Is your city split more along north-south or east-west lines?

[drummer]

Austin is fairly East-West, especially along the I-35 line. It's mixing up a bit now and there are certainly other lines, but that's the historic divide, I think. Others may be able to elaborate more.

[ue]

Originally Posted by The Chemist

Shanghai is split east/west by the Huangpu River, which used to provide a geographical barrier (the first permanent road links weren't built across the river until 1991). To this day, the two halves of the city are referred to as Puxi (West of the River) and Pudong (East of the River).

My birth city of Dublin has a pretty severe North South divide, again produced by a river, this time the Liffey.

That's crazy. I know there's emphasis on how much Shanghai has grown since the '80s, but even in 1990, it had over 10 million people.

[InTheBurbs]

Houston - East/West, roughly along I-45, or I-45 north/TX-288 south
Tucson - North/South
Phoenix - East Valley vs. West Valley
Denver - North/South
Austin - Could be East/West along I-35 as Drummer mentioned, but there's also a North Austin/South Austin divide at the river as well though maybe not as much as in the past.

[The ATX]

I would say the river splitting Austin N & S is used just as much as I-35 is used for splitting the city E & W. It depends on the context of the discussion as to which one is used.

[Swede]

Stockholm is very much North/South. Been so since before the city even existed. Old medival province border runs just south of the Old Town. It's a natural border since it's lake Mälaren to the west and the Baltic Sea to the east (both full of islands big and small til far out from the city).
Until the 1930s there was only one place to cross from north (include the Old Town) to south. Even today there's only 4 road/street bridges, 1 railway bridge, 1 subway bridge and 1 LRT bridge.

The south is generally poorer och has less workplaces. The north also has both airports and all the older universities & colleges.

[MolsonExport]

East-West Totally. Even though the railway tracks that cleave London (Ontario) run east-West (thus you would expect a North-South split), East London is decidedly unkempt, decaying, and "the other side of the tracks" whereas West London is the "better", growing side of town.

There is even a term for the divide: It is called "East of Adelaide" (as in Adelaide Street...to the East is described as shitsville).

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Private Dick

Pittsburgh is a tough one to classify with discrete directional classifications because the city, surrounding municipalities/suburbs are just craziness scattered about all the hills. I'd say North-South for an overall regional viewpoint (north being north of the Allegheny or Ohio or along the Allegheny and south being south of the Monongahela or Ohio or along the Monongahela). There's the defined Northside vs. Southside in the city and North Hills vs. South Hills suburbs, but the East End is the most cohesive, populated, and developed section of the city... without a West End of the same stature to complement it... and then there's the eastern suburbs and all the towns that are located up and down the rivers... so, it's tough to really say. The region is highly divided by rivers, hills, and valleys much more than it is by compass direction.

Pittsburgh is also weird because while the eastern part of the city is by far the wealthiest, the eastern suburbs are the poorest suburban quadrant overall.



Older map (much of the city is richer now), but you get the idea. Some of the wealthiest census tracts in the county are within the East End inside city limits, but the eastern suburbs are basically all declining now, save for a little more urban area right by the city.

[CherryCreek]

Originally Posted by InTheBurbs

Houston - East/West, roughly along I-45, or I-45 north/TX-288 south
Tucson - North/South
Phoenix - East Valley vs. West Valley
Denver - North/South
Austin - Could be East/West along I-35 as Drummer mentioned, but there's also a North Austin/South Austin divide at the river as well though maybe not as much as in the past.

I compared the educational attainment map recently linked on here with your descriptions and it largely confirms things. The map is a great tool for answering the question asked.

Houston:
http://personal.tcu.edu/kylewalker/m...29.658/-95.062


Tucson:
http://personal.tcu.edu/kylewalker/m...2528/-110.4185

Phoenix:http://personal.tcu.edu/kylewalker/m...6187/-111.7289

Denver:
http://personal.tcu.edu/kylewalker/m...8405/-104.6238

Austin:

http://personal.tcu.edu/kylewalker/m....3100/-97.7352

[montréaliste]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

East-West Totally. Even though the railway tracks that cleave London (Ontario) run east-West (thus you would expect a North-South split), East London is decidedly unkempt, decaying, and "the other side of the tracks" whereas West London is the "better", growing side of town.

There is even a term for the divide: It is called "East of Adelaide" (as in Adelaide Street...to the East is described as shitsville).

