Ranking of city size by Intuition. - Page 4

LA21st · #61 Posted **Jan 18, 2019, 7:52 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by homebucket

I had Boston at #4, behind Chicago and ahead of LA. DTLA, while improving dramatically, still lags behind in terms of pedestrian experience. You can go through several blocks of DTLA and not see any other pedestrians or interesting storefronts.

Where in downtown LA do you not see other pedestrains for several blocks? And when does this happen?
I don't buy that at all.

jtown,man · #62 Posted **Jan 18, 2019, 7:59 PM**

To add some thoughts(and build on what others have said):

I remember as a kid driving up 95(I think) in Philadelphia with the family. I just have a view of rowhouse after rowhouse seemingly going on forever. I had just came back to the states from Japan and finally saw some urbanism that matched what I have seen ( to some extent, of course) living in Japan. So yeah, Philly hits really really high, even accounting for its metro size.

LA. Flying into the city at night from the east is incredible. Again, it gave me a Tokyo feel(from the sky, to be exact).

KB0679 · #63 Posted **Jan 18, 2019, 8:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAYNYC

Sorry dude. Any word (including "city") means what it is defined to mean. Definitions are black-and-white - there are no grey areas; if there were, there would be an ongoing debate over the relevancy of a dictionary. So, "city" refers to a city, "metropolitan statistical area" refers to a metropolitan statistical area, and, although you won't admit it, you've elected to adjust the definition of city so that it fits your desired meaning for the purposes of this thread discussion, which refers to "city" verbatim in its title - NOT metropolitan statistical area.

There is overlap in all of these definitions.

I think urbanized area comes closest to what most of us think of as cities.

homebucket · #64 Posted **Jan 18, 2019, 8:08 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by LA21st

Where in downtown LA do you not see other pedestrains for several blocks? And when does this happen?
I don't buy that at all.

I walked from the Broad to Staples Center vía Flower. And another time from Grand Central to City Hall to Little Tokyo. There were certainly many people at the destinations, but very little in between. You don’t get that consistent, continuous experience like you do in NYC, SF, Chicago.

CherryCreek · #65 Posted **Jan 18, 2019, 8:17 PM**

The poster ask people to rank cities by "intuition.:

in·tu·i·tion

/ˌint(y)o͞oˈiSH(ə)n/
noun

:the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning.

Those of you posting facts and data to support your posts on this one are out of line.

LA21st · #66 Posted **Jan 18, 2019, 8:24 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by homebucket

I walked from the Broad to Staples Center vía Flower. And another time from Grand Central to City Hall to Little Tokyo. There were certainly many people at the destinations, but very little in between. You don’t get that consistent, continuous experience like you do in NYC, SF, Chicago.

It's not like those cities, but I'm visiting those areas on the weekend. It's very strange that's theres' no pedestrians in between those destinations. Grand Central to Little Tokyo is basically the historic core, and it has a sizeable population around there. Unless you're counting the civic center or something, but even then...
Flower St (south of 7th) has alot of new resdential and hotels going towards Staples, and I always see residents walkng about.

JAYNYC · #67 Posted **Jan 18, 2019, 8:31 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by KB0679

I think urbanized area comes closest to what most of us think of as cities.

Perhaps.

But my point to the previous posters who sought to debate the definition of "city" was that the THREAD TITLE specifically refers to "city", and not to "urbanized area', "MSA", or anything else.

homebucket · #68 Posted **Jan 18, 2019, 8:34 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by LA21st

It's not like those cities, but I'm visiting those areas on the weekend. It's very strange that's theres' no pedestrians in between those destinations. Grand Central to Little Tokyo is basically the historic core, and it has a sizeable population around there. Unless you're counting the civic center or something, but even then...
Flower St (south of 7th) has alot of new resdential and hotels going towards Staples, and I always see residents walkng about.

It’s likely the area I walked around is quieter on the weekends when there’s no office workers around. Every city has that problem aside from NYC, which is in a league of its own. But yeah it’s good to see that residential development happening. It’ll help fill those quieter gaps. Along with more shops and restaurants, the DTLA experience will continue to improve.

ATXboom · #69 Posted **Jan 18, 2019, 8:35 PM**

Top10: Based on feeling of urbanity of cities I have visited:

1. NYC
2. Chicago
3. Toronto
4. Boston
5. SF
6. Philly
7. Montreal
8. D.C.
9. Seattle
10. Vancouver

mhays · #70 Posted **Jan 18, 2019, 8:36 PM**

My list would be very different if counting the lateral vastness of a place vs. the feeling from one spot.

JAYNYC · #71 Posted **Jan 18, 2019, 8:38 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by homebucket

I had Boston at #4, behind Chicago and ahead of LA. DTLA, while improving dramatically, still lags behind in terms of pedestrian experience. You can go through several blocks of DTLA and not see any other pedestrians or interesting storefronts.

Goes without saying, but there's a LOT more to L.A. than DTLA. If you're only factoring DTLA into your intuitive consideration (and, as a result, suggesting Boston "feels" bigger), you might want to adjust your perspective on L.A.

mhays · #72 Posted **Jan 18, 2019, 8:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAYNYC

Perhaps.

