
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Paris is physically smaller than SF. You really think Paris is a small city?

Paris has a larger prewar, walkable geography than Tokyo, Shanghai, Moscow, Sao Paulo and Seoul.
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  #30  
Old Posted Aug 20, 2020, 5:17 PM
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In general, I feel like the Midwest has slim pickings.

Dayton barely qualifies in terms of population. I would say the Oregon District is a legit nice urban neighborhood - much better than anything found in Akron or Toledo. It has a nice business district, and cool historic homes on the back streets. That said, it's just one small neighborhood in a generally economically depressed city.

Another run down city with good bones is Evansville, Indiana. There's a nice neighborhood just to the south of downtown called Riverside. Some cool historic architecture, but not much in the way of vitality.

La Crosse, WI has an awesome downtown for its size. But typical of a lot of upper midwest cities, there really aren't any old urban neighborhoods of note remaining adjacent to downtown.

There's obviously a few little boutique locations like Galena IL as well. There's some legit rowhouses on the back streets there, which is rare in the upper Midwest.
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  #31  
Old Posted Aug 20, 2020, 5:26 PM
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Some of my favorites (don't have pics, on my phone):

- Rehoboth Beach, DE
- Duluth, MN
- Saugatuck, MI
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  #32  
Old Posted Aug 20, 2020, 5:27 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Crawford View Post
Paris is physically smaller than SF. You really think Paris is a small city?
In area, yes. At least from tourist spot to tourist spot. Very small distances. Notre Dame to Eiffel Tower is only 3 miles. Eiffel Tower to Palace of Versailles is only 12 miles; from the way people talked, they made it seem it was out in the boonies. Wilshire Boulevard in LA is 15 miles, from downtown LA to Santa Monica. Nobody talks about Santa Monica being out in the boonies. My commute in the SGV is 8 miles one way, and for many southern Californians, that'd be considered a short commute.

Yes, Paris has a "big city" feel, but it's physically very small. At least the parts you want to be in.
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  #33  
Old Posted Aug 20, 2020, 5:31 PM
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In general, I feel like the Midwest has slim pickings.
I agree, but I think it's more the nation's midsection. Like everything west of the Appalachians, excluding the Ohio River Valley, basically through the Great Plains.

I mean, Texas really doesn't have a lot of quality small town urbanity. Even bigger towns like Amarillo and Lubbock have pathetic cores. Granted, TX was poor and ranching-oriented in the prewar era, but still. There's almost nothing.
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  #34  
Old Posted Aug 20, 2020, 5:34 PM
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Originally Posted by sopas ej View Post
In area, yes. At least from tourist spot to tourist spot. Very small distances. Notre Dame to Eiffel Tower is only 3 miles. Eiffel Tower to Palace of Versailles is only 12 miles; from the way people talked, they made it seem it was out in the boonies. Wilshire Boulevard in LA is 15 miles, from downtown LA to Santa Monica. Nobody talks about Santa Monica being out in the boonies. My commute in the SGV is 8 miles one way, and for many southern Californians, that'd be considered a short commute.

Yes, Paris has a "big city" feel, but it's physically very small. At least the parts you want to be in.
Eh. The primary way that people experience urban areas is on foot. A three-mile walk takes the average person around an hour or so. People can and do walk for an hour, but they're not going to do it as part of their normal routine. Most people stay within a 10-15 minute walk of their house if they live in a walkable area (otherwise they rely upon transit or something).

The smallest cities are basically the equivalent of a single neighborhood in a larger city. When you get up to say 150,000 people you could have 3-6 different walkable neighborhoods to choose from. Once you get past that it's assuredly much more of a "mid-sized city" than anything.
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  #35  
Old Posted Aug 20, 2020, 5:40 PM
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Victoria, BC.
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  #36  
Old Posted Aug 20, 2020, 5:44 PM
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Originally Posted by Crawford View Post
I agree, but I think it's more the nation's midsection. Like everything west of the Appalachians, excluding the Ohio River Valley, basically through the Great Plains.

I mean, Texas really doesn't have a lot of quality small town urbanity. Even bigger towns like Amarillo and Lubbock have pathetic cores. Granted, TX was poor and ranching-oriented in the prewar era, but still. There's almost nothing.
Galveston maybe? It was badly damaged of course by the 1900 hurricane, but there's some traditional urbanity downtown, and some historic homes survive - even less grand ones.

Of course, Galveston has been semi-absorbed by the Houston MSA these days, so it probably doesn't count any longer.
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  #37  
Old Posted Aug 20, 2020, 5:47 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Crawford View Post
I agree, but I think it's more the nation's midsection. Like everything west of the Appalachians, excluding the Ohio River Valley, basically through the Great Plains.

I mean, Texas really doesn't have a lot of quality small town urbanity. Even bigger towns like Amarillo and Lubbock have pathetic cores. Granted, TX was poor and ranching-oriented in the prewar era, but still. There's almost nothing.
That was one of my first impressions when I moved down here. Huge contrast to the northeast where just about every small town/ village has a quaint town center.
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  #38  
Old Posted Aug 20, 2020, 5:56 PM
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Originally Posted by Boisebro View Post
Victoria, BC.
Definitely Victoria. Also, Kingston Ontario.

Before the creation of the Halifax Regional Municipality, the original core city of Halifax would have been right up there with Victoria.
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  #39  
Old Posted Aug 20, 2020, 6:05 PM
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It's also worth noting, when discussing small cities, there's a few blocks of Albany, NY where you would think you were in Brooklyn. It's really only an area about three blocks deep and seven blocks long, but its still quite nice. Plenty of other remaining rowhouse neighborhoods in the city too...some of them upscale and white, some of them working class and black.

Albany could have been such an incredibly cool little city if Empire State Plaza hadn't ripped out the heart of it.
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  #40  
Old Posted Aug 20, 2020, 6:07 PM
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In general, New England’s small towns have the most charm for me, especially if they are near the ocean.
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