Elements of Urbanism: Neighborhoods of St. Louis

[Metro Jacksonville]

Elements of Urbanism: Neighborhoods of St. Louis



Metro Jacksonville explores a number of urban neighborhoods in and around the City of St. Louis.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-aug-elements-of-urbanism-neighborhoods-