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The "fabled" Bos-Wash corridor is nothing more than an Acela route, and in the real-world (outside of C-D) has no real meaning or impact (it truly is a "fable"). Someone in a suburb outside of Boston has zero connection with someone in Arlington, VA.
These are different regions in different states with different cultures. They are simply stops on the Amtrak/Acela route, nothing more nothing less.
It would feel different and probably have more real-world meaning if it were located in an analogous region on the west coast (i.e. California) where you are essentially in one state/region with similar culture.
But as it is, this "fabled" region is simply the stops on an Amtrak route.
Angain the Tri-State and Boston/Providence are pretty connected and NYC is pretty connected to say DMV. But Baltimore is not very similar to Providence for example.
Demographically, Culturally, climatically the New England end is quite distinct from the Southern end.
Like NYC is about as far south as Hickey as any sort of mainstream participatory sport is. Boston (using GBH rather than Logan) gets 5x more snow than Baltimore in a winter. DC has a modern MARTA/BART like system because of its Sunbelt boomtown like history.
Angain the Tri-State and Boston/Providence are pretty connected and NYC is pretty connected to say DMV. But Baltimore is not very similar to Providence for example.
Demographically, Culturally, climatically the New England end is quite distinct from the Southern end.
Like NYC is about as far south as Hickey as any sort of mainstream participatory sport is. Boston (using GBH rather than Logan) gets 5x more snow than Baltimore in a winter. DC has a modern MARTA/BART like system because of its Sunbelt boomtown like history.
I don't see how NYC is "pretty connected" to DC though. In what ways? It's over 4 hours between the 2 regions. Again, it really just comes down to this Amtrak/Acela connection.
I completely agree with you that there are well-defined and connected regions (Tri-state, DMV, New England). But it's a big stretch to say these different regions are "connected" (depending on how that's being defined). There just isn't a tangible connection outside of the local region.
The "fabled" Bos-Wash corridor is nothing more than an Acela route, and in the real-world (outside of C-D) has no real meaning or impact (it truly is a "fable"). Someone in a suburb outside of Boston has zero connection with someone in Arlington, VA.
These are different regions in different states with different cultures. They are simply stops on the Amtrak/Acela route, nothing more nothing less.
It would feel different and probably have more real-world meaning if it were located in an analogous region on the west coast (i.e. California) where you are essentially in one state/region with similar culture.
But as it is, this "fabled" region is simply the stops on an Amtrak route.
Thats a massive oversimplification to call the Bos-Wash corridor nothing more than an "Acela route," considering the demographic, travel, economic, cultural, historical ties these cities have shared for idk, the last 250 years.
Second, using suburbs as the bases for inner-city connection? Really? Unless someone's social circle consist of 10 people and/or they just don't like socializing... It's almost impossible to go out to a nice bar on a Saturday night in DC, Baltimore, Philly, NYC or Boston and not meet someone who doesn't work/live in one of the 4 other cities. I can't tell you how many people I know that commute from DC-NYC on a bi-weekly basis. Hell my dad had to go to Boston every other month because he was cooperate in the healthcare field in the Baltimore area.
Its not black and white.
Does each city has its own identify and local culture, Yes (as they should) but so does Tokyo, Yokohama, Kyoto-Nagoya & Osaka. But by your own logic, that would be nothing more than a "Shinkansen route" as well.
Thats a comically massive oversimplification to call the Bos-Wash corridor nothing more than an "Acela route," considering the demographic, travel, economic, cultural, historical ties these cities have shared for idk, the last 250 years.
Second, using suburbs as the bases fop inner-city connection? Really? Unless someone's social circle consist of 10 people and they don't like socializing... It's almost impossible not to meet someone in DC, Baltimore, Philly, NYC or Boston who doesn't at bar minimum commute to one of the other 4 cities on a weekly or bi-weekly bases for work let alone leisure.
Sure each city has their own identify, as they should but so does Tokyo, Yokohama, Kyoto-Nagoya & Osaka. But by your own logic, that would be nothing more than a "Shinkansen route" also.
Thats a massive oversimplification to call the Bos-Wash corridor nothing more than an "Acela route," considering the demographic, travel, economic, cultural, historical ties these cities have shared for idk, the last 250 years.
Second, using suburbs as the bases for inner-city connection? Really? Unless someone's social circle consist of 10 people and/or they just don't like socializing... It's almost impossible to go out to a nice bar on a Saturday night in DC, Baltimore, Philly, NYC or Boston and not meet someone who doesn't work/live in one of the 4 other cities. I can't tell you how many people I know that commute from DC-NYC on a bi-weekly basis. Hell my dad had to go to Boston every other month because he was cooperate in the healthcare field in the Baltimore area.