But my point to the previous posters who sought to debate the definition of "city" was that the THREAD TITLE specifically refers to "city", and not to "urbanized area', "MSA", or anything else.

I don't think you understood his point, which is the same as mine. The word "city" can mean more than you think.

Steely Dan · #73 Posted **Jan 18, 2019, 8:42 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAYNYC

Perhaps.

But my point to the previous posters who sought to debate the definition of "city" was that the THREAD TITLE specifically refers to "city", and not to "urbanized area', "MSA", or anything else.

you're new around here, so i'll fill ya in.

on SSP, most people understand a term like "city" to refer to more than just the literal municipal incorporation limits drawn on a map.

it's often much more useful to understand a "city" as a given urban human settlement, disregarding the arbitrary political subdivision lines on the map.

and yes, sometimes "city" is used in the political sense to refer to just the municipal entity itself, but the definition is never limited to just that around here.

stick around for a couple decades, you'll eventually get the hang of it.

LA21st · #74 Posted **Jan 18, 2019, 8:44 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by homebucket

It’s likely the area I walked around is quieter on the weekends when there’s no office workers around. Every city has that problem aside from NYC, which is in a league of its own. But yeah it’s good to see that residential development happening. It’ll help fill those quieter gaps. Along with more shops and restaurants, the DTLA experience will continue to improve.

Yea, I think of that Flower Street likely included Bunker Hill, which is downtown LA"s dullest area. I don't hang around there lol.
But there's parts like that in Chicago (Illinois Center) and DC too.

ChrisLA · #75 Posted **Jan 18, 2019, 8:57 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by LA21st

Yea, I think of that Flower Street likely included Bunker Hill, which is downtown LA"s dullest area. I don't hang around there lol.
But there's parts like that in Chicago (Illinois Center) and DC too.

And parts in NYC, ever walked around Wall Street on a Sunday, not a soul around for blocks, its down right scary.

KB0679 · #76 Posted **Jan 18, 2019, 8:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAYNYC

Perhaps.

But my point to the previous posters who sought to debate the definition of "city" was that the THREAD TITLE specifically refers to "city", and not to "urbanized area', "MSA", or anything else.

That's where the intuition part comes in. Intuition tells you that you're still in the same 'city' when you travel into Silver Spring, Bethesda, or Takoma Park from DC.

The term "city" means more than an incorporated municipality and you seemingly want to restrict it to that one technical definition.

Crawford · #77 Posted **Jan 18, 2019, 9:24 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisLA

And parts in NYC, ever walked around Wall Street on a Sunday, not a soul around for blocks, its down right scary.

I don't believe this, at least not within the last 30 years.

Wall Street is heavily residential at this point, very active on nights/weekends, and getting typical off-hour amenities like Whole Foods, mega gyms like Lifetime, hotels, etc. and most financial services have been in Midtown for decades.

I mean, all the old stock exchange buildings are now residential/retail. "Wall Street" isn't on Wall Street. Deutsche, the last major firm, is relocating uptown.

Antares41 · #78 Posted **Jan 18, 2019, 9:30 PM**

Been to all the top 25 US/Canadian cities except San Antonio.

My top ten:

1) NYC
2) LA
3) Chicago
4) Toronto
5) San Francisco
6) Philadelphia
7) Dallas/Fort Worth
8) Houston
9) Montreal
10)Boston

Other cities like Atlanta, Seattle, DC, and Minneapolis/St. Paul to mention a few are pretty close to my top ten.

Some city like Detroit, St. Louis and Cleveland give me the sense of having been much larger cities just by the grandiose structures of the past century.

Conversely Phoenix and Riverside CA, just don't feel as large as the population figures would lead me to believe.

mcgrath618 · #79 Posted **Jan 18, 2019, 9:35 PM**

1. New York
2. Chicago
3. Philadelphia
4. San Fransisco
5. Houston
6. LA
7. Boston
8. Dallas/Ft. Worth
9. Denver
10. Miami

I have been to most of these, just not Dallas, Houston and Denver (but I plan on going this year).

edale · #80 Posted **Jan 18, 2019, 9:38 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by LA21st

Where in downtown LA do you not see other pedestrains for several blocks? And when does this happen?
I don't buy that at all.

This is definitely possible in the north/northwest section of Downtown, especially on a weekend.

This area: https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0574...7i13312!8i6656 In fact, there are only a couple of pedestrians visible for a few blocks around here on the streetview!

Civic Center is pretty dead outside of work hours, too. It's pretty lively during the day (I work in Civic Center), but at night or on weekends it's very sleepy. Hopefully this will improve a bit with all the planned developments around this area, but as others have said, all cities have portions of their CBDs that are dead outside of work hours. I remember walking through portions of the Loop at night a few years ago and I (along with my friend) were literally the only people around for several blocks. It was winter time, but even if it weren't I don't think it would have made much difference. I mean, why would there be people out walking around an area that's almost exclusively office and commercial serving said office space at 10:00 at night?