2nd Most Important or Favorite city in Midwest

[hudkina]

There are 40 ethnic groups that have a higher concentration in Metro Detroit than they do in the United States in general vs. 34 ethnic groups in Minneapolis.

Here are the Detroit groups. The further you go down the list, the more they resemble the U.S.

(For instance Chaldeans are 21x more common in Detroit than they are in the U.S. in general while Subsaharan Africans are slightly more than 1x more common in Detroit than they are in the U.S. in general)

1. Chaldean

2. Maltese

3. Iraqi

4. Macedonian

5. Albanian

6. Lebanese

7. Arabic

8. Belgian

9. Arab

10. Romanian

11. Polish

12. Finnish

13. Jordanian

14. Hungarian

15. Canadian

16. Palestinian

17. Serbian

18. French Canadian

19. Syrian

20. Bengladeshi

21. Ukranian

22. Yugoslavian

23. Armenian

24. French

25. Greek

26. Lithuanian

27. Asian Indian

28. Slavic

29. Scottish

30. Croatian

31. Czechoslovakian

32. Pakistani

33. Hmong

34. African (not African American)

35. Slovak

36. German

37. Bulgarian

38. Italian

39. Russian

40. Subsaharan African (not African American)

Here are the ethnic groups in Minneapolis:

1. Hmong

2. Norwegian

3. Scandanavian

4. Swedish

5. Finnish

6. Ethiopian

7. Luxemburger

8. Czech

9. Laotian

10. Danish

11. Icelander

12. German

13. Czechoslovakian

14. Subsaharan African

15. Cambodian

16. Slovene

17. Belgian

18. Polish

19. Latvian

20. Austrian

21. French Canadian

22. Swiss

23. French

24. Vietnamese

25. Nigerian

26. Irish

27. European

28. Dutch

29. Yugoslavian

30. Lebanese

31. Slavic

32. African

33. Asian

34. Serbian

[AvianKeahi]

There are 40 ethnic groups that have a higher concentration in Metro Detroit than they do in the United States in general vs. 34 ethnic groups in Minneapolis.

Here are the Detroit groups. The further you go down the list, the more they resemble the U.S.

(For instance Chaldeans are 21x more common in Detroit than they are in the U.S. in general while Subsaharan Africans are slightly more than 1x more common in Detroit than they are in the U.S. in general)

1. Chaldean

2. Maltese

3. Iraqi

4. Macedonian

5. Albanian

6. Lebanese

7. Arabic

8. Belgian

9. Arab

10. Romanian

11. Polish

12. Finnish

13. Jordanian

14. Hungarian

15. Canadian

16. Palestinian

17. Serbian

18. French Canadian

19. Syrian

20. Bengladeshi

21. Ukranian

22. Yugoslavian

23. Armenian

24. French

25. Greek

26. Lithuanian

27. Asian Indian

28. Slavic

29. Scottish

30. Croatian

31. Czechoslovakian

32. Pakistani

33. Hmong

34. African (not African American)

35. Slovak

36. German

37. Bulgarian

38. Italian

39. Russian

40. Subsaharan African (not African American)

Here are the ethnic groups in Minneapolis:

1. Hmong

2. Norwegian

3. Scandanavian

4. Swedish

5. Finnish

6. Ethiopian

7. Luxemburger

8. Czech

9. Laotian

10. Danish

11. Icelander

12. German

13. Czechoslovakian

14. Subsaharan African

15. Cambodian

16. Slovene

17. Belgian

18. Polish

19. Latvian

20. Austrian

21. French Canadian

22. Swiss

23. French

24. Vietnamese

25. Nigerian

26. Irish

27. European

28. Dutch

29. Yugoslavian

30. Lebanese

31. Slavic

32. African

33. Asian

34. Serbian

Whoa, Chaldean???

Forgive me, I had no idea that a near-extinct religious minority had such a strong presence in Detroit (and to be accurate, Southfield). And, to be completely accurate, the Chaldeans are a religious minority. It is not ethnically based. The Chaldeans are a branch of the Catholic church. And their membership trancends ethnicity.