Its not black and white.
Does each city has its own identify and local culture, Yes (as they should) but so does Tokyo, Yokohama, Kyoto-Nagoya & Osaka. But by your own logic, that would be nothing more than a "Shinkansen route" as well.
You wrote a lot, but in the end, you still haven’t convinced me how this region is “connected.” I grew up in Maryland, and in no way felt connected to anyone outside of the DMV. Wow....being able to “commute” from DC to NYC on a bi-weekly basis, whatever that means. Or going to Boston every other month (like someone in any other region of the country can). Doesn’t speak to any significance of this BosWash corridor “region,” other than on CD.
It’s still nothing more than a bunch of train stops on the Acela.
You wrote a lot, but in the end, you still haven’t convinced me how this region is “connected.” I grew up in Maryland, and in no way felt connected to anyone outside of the DMV. Wow....being able to “commute” from DC to NYC on a bi-weekly basis, whatever that means. Or going to Boston every other month (like someone in any other region of the country can). Doesn’t speak to any significance of this BosWash corridor “region,” other than on CD.
It’s still nothing more than a bunch of train stops on the Acela.
The largest population of out of state College students at Boston Schools are NY/NNJ students for example.
The cities share vacation destinations. Newport, the Cape, Berkshires, Vermont Ski resorts. Boston, Providence and New York share similar major immigrant groups, etc.
Boston and DC are so far away from each other they share very little, but 4hrs is stop regional, 8 hours is not
The largest population of out of state College students at Boston Schools are NY/NNJ students for example.
The cities share vacation destinations. Newport, the Cape, Berkshires, Vermont Ski resorts. Boston, Providence and New York share similar major immigrant groups, etc.
Boston and DC are so far away from each other they share very little, but 4hrs is stop regional, 8 hours is not
Boston and DC are most similar in scale, cleanliness education, and gentrification of all the big 5 cities. The workforce/lifestyle/wealth is very comparable. Many folks from MA in DC that's for sure.
Baltimore and Boston share that aquatic/seafaring/cuisine albeit with regional differences. But they also both have that old cobblestone touristy area and rely on eds/meds to a good extent as another poster stated. I meet MA (RI) residents down here from Lynn, Acton, Milton, Woonsocket, Hyde Park, Somerset, Somerville with a high degree of regularity.
The largest population of out of state College students at Boston Schools are NY/NNJ students for example.
The cities share vacation destinations. Newport, the Cape, Berkshires, Vermont Ski resorts. Boston, Providence and New York share similar major immigrant groups, etc.
Boston and DC are so far away from each other they share very little, but 4hrs is stop regional, 8 hours is not
Again, I'm not denying there are similarities or connections between some parts of the region. I just think the "BosWash region" as a whole is more of an artificial region that really doesn't have much meaning.
I agree with you that there are regions that do have similarities and connections, and they are fluid. But as you point out, Boston and DC don't have any real connection. Sure you can find "similarities," but there really isn't a connection between the two regions. They are the same distance as DC is to Charlotte (so does this equate to a CharWash region in the other direction?).
That's why I brought up the Acela/Amtrak, not to be flip, but this is the only defined way I see the region tangibly connected. The other "connections" are much more fluid and don't really involve the whole "region" per-se.
The "fabled" Bos-Wash corridor is nothing more than an Acela route, and in the real-world (outside of C-D) has no real meaning or impact (it truly is a "fable"). Someone in a suburb outside of Boston has zero connection with someone in Arlington, VA.
These are different regions in different states with different cultures. They are simply stops on the Amtrak/Acela route, nothing more nothing less.
It would feel different and probably have more real-world meaning if it were located in an analogous region on the west coast (i.e. California) where you are essentially in one state/region with similar culture.
But as it is, this "fabled" region is simply the stops on an Amtrak route.
1. Not sure I get the anger in your response but I put "fabled" in my title.
2. I'd venture to guess that Boston is more similar to DC than San Francisco is to Temecula.
3. BosWash was coined in 1967, after the route was established. From Wiki: BosWash is a name coined by futurist Herman Kahn in a 1967 essay describing a theoretical United States megalopolis extending from the metropolitan area of Boston to that of Washington, D.C.[1] The publication coined terms like BosWash, referring to predicted accretions of the Northeast, and SanSan (San Francisco to San Diego) for the urbanized region in Coastal California.
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