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I don't really think that European urban cores look all that similar across the entire continent, with the exception of tight street walls. The historic building vernaculars when you compare somewhere like Copenhagen to Barcelona are quite different. Northern European cities also tend to have wider roads (while still narrow by American standards). The biggest difference is that outside of the UK, once you get outside of the urban core there are plenty of suburban-looking neighborhoods. This is only a 20-minute drive out of the core of Copenhagen, for example.
I'm going to respond to you with this anecdote, as it relates to Pittsburgh. To make a long story short, my daughter was in Pittsburgh on a wedding trip (not hers). She and her DH got to Pittsburgh late at night. She called me (it's two hours earlier here) and said "This looks like downtown Denver". MY husband said, "Wait till she sees those cliffs". In the light of day, yes, it did look a lot different to her than d/t Denver, which is pretty flat as far as the eye can see in town.
I saw what I saw in western Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. The big difference in the Netherlands was the canals. No, they weren't carbon copies of each other, but all were built on the same principals (principles?), brick it up!
Dutch cities look rather different from German on streetview to me (newer outer parts are built differently); but you were in the same region of Europe. I've been to Amsterdam and Berlin. Yes, European center cities are usually all built over, but that doesn't mean they're all the same. Layout, architecture and density can still differ. Dutch city centers have a distinctive architectural style, even without the canals
My impression is European cities vary more than American ones, in particular medium sized American ones except for the oldest tend to be quite similar to each other.
I'm going to respond to you with this anecdote, as it relates to Pittsburgh. To make a long story short, my daughter was in Pittsburgh on a wedding trip (not hers). She and her DH got to Pittsburgh late at night. She called me (it's two hours earlier here) and said "This looks like downtown Denver". MY husband said, "Wait till she sees those cliffs". In the light of day, yes, it did look a lot different to her than d/t Denver, which is pretty flat as far as the eye can see in town.
I've never been to Downtown Denver, so I can't comment. Looking online, downtown Denver doesn't seem laid out the same way downtown Pittsburgh is. Pittsburgh has less highrises, but they are clustered more tightly. Pittsburgh also has significantly less open space (both green space and parking lots) in its downtown, and more small scale historic buildings.
I would say the mix of building styles - with taller contemporary buildings and early 20th century midrises - is actually pretty similar however. I'm pretty sure that most cities which didn't completely destroy their historic building stock during the mid 20th century would share this commonality however.
I've never been to Downtown Denver, so I can't comment. Looking online, downtown Denver doesn't seem laid out the same way downtown Pittsburgh is. Pittsburgh has less highrises, but they are clustered more tightly. Pittsburgh also has significantly less open space (both green space and parking lots) in its downtown, and more small scale historic buildings.
I would say the mix of building styles - with taller contemporary buildings and early 20th century midrises - is actually pretty similar however. I'm pretty sure that most cities which didn't completely destroy their historic building stock during the mid 20th century would share this commonality however.
Yea, they don't look that similar to me from the above view — or streetview. Pittsburgh definitely looks closer to what I'm used to for an American downtown.
I've never been to Downtown Denver, so I can't comment. Looking online, downtown Denver doesn't seem laid out the same way downtown Pittsburgh is. Pittsburgh has less highrises, but they are clustered more tightly. Pittsburgh also has significantly less open space (both green space and parking lots) in its downtown, and more small scale historic buildings.
I would say the mix of building styles - with taller contemporary buildings and early 20th century midrises - is actually pretty similar however. I'm pretty sure that most cities which didn't completely destroy their historic building stock during the mid 20th century would share this commonality however.
She made the comment late at night, K? But the general layout of all cities is the same-downtown area, with some focal point, e.g. Point (State) Park in Pittsburgh with the fountain, Civic Center Park in front of the capitol building with its gold dome in Denver; stores, skyscrapers, buses, rail lines nowadays, yada, yada. There's only so many ways it can be done. Sort of like my hairdresser told me-there's only one haircut.
Go back to say 1900 and there were very particular building styles over portions of the country. New England had wood-framed detached houses (and triple-deckers), the Mid-Atlantic had brick rowhouses placed close to the street, and the south had mostly wooden houses with large porches, along with shotgun housing for the poor. This is why older neighborhoods in different parts of the country can look so startlingly different, and give off a strong "sense of place."
This began to change during the streetcar suburban period, where housing styles like the bungalow and American foursquare became popular. Even then, there were often local variances to the styles. For example, New England foursquares continued to be made out of wood, while Mid-Atlantic ones were more likely brick. The choice to have the roof tiled or covered in slate varied depending upon area as well.
At the present, there are few differences in housing styles any longer. Most of the regional differences you do see are not because vernaculars are different, but because of the necessities of construction. For example, new build houses in areas with poor soil are less likely to have basements. Or areas (like the south) where labor costs are cheaper are more likely to have full brick cladding. But for the most part America now has only two definable housing styles - a "fake Spanish" stucco style used in Florida, Southern California, and parts of the Southwest, and a "Generic American" style used everywhere else.
If you're talking about larger structures - things like modern apartment buildings or commercial office towers - there is even less regional variance. These are all architect designed, and architecture has been a national movement for over a century now. That said, I don't even think the modern designs in the U.S. and Europe are all that different, save for the practical limitations that U.S. zoning puts on construction (like parking requirements).
I agree with all of this. I think the real decline of traditional craftsmanship and city planning came after World War II with the advent of GI Bill suburbs. Then in the 1960s white flight, ranch house subdivisions, and urban renewal nearly killed many American cities. Today we are in the McMansions and McDonalds era, where pretty much the only part of the country that is distinguishable is Florida and the Southwest because of the faux-Spanish architecture.
You think New England suburbs look like Texan ones?
That depends. Suburbs that were once small towns that have been engulfed by a metropolitan area are likely to have retained some of their character as well as historic main streets. However, automobile suburbs with McMansions and strip malls aren't likely all that different.
A semi-detached wooden house next to a former brick mill building. Good luck finding that in Texas. Further out in newer suburbs, Boston suburbs are developed differently than Texan ones. Smaller-scale developments, narrower roads; more wooden houses on larger lots. There's nothing like "The Woodlands" in Massachusetts
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