The is another one of Cathy’s questions:
What will it take to make Phoenix a true city?
It’s actually pretty simple. All Phoenix really needs, to become a true city in the way that people think of New York City or Chicago, is…
Cooler weather.
What makes other cities look and feel like cities is mass outdoor ambulation: People walking around.
People don’t do that here. It’s amazingly more convenient to drive, anyway. But even allowing for that, there is something about $1,000 suits and 115 degree heat that just don’t work well together.
Phoenix could build something like a downtown in the form of an air-conditioned indoor plaza, but there will be no true downtown life here until something like that is built…
Technorati Tags: arizona, arizona real estate, phoenix, phoenix real estate, sellsius 101, real estate, real estate marketing
Jay T. says:
While a skyline does not a city make, I do have to say Phoenix has one lame skyline. (And I live here, so I’m in a position to say so.)
When a baseball stadium is the main feature of a skyline, something is wrong.
There are zoning issues with building very tall buildings (thanks to the location of Sky Harbor Airport. No one wants tall buildings built in a major airports flight path…). But that shouldn’t stop some unique architecture from being built.
The Phoenix skyline has no “flavor”, no uniqueness to set it apart.
For the 5th or 6th largest city in the country (depending on whose numbers you believe) the downtown Phoenix area lacks flair.
And the heat is an issue. But Vegas is pretty damn hot too, and Vegas is unique and flairy.
September 26, 2006 — 8:59 am
jf.sellsius says:
Formula for a city:
A Main Street for parades & demonstrations.
A City Square for protests, speeches and concerts.
A catchy moniker–the Big Cactus
A good tourist slogan: Feel the Heat in Phoenix
September 26, 2006 — 9:27 am
Bonnie Erickson says:
Feel the heat? I’m retiring to Alaska!
September 26, 2006 — 10:41 am
Greg Swann says:
> But Vegas is pretty damn hot too, and Vegas is unique and flairy.
If you made the rectangle defined by the I-10 and the I-17 a free gaming zone, Phoenix would eat Las Vegas alive. In ten years’ time, we would win the entire war.
September 30, 2006 — 2:23 pm
San Antonio Lawyer says:
jf.sellsius – You couldn’t have put it any better. Can I piggyback on that comment?
September 3, 2008 — 3:46 pm