And the Maltese? Only about 1/3rd of a million people on the entire planet speak Maltese. If Detroit is the North American center of Maltese culture, then I congratulate the city on maintaining the number one Maltese culture today. But what does that really mean? How does a Maltese culture relate to a 21st Century Detroit? How many Maltese restaurants are there in Detroit today? -Maybe Enzo's in Livonia?- And hell, how many Maltese racial riots have there been in Detroit in the last fifty years???

To be sure, there must have been serious racial riots in Detroit that involved the Chaldeans, Macedonians, Iraqi's, Albanians, Lebanese, Romanians, Hungarians and Belgians!!!

Are you serious about this???

I kid. I am just trying to brigng this argument to an illogical conclusion.

Based on your post I could perhaps argue that the Hmong, Norwegians and Swedish in Minneapolis have risen up and demanded equal rights and are currently poised to break down the euro-dominated city council and march upon the populace with demands that they occupy major chairs of power.

In all seriousness, I would assume that most if not all major Midwest cities have had to deal with serious racial/ethnic issues within the last 50 years.

Detroit is not unique among them. And Minneapolis/St.Paul is not unique in avoiding them.

[aTorridGustOfSun]

If you look at the GaWC Inventory of World Cities, the edge definately goes to Minneapolis, over Detroit and definitely over St Louis (which doesn't even appear on the list).

Regarding the architecture of Minneapolis, there is an excellent book and move called "Lost Twin Cities" and is about the architecture of the area. Minneapolis has always been less preserving of its architecture, whereas its sister to the east (St Paul) has been much more preserving. But there definately is a rich architectural heritage in the Minneapolis-St Paul area.

[AvianKeahi]

If you look at the GaWC Inventory of World Cities, the edge definately goes to Minneapolis, over Detroit and definitely over St Louis (which doesn't even appear on the list).

Careful. You will incur the fabled Wrath of Hudkina, who will immediately assert that such a "comparison" is trivial and irrelevant.

(Hudkina, I keed, I keed. I sincerely do enjoy debating these issues with you, and I have absolutely no animosity toward you or the city of Detroit.)

[hudkina]

The GAWC list is a London-centric study of a small sampling of companies in a a small sampling of industries (Marketing, Law, etc.). The study basically determines whether or not these companies (that generally have a branch in London) have a branch office in any certain city. The reason Minneapolis ranks higher than Detroit isn't that it is a larger or more powerful city. It's that it is a more remote city. Cities like Philadelphia and Detroit aren't going to have as many branches simply because they are close to larger cities (Chicago and New York), while cities like Atlanta and Minneapolis are going to have quite a few branches simply because they are the largest cities in their respective regions. Why have a Philadelphia Branch when the New York and Washington branches are only a couple hours away, why have a Detroit branch when the Chicago and Toronto branches are only a couple hours away.

[KCMOlover]

I voted for Minneapolis. Which is unbiased because i'm from Kansas City. Most important Mid-west city in order

1. Chicago

2. Minneapolis

3. St. Louis

4. Kansas City

ect.......

To me Denver should be considered mid-west and if that were the case Denver would be second.

[AvianKeahi]

I voted for Minneapolis. Which is unbiased because i'm from Kansas City. Most important Mid-west city in order

1. Chicago

2. Minneapolis

3. St. Louis

4. Kansas City

ect.......

To me Denver should be considered mid-west and if that were the case Denver would be second.

Well...I'd put Denver up there too, but clearly not 2nd. Minneapolis' largest buildings were designed by major international architects and most are widely considered to be among their important works. This is not limited to Minneapolis' "tallest 3" of Philip Johnson, Cesar Pelli and I.M. Pei. You also have to consider Frank Gehry, KPF, Gunnar Birkerts, Minoru Yamasaki, Jean Nouvel, Herzog & DeMeuron, Ralph Rapson, Kenzo Tange, Michael Graves, Edward Larrabee Barnes and others that together have created some of the city's most enduring buildings. Denver - while a very important and growing city - has not yet demonstrated a similar commitment to architectural quality to even remotely compare to Minneapolis.

[GR8scott]

Texas? Denver? MIdwest? I've never heard anyone suggest they are in the midwest.

As far as the miniapolis vs. detroit for the 2nd most important city in the midwest. DETROIT, it has more culture, history, its a gateway to canada, ect. Mini might be heading in a beter direction and be "the city" for its 300 mi radius but I see the D being more important maybe not your favroit though

[GR8scott]

Texas? Denver? MIdwest? I've never heard anyone suggest they are in the midwest.

As far as the miniapolis vs. detroit for the 2nd most important city in the midwest. DETROIT, it has more culture, history, its a gateway to canada, ect. Mini might be heading in a beter direction and be "the city" for its 300 mi radius but I see the D being more important maybe not your favroit though

[AvianKeahi]

Texas? Denver? MIdwest? I've never heard anyone suggest they are in the midwest.

As far as the miniapolis vs. detroit for the 2nd most important city in the midwest. DETROIT, it has more culture, history, its a gateway to canada, ect. Mini might be heading in a beter direction and be "the city" for its 300 mi radius but I see the D being more important maybe not your favroit though

I disagree...

Minneapolis/St.Paul is a powerful locus of internationally important corporations, as well as internationally-influential arts organizations.

The incredibly vibrant corporate cities of Minneapolis/St.Paul are the headquarters of Target, Best Buy, 3M (Scotch Brand, Post-It, Filtrete, Scotchgard, Imation, Nexcare, etc.), GMAC, Medtronics, General Mills (Pillsbury, Haagen Dazs, Yoplait, Betty Crocker, Green Giant, Old El Paso, etc.) Caribou Coffee, Ameriprise, US Bank, Wells Fargo Midwest, ING, Radisson Hotels, St. Paul Companies, Lawson Software, Dain Rauscher, Carlson Companies (TGIFriday's, ParkInn Hotels, Carlson Wagonlit Travel Agencies, Regent SevenSeas Cruise Line, Park Plaza Hotels, etc.) and several other familiar companies. Historically, the Twin Cities have defined industries from milling to microbiology.

On a creative level, the Minnesota Orchestra, Grammy-Award-winning St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Tyrone Guthrie Theatre, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Prairie Home Companion radio show (recently immortalized in Robert Altman's movie starring Meryl Streep and Lindsay Lohan) and the Children's Theatre have been at the forefront of classic American culture. No other city in America other than Chicago and New Haven can claim three Tony-Award-winning theatres.

In addition, popular cable shows based in Minneapolis, like HGTV's "Design Cents," "Curb Appeal," "Design Remix," "Landscape Smart," and "Sensible Chic" have appealed to America's sweet-tooth for design and DIY programming.

Architecturally speaking, international figures such as Cesar Pelli, Philip Johnson, Michael Graves, Frank Gehry, Gunnar Birkerts, I.M. Pei, Kenzo Tange, Herzog & DeMeuron, Jean Nouvel, Ralph Rapson, Dale Mulfinger, James Dayton, and Frank Lloyd Wright have significantly contributed to the architectural life of the Twin Cities, just to name a few.

Even though the Twin Cities are smaller in population that Detroit is right now, it is clear that the Twin Cities are very important in international commerce as well as international culture.

[hudkina]

Detroit and Michigan don't have as many unique corporate brands as Minneapolis does, but we do have a few. These are just off the top of my head. I'm sure there are some that I'm forgetting.

Domino's Pizza

Little Caesar's Restaurants

Big Boy Restaurants

Borders Books

La-Z-Boy

The thing about Michigan is that all of our major corporate entities are located in our smaller cities.

Kellogg's is in Battle Creek

Dow is in Midland

Whirlpool is in Benton Harbor

Gerber is in Fremont

Bissell is in Grand Rapids

[MJLO]

how are we still having this arguement, this has become such an annoying pissing contest. You can do this on pure size, and established wealth in albeit dying industries, or you can do it on the up and coming. There is no question Minneapolis is a vibrant healthy and growing city full of support industries. It is NOT a vital engine to the nations economies. No matter how you spin numbers Detroit is bigger. I don't know if it matters. I don't know if there is a way to gauge, what "cities are more important than other cities.