The term "shitsville" has an immediacy and strong visual and olfactory quality that helps us understand the place in a jiffy.

[Docere]

North-south (say along Eglinton) works best for Toronto in the sense in terms of urban form: all of the core neighborhoods are in the south and all north of there is suburban in character. Though there are of course suburban sections south of Eglinton, of course, in Scarborough and Etobicoke.

If it's wealth, probably best to split into thirds: west, east and central with most wealth being in the central corridor.

One could also split the "boroughs" too. Old Toronto would be more north-south, say along Dupont, with the core and older part of the city being south.

North York has a very sharp east/west split (east of Allen/Dufferin being more affluent, west is more Italian/Black/Latin American, east is more Asian/Jewish/Russian) and there are basically two Etobicokes, north and south (south is very white overall, north is very Black/South Asian). Scarborough is probably more north/south in terms of urban form, but there isn't a sharp class difference between the two halves.

[mousquet]

Western Paris is more affluent, more right-wing and cleaner, generally speaking.
The East side is rougher, dirtier and widely left-wing.

That split is proven to the scales of both Central Paris and the metro area.
If you're not sectarian, you'll find both have their good and wrong aspects.
Otherwise (if you are sectarian indeed), you'd better pick your right side.

[mrnyc]

the crooked cuyahoga river notoriously cleves the land into distinctly eastside and westside and the north coast great lake erie forces the issue, as does the large national park to the south. that is all.

[drummer]

Originally Posted by The ATX

I would say the river splitting Austin N & S is used just as much as I-35 is used for splitting the city E & W. It depends on the context of the discussion as to which one is used.

That's very true as well.

[Chef]

Minneapolis proper is very much a north-south city. It doesn't even have an east or west side. The metro is very much east-west though, the Minneapolis side and the St Paul side. The eastern suburbs are St Paul suburbs.

St Paul itself is an east-west city. The western half of the city is a lot like Minneapolis, the eastern half is rust belt and redneck.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by Chef

St Paul itself is an east-west city. The western half of the city is a lot like Minneapolis, the eastern half is rust belt and redneck.

I've heard St. Paul's described as the westernmost Eastern city and Minneapolis the easternmost city in the West.

[dave8721]

South Florida in general is East-West with the more affluent living closer to the ocean (sea breeze, less hot summer, short commute). There is a slight inconsistency though in that as you go from the Coast inland you usually go from fabulously wealthy, to wealthy, to dirt poor pretty quickly (especially in North Dade) but the middle class often lies even farther inland so its not a complete downward trajectory east to west. Its more like verticle ribbons. Wealthy on the coast. Poor in the middle, Middle class pushed out to the edge of the Everglades.
Within the Miami area in particular there is also a bit of North-South with the South side being more suburban and affluent and white (and more white hispanics).

Educational attainment map as usual shows it pretty well:
http://personal.tcu.edu/kylewalker/m....8569/-80.1382

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by Docere

I've heard St. Paul's described as the westernmost Eastern city and Minneapolis the easternmost city in the West.

i've never heard that, but i can imagine i guess. i have heard that for st. louis and kansas city.

[mrnyc]

^ hmm, i've heard that as well for mpls and st paul, but not about st louis & kc.

no doubt you could come up with things like that for any pairings though.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Docere

I've heard St. Paul's described as the westernmost Eastern city and Minneapolis the easternmost city in the West.

i've heard that before as well, and i lived up in the twin cities for several years back in college, but i honestly don't know what it means.

minneapolis and st. paul are FAR more similar to each other than they are to any other amercian cities, east or west, hence the "twin cities" nickname.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

^ hmm, i've heard that as well for mpls and st paul, but not about st louis & kc.

no doubt you could come up with things like that for any pairings though.

western-y scene in kansas city:

https://goo.gl/maps/d4LTSP1yfFy

easterny scene in st. louis:

https://goo.gl/maps/BwGouGf4JFs

the differences between st. paul and minneapolis are certainly there, but i don't read them as east vs west. it was admittedly harder to find a really contrasting street scene because i am far less familiar with the twin cities.

however, the way i read minneapolis vs st. paul is prairie/rail upper midwestern vs an upper midwestern version of a river city. i once took a touristy bus tour of the twin cities (dont laugh) and they really hemmed that point home, in fact much of the earliest irish immigration into st. paul came up river through st. louis.