Is Minneapolis a giant sprawling suburb compared to other cities?

[2952-0-0]

Compared to many other cities I've lived in and am familiar with, this is definitely true.

[Colin]

Absolutely.

[Alcon]

There's obviously an urban part, but every city pretty much has one.  Minneapolis' suburban areas are particularly lacking in village clusters and things that make suburban design tolerable.  Regional planning there is far too suburban.

It's pretty terrible.

[dead0man]

Is it worse than say, Atlanta, LA or Houston?

[Ban my account ffs!]

I voted no.

I agree that the entire metropolitan area is pretty much a huge sprawling suburb... but it's not really any different than almost every other American city in that respect.

That said, Minneapolis has a much denser core than most American cities.  First, you have two major urban cores (Minneapolis and St. Paul), putting the urban population to about double that of Atlanta's while Atlanta's metro area is much larger than the twin cities.

But I guess I shouldn't go on here... you're just trying to bait BRTD and it's quite immature.

Perhaps I should make a thread with the question:  Is Canada just a frozen tundra full of self-important eskimos?

[WalterMitty]

compared to say boston...yes.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Compared to what other cities? And the population density is almost twice that of Atlanta and Houston.

There's obviously an urban part, but every city pretty much has one.  Minneapolis' suburban areas are particularly lacking in village clusters and things that make suburban design tolerable.  Regional planning there is far too suburban.

It's pretty terrible.

Dude, what the f**k are you talking about? Almost the entire city is on a grid layout, no cul-de-sacs or the type of thing present in the "village clusters" you speak of.

[Alcon]

Dude, what the f**k are you talking about? Almost the entire city is on a grid layout, no cul-de-sacs or the type of thing present in the "village clusters" you speak of.

Uh, by village cluster, I mean an organized downtown area (not strip malls).  Which the Minneapolis suburbs, as far as I know, lack.  No?

Urban suburbs, I'm talking about.  Minneapolis's suburbs are not at all urbanized, are they?  I'm speaking to ones distinctly removed from the inner urban cluster.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Dude, what the f**k are you talking about? Almost the entire city is on a grid layout, no cul-de-sacs or the type of thing present in the "village clusters" you speak of.

Uh, by village cluster, I mean an organized downtown area (not strip malls).  Which the Minneapolis suburbs, as far as I know, lack.  No?

Yes, the Minneapolis suburbs. Not Minneapolis itself.

[Keystone Phil]

I really don't understand why little Zach obsesses over cul-de-sacs. Philly has plenty of them and we're the sixth largest city in the nation.

[Alcon]

Dude, what the f**k are you talking about? Almost the entire city is on a grid layout, no cul-de-sacs or the type of thing present in the "village clusters" you speak of.

Uh, by village cluster, I mean an organized downtown area (not strip malls).  Which the Minneapolis suburbs, as far as I know, lack.  No?

Yes, the Minneapolis suburbs. Not Minneapolis itself.

I'm looking at Minneapolis right now.  Where are the highly urban clusters outside of downtown?  I see density but suburban density.  Looks a lot like Portland that way to me.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Dude, what the f**k are you talking about? Almost the entire city is on a grid layout, no cul-de-sacs or the type of thing present in the "village clusters" you speak of.

Uh, by village cluster, I mean an organized downtown area (not strip malls).  Which the Minneapolis suburbs, as far as I know, lack.  No?

Yes, the Minneapolis suburbs. Not Minneapolis itself.

I'm looking at Minneapolis right now.  Where are the highly urban clusters outside of downtown?  I see density but suburban density.  Looks a lot like Portland that way to me.

Dinkytown.

[Ban my account ffs!]

Dude, what the f**k are you talking about? Almost the entire city is on a grid layout, no cul-de-sacs or the type of thing present in the "village clusters" you speak of.

Uh, by village cluster, I mean an organized downtown area (not strip malls).  Which the Minneapolis suburbs, as far as I know, lack.  No?

Yes, the Minneapolis suburbs. Not Minneapolis itself.

I'm looking at Minneapolis right now.  Where are the highly urban clusters outside of downtown?  I see density but suburban density.  Looks a lot like Portland that way to me.

The warehouse district, the University area, Lake Street, Uptown, Dinkytown, St. Paul...

Many suburbs also have their own downtowns as they established well before they ever became suburbs.  These include Shakopee, Osseo, Hopkins, and Wayzata.

The development of the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area occurred differently than many other cities because there were two major urban cores, hence the "Twin Cities"... and a reason why St. Paul is not a suburb of Minneapolis or vice versa.

The population of the cities exploded beginning in the 1850s, but they weren't completely filled in until about 1950.

The villages and townships around Minneapolis and St. Paul began to absorb the major growth after WWII and the grid was built well outside of the main cities.. something you don't find in many other cities.  Richfield, Edina, and Bloomington (which is actually a "2nd ring" suburb, not bordering the main cities at all) are all on the grid pattern.

You also have to keep in mind that Minneapolis/St. Paul have always been forward thinking.  When electric streetcars were the way to get around, the Twin Cities had one of the most extensive networks in the nation.  When buses and cars became the norm, it was one of the first to dig up the tracks and switch completely over rendering the landscape unrecognizable with new freeways being put in every year... vast tracts of houses built only a few years before being demolished to make way for the freeways..

Now with new urbanism becoming popular, it was the first American city to reach its WWII peak downtown population exploding from just 19,000 in 1990 to around 35,000 today.

So, you can call it "suburban" to spite BRTD, but it still remains one of the more urban cities in the country, and Minneapolis and St. Paul haven't seen the flight and blight that other cities have so they don't have to relinquish the title of entertainment/labor center out to the suburbs.


Oh, and I don't have to fcuking impress you. 

[2952-0-0]

London and Hong Kong will trounce anything in North America in terms of urbanity, barring the official part of NYC.

The urbanized area of Toronto is denser than anything in North America barring Montreal and NYC. But it's unique in having oceans of cookie cutter suburbs with archipelagos of highrises. So it's more "urban" than any other city on the continent of comparable size. It's still a huge sprawling suburb compared to Hong Kong.

[Ban my account ffs!]

London and Hong Kong will trounce anything in North America in terms of urbanity, barring the official part of NYC.

The urbanized area of Toronto is denser than anything in North America barring Montreal and NYC. But it's unique in having oceans of cookie cutter suburbs with archipelagos of highrises. So it's more "urban" than any other city on the continent of comparable size. It's still a huge sprawling suburb compared to Hong Kong.

I doubt it.  Hong Kong is actually quite sparse in some areas (I've been there).  It is very spread out due to a lack of developable land so they have built it densely out of necessity.

Tokyo is by far the most impressive and urban city in the world (and don't even come at me with the whole "OMG TOKYO ISN'T A CITY IT'S A CONGLOMERATION" crap)

Sorry for the image size.

Removed the picture.. it was too big.  Just type in "Tokyo Aerial" in the Google Image search.

[2952-0-0]

I've lived in Hong Kong for seven years, and you need to understand that everyone barring the super-super wealthy lives in huge highrises. Even then many wealthy people live in huge condos with a stunning ocean and mountain view.

The vast majority of the official area of Hong Kong (75% IIRC) are designated parkland (they even include campgrounds), so considering those areas as urban is like considering the Catskills as part of NYC. Thus, the genuine urban area is much, much, much denser than anything outside of East Asia.

Of course, it will soon be engulfed by the Chinese mega-mega-mega-cities of 100 million.

[Willy Woz]

I have one finger on "ignore" for the next person who says "suburbs" in a post.

[exopolitician]

I honestly dont care. Ive never been to Minneapolis and I dont plan on going anytime soon.

[ilikeverin]

Yes, it is, praise the lord!

[Alcon]

Oh, and I don't have to fcuking impress you. 

OK, I was going on what I've read elsewhere and saw on a five-minute Google Maps trip.  You can feel free to drop my head from the clasp of your jaws now. 

I'll look up some density distribution stats when I get home and we can prove this either way.  Sound good?

[Verily]

In the US, more so than the cities of the East Coast (particularly the Northeast, not Atlanta, Miami, etc.), which are older and more compact. Less so than those of Texas, Arizona, California (except San Francisco).

[Хahar 🤔]

I have one finger on "ignore" for the next person who says "suburbs" in a post.

Suburbs!

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

OK seriously question: How many suburbs have 12 strip clubs within their borders?

[2952-0-0]

http://www.clubzone.com/c4/Mississauga/Adult_Club.html

Mississauga has 10, and that's from a population of 660K or so.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

So in other words, less per capita than Minneapolis.