If there is a scientific way to say what city is important, more so than another then show me. But this banter makes this entire forum look like jackasses. Minne is a playground, and a base for support services. Detroit is the capital of the rust belt, it's a working town, and home to more than one corporation that has anual revenues, larger than some countries GDP's. Both cities are important, but I'd wager a guess to say that Minne and it's metro are a hell of alot more important to Minnesota, than they are to the rest of the Mid-west. Don't worry guys that doesn't mean that Minne is not more important than Detroit. Take MSP out of Minnesota, and you're left with pretty much the Eastern half of South Dakota. Take the three County Metro Detroit region out of Michigan(which has almost as many people as Minnesota itself), and you still! have more people than Minnesota, as it sits today.

So here's my theory, and I realize it may open up another can of worms, MICHIGAN is more important to this country, in terms of natural resources, wealth, population, and industry, than Minnesota. No Matter what cities sit inside the respective borders.

[MJLO]

as I'm going back and reading this I realize something, this topic was titled, Second most important or .......Favorite...... city in the midwest, I think i'd like to see this redone. You cannot so much gauge scientifically what city is more important, it's all speculative/subjective. But everyone here has focused on that part

You can however gauge a popularity on what everyones Favorite is, do you think we should run a poll and purely ask, what everyones Favorite Midwestern City is? That might change things alot, or it might just be a case of which city is best represented on the forum, as this voting block has become.

[Benmpls]

i won't profess to know much about the detroit metro economy, but minneapolis is at least diversified. Best buy and Target, NWA, CH Robinson, Carlson Companies, Medtronic, piper jaffray, cargill, lutheran brotherhood, general mills/pillsbury, US bank, supervalu, Ameriprise, a huge portion of boston scientific (formerly scimed), 3M, united health, etc. etc. not only is there a ton of major companies anchored here, but they come from a huge spectrum of industries.

oh, and the university of minnesota. university of michigan is arguably not within the detroit metro.

then again, i don't know what this means in terms of importance. Having a major (though failing) industry completely anchored in the area of one city would probably add something.

in response to milo, i imagine that if you took minneapolis away, the U.S. economy would feel something. especially in detroit, where northwest airlines (based in eagan, minnesota) is a major employer. i think that the analysis that minneapolis is a support-services based economy is slightly off the mark. many companies that specialise in consumer goods call this home: general mills and 3M being prime examples.

[hudkina]

Ann Arbor is very much in the Detroit metro.

[MJLO]

NWA represents a very small portion of Detroits economy. And Number by Number, they fly just as many flights out of their Detroit fortress hub, as they do their Minne Hub. But like I said before, there is no reason to have a Detroit vs. Minne arguement. Minne is no more important to the US than Detroit is. We obviously all have our own opinions. And I think there has to be some scientific backing to it. But this is a tired arguement that had become somewhat devisive. Which is rediculous.

[warwickland]

instinctively i'd say Detroit and then St. Louis, but things change and I think MPLS is now the 2nd city of the midwest for the forseeable future. Detroit still has too many eggs in one basket and didnt diversify quite like STL, MPLS, KC, etc.

Subjective midwest metropolitan area power rankings, not core rankings, which happens to agree with the silly poll.

1 CHI (untouchable)

2 MPLS (exploding)

3 DETROIT (slow decline, achilles heel in concentrated industry, higher to MPLS in some respects, but slipping)

4 STL (very stable)

5 KC (slow rise )

Reasons why i placed KC where it is (not a KC native BTW) over Cincinnati or Cleveland

- apparently handles more rail tonnage now than chicago, which was number one in the nation

- is building the only inland port with a direct shot to the pacific ocean by KC Southern

- has massive agricultural hinterland + grain exchange

- record of steady growth, no wild boom and bust scenarios (except for unusual depression era boom)

- placed on GaWC list as 'up and comer'

i have a feeling KC will take number 4, possibly 3 during the next 100 years for several reasons, but i doubt i'll be alive to see it. the ohio cities don't have control over massive agricultural hinterlands like the four i listed do, and dont have a hegemony over massive transportation systems the way four, possibly five do (ie rail, lake, and river) which is part of my personal criteria. someone really should explain in polite terms why cleveland or cinci should take a spot up there because i would actually like to know.

[hudkina]

1. The higher populations

2. The larger economies

3. The greater histories