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Top Underrated Cities

BrandonTO416

By BrandonTO416
in Urban Design & Architecture

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BrandonTO416 Burg

BrandonTO416

Posted
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Here are the top cities I consider underrated in the US.

St Louis - the crime is not as bad as many people make it out to be, the city population is so small in proportion to the entire region that its stats are completely thrown off unfairly. Its a very liberal area and open to many cultures and diversity.

Pittsburgh - industry died long ago as the city turned to biotech, education/research & development, high tech, and tourism/conventions as major industries. The city lost hundreds of thousands of jobs, and for its size it is unheard of for a metro to undergo that much change and not lose MORE people then it has. For every 5,000 tech jobs Pittsburgh creates, it was losing even more manufacturing. Now that there are no more manufacturing jobs to lose, I think we'll see this city grow again in the future. That, and Pittsburgh is known for being multi-cultural, urban, and geographically dynamic. Pittsburgh also has the least amount of crime of any major American metropolitan area - rivaling Canadian cities in crime stats, something highly attractive which no other city can claim.

Madison, WI - major city? No. Beautiful, progressive, and dynamic? YES! This small metro is wedged between two beautiful lakes, boasts a college town atmosphere, and is a mere 140 miles from downtown Chicago. How much better can you get? ;)

New Orleans - such an urban, dynamic, multi-cultural city with a flavor nothing else can match. The downside? A horrific crime rate with racial tension you feel while walking the streets. But no one can deny such an original mecca of culture, urbanity, and fun. :)

The Northeastern Seaboard - The rest of the nation has really been giving the northeast a hard time. Constantly saying its not growing (yet NYC grew faster in actual numbers then any other north american metro in actual numbers, with nearly 1.7 million new residents from 1990-2000). Every magazine publisher alive touts tiny developments in random cities elsewhere like a world reknowned event, almost as if a Walmart opening in suburban Dallas is the best thing yet, but when Boston builds more towers then any southeastern city except Atlanta, its barely mentioned. Philly has a massive rail network and grew by 300,000 residents. But according to Forbes you better not open a business there, because Denver is the best choice. Remember the Pace Picante sauce commercials that made fun of New York City for, oh, 10 years? No matter where you turn, the Northeast is underrated, under-appreciated, and being the real historic backbone of what created America should be thought of with much more respect. I tip my hats off to the residents living up there who endure some of the most hasty feelings from other regions.

So what's your picks?

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ShowMeKC Hamlet

ShowMeKC

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Kansas City, definitely. People still underrate us and ignore us. It's tough being flanked by STL and Denver, they get a lot more attention, especially nationally, than we have ever gotten.

People still don't understand the amount of activity going on here either. Look at DT Minneapolis now, or at least, in Jan. 2004. It had a little less than 40,000 people in just 2/3 the amount of land we have.

In 2010 we will have over 30,000 people living downtown.

Its very hard also being right next to a state like Kansas... People still think Kansas City is in Kansas :P

Oh and sorry about this, but here is an article from the St. Louis today about crime there. Murders there are dropping whichi is awsome, but there are still more crime problems they really need to deal with. Having over 3,000 robberies per year is not a good thing for a metro the size of STL.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stor...ally+a+crime%3F

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monsoon Gigalopolis

monsoon

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There's a Kansas City, Kansas, but there's no official relationship to the one across the border, except for being part of the same metro area.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well that is a shame. Maybe the area would not be so underrated if they learned to work together for their common benefit.

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ShowMeKC Hamlet

ShowMeKC

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There isn't any way you can get KCMO to work with KS... They "basked" in luxury while the inner city of KCMO rotted away...

KCK is well, like East St. Louis in a way...

of course, I can argue about STL being bigger, as a metro it is, but not as a city.

Here is KCMO:

skyline.JPG

plaza56.jpg

Here is KCK:

kck3.JPG

Notice a very very large difference ;)

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ShowMeKC Hamlet

ShowMeKC

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oh and urban addict, they are two different cities. KCMO is not related to KCK. They just basically are cities that share the same name and border each other.

KCMO was founded in about 1850. KCK was founded well after that. And the state of Kansas was named after the Town of Kansas was incorporated (Town of Kansas = Kansas City, MO)

Oh and UA, you just gave me a good idea for a new thread :) Thank you!

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ShowMeKC Hamlet

ShowMeKC

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Actually KCK isn't all that nice, the more suburban areas are more desirable. The crime is almost worse than KCMO.

But KCK is a good city nonetheless, just Downtown KCK isn't a good place at the moment.

And UA, those would be a little hard to find, the area in between KCK and KCMO (from Downtown to Downtown) is all river bottoms and industrial area. But you can a house near the border a little south from the two cities downtowns.

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wolfdawg54 Burg

wolfdawg54

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Actually KCK isn't all that nice, the more suburban areas are more desirable. The crime is almost worse than KCMO.

But KCK is a good city nonetheless, just Downtown KCK isn't a good place at the moment.

And UA, those would be a little hard to find, the area in between KCK and KCMO (from Downtown to Downtown) is all river bottoms and industrial area. But you can a house near the border a little south from the two cities downtowns.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Speaking of Kansas City crime, I used to watch COPS when I was younger and it would always take place in Kansas City.

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