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I see what you're saying but what I'm saying is I think theres a difference between knowing a city is large as apposed to feeling like you're in a large city. For example, if I didn't realize how big Los Angeles was area-wise, and I was just walking through a neighborhood with single family homes, I'm not going to think it's some HUGE city. If I'm walking through a neighborhood in Boston but don't know that it's smaller but it's still very urban Chicago-like or New York-like I'm going to think it's a bigger city. Just my thoughts though.
1. LA has dense single family homes again LA urban area is nearly 3 times denser than Boston. But for MSA, Boston is 4,588,680 in 4,674 sq. mi, LA is 12,874,797 in 4850.3 sq. mi LA metro area-wise isn't that big. 2. Many be this is a sunbelt thing, but I don't judge by walking a neighborhood. To get the dynamics you have to tour or move around not just LA continuous sprawl but it's continuous density. How about this Boston feel like a bigger city LA feels like a bigger Metropolis
Houston is all around the much, much larger city & metro. It even "feels" more powerful than Seattle with its "LA like" freeways & towering skylines/skyscrapers randomly scattered all over the city.
1. LA has dense single family homes again LA urban area is nearly 3 times denser than Boston. But for MSA, Boston is 4,588,680 in 4,674 sq. mi, LA is 12,874,797 in 4850.3 sq. mi LA metro area-wise isn't that big. 2. Many be this is a sunbelt thing, but I don't judge by walking a neighborhood. To get the dynamics you have to tour or move around not just LA continuous sprawl but it's continuous density. How about this Boston feel like a bigger city LA feels like a bigger Metropolis
You have to be there to know what I mean. If I'm in a neighborhood with a bunch of row houses and apartment buildings, a bunch of people walking around, parallel-parked cars etc. etc. etc. I'm going to feel like I'm in a bigger city than if I'm in a neighborhood with single family homes, driveways, front yards etc. etc. etc. Thats just how I feel.
1. LA has dense single family homes again LA urban area is nearly 3 times denser than Boston. But for MSA, Boston is 4,588,680 in 4,674 sq. mi, LA is 12,874,797 in 4850.3 sq. mi LA metro area-wise isn't that big. 2. Many be this is a sunbelt thing, but I don't judge by walking a neighborhood. To get the dynamics you have to tour or move around not just LA continuous sprawl but it's continuous density. How about this Boston feel like a bigger city LA feels like a bigger Metropolis
Agree LA is large and fairly dense for a long long distance, Houston is about half as dense for a somewhat smaller distance but in terms of feel, images from roads/highways only show the expanse not the feel. I know I have said this before but the feel of cities is never by car IMHO it is by foot, how does it feel inside the neighborhoods, that is how I judge cities on how they feel, not by car. Houston is bigger but in the core in many ways Seattle feels like a bigger city, which is obviously not true of the metro. But expanse does not always mean a place feels like a bigger city.
The core of SF to me feels like I am in a larger city than does LA.
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
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I agree with the person that said Boston feels larger than Los Angeles.
In an auto-centric city you don't have that luxury to have as many walkable neighborhoods. And even Los Angeles's density to me seemed scattered a bit of a hit or miss situation in which there were a few neighborhoods that were very dense and some that were not. Boston sustains a good level of density throughout. And by city limits is only 48 square miles in which it is compact enough for neighborhood to neighborhood to reach walkability. And by far more efficient public transportation system at the users disposal.
I personally prefer the layout to a city like Los Angeles or Houston over the one for Boston or San Francisco, but I can understand and respect many that prefer the opposite of mine.
In this sense density means little to nothing as Los Angeles & Boston simply have different city layouts, as do Houston & Seattle.
My answer for this thread is that Seattle definitely feels like a more urban city. Houston is a larger city, and is working on improving their infrastructure to reach even to a degree that same level of urbanity, but the layout for cities like Los Angeles, Houston, & Dallas will put them at a disadvantage to cities like Boston, San Francisco, & Seattle.
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
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And by the way, no offense but NONE of those pictures do either city justice as far as skyline goes. Anyways, here are pictures of both I suppose you can get a better idea even slightly by this for skyline.
And I voted for Seattle, its among my top 4 favorite cities (Seattle/Tucson/Denver/San Diego), but Houston is pretty cool too, one of my favorite major cities.
Seattle:
Note: I couldn't find one picture of Houston that shows its skylines true size... the ones that do are cruddy quality from the best angles. Agh! Very frustrating so these will have to do for now.
You have to be there to know what I mean. If I'm in a neighborhood with a bunch of row houses and apartment buildings, a bunch of people walking around, parallel-parked cars etc. etc. etc. I'm going to feel like I'm in a bigger city than if I'm in a neighborhood with single family homes, driveways, front yards etc. etc. etc. Thats just how I feel.
So you feel like you're in a larger city in Providence, Rhode Island than in Los Angles?
Besides, Houston has lots of Apartments,Condominiums, Townhomes, and other high density dwellings. They are just missing the row homes which for some reason A lot of Northerners feel along with Brownstones are the be all and end all of urban living.
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