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Where does Providence have areas like that (outside of downtown) to form a more urban impression? I am not trying to nitpick, I am talking about the overall impression one gets from each city. I think that's more instructive than looking at density stats and trying to convince people that houses that look like large suburban SFHs are in fact multifamily.
Where does Providence have areas like that (outside of downtown) to form a more urban impression? I am not trying to nitpick, I am talking about the overall impression one gets from each city. I think that's more instructive than looking at density stats and trying to convince people that houses that look like large suburban SFHs are in fact multifamily.
Love Carson Street, but its very cut off from other areas- is my whole point. Its a little pocket and whn you o south like 5 blocks you run into this...
One of my good buddies lives around here- there's really nothing suburban about this area Theres a bar open late night down the street (with amazing $6 lunch specials), 8-minute dive to downtown and Providence Place, dirtbikers up and down all night, cookouts, apartments. Its a scrappy urban plac ein a scrappy urban city.
Love Carson Street, but its very cut off from other areas- is my whole point. Its a little pocket and whn you o south like 5 blocks you run into this...
Prov just needs to infill all its surface parking lots. And then if it were wood and it wer brick itd be a very different story..
Its a poor minority dominated city so its not gonna see the same investments as Pittsburgh IMO. Lot of rundown businesses or seedy spots throughout.
The thing that puts Providence (and a lot of NE cities) above their midwestern/Rustbelt counterparts is the fact the formers poor/seedy neighborhoods are still like ~70% of their people population so broadly mostly intact. While the seedy neighborhoods in like Pittsburgh are like 30% of their peak so lost a lot of their oomph.
And I just cant emphasize how much id rather live in Pittsburgh (not thinking about Boston) and how much more complete it is.
But damn if Providence aint contiguous mediocre urban (good term for it) idk what is lol. I think it held to a different standard than cities with more name recognition..harkening back to my LA point.
It's just broke as hell with very little disposable income for its residents so retail and commerce, in general, is minimal. The economy there seems to be based around Eds, Meds and the culture is all things Dominican and Caribbean, Art and Nightlife.
It basically catered to college kids, low-skilled immigrants, and artists. If you are not one of those three Or perhaps an Italian-American or former Bostonian... it doesn't offer much. But if you are youre in a good spot.
Love Carson Street, but its very cut off from other areas- is my whole point. Its a little pocket and whn you o south like 5 blocks you run into this...
All the examples you posted are in an area around downtown that's like 1.5 sq miles, and half of it was surface lots. In Pittsburgh you have not only far more impressive urbanity but it's spread all over. That's the difference.
Well yeah I agree... You are making it sound so easy though -- just infill all surface lots
It's pretty easy to do development-wise, but will it ever get the investment- probably, eventually. Providences' population has been growing for a few decades now.
All the examples you posted are in an area around downtown that's like 1.5 sq miles, and half of it was surface lots. In Pittsburgh you have not only far more impressive urbanity but it's spread all over. That's the difference.
Well yeah I agree... You are making it sound so easy though -- just infill all surface lots
I mean you can plop into Pawtucket Center or Broad Street in Central falls or whatever and it looks pretty similar.
The fact is on average you got a pretty big gap between Pittsburgh and Providence that you’re trying to make up with isolated areas that maintained their historic amenities and a Commercial core for a larger metro. And I don’t think it’s enough to make up for what has been abandoned/depopulate and what was never heavily urbanized due to geography.
And did all the other rust belt cities, it’s not even close cause the cohesive urban neighborhoods that still exist are comparable to Providence and then you got the same rot Pittsburgh has
I mean you can plop into Pawtucket Center or Broad Street in Central falls or whatever and it looks pretty similar.
I guess I'm just not getting the same vibes as to the vibrancy and health of either Central Falls or Pawtucket in their cores.
Also, if we're moving out of the city limits comparison, places like Dormont, Bellevue, and Homestead come into the picture for Pittsburgh at similar distances.
Yes, you can point to more outright abandonment in Pittsburgh proper, but as we've discussed throughout this thread, some of this has to come down to functional and vibrant urbanism, which despite being more nodal/less contiguous in Pittsburgh, still exists in much greater quantity.
That's really what this comparison comes down to.
Last edited by Duderino; 02-10-2023 at 04:48 PM..
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In Pittsburgh you have not only far more impressive urbanity but it's spread all over. That's the difference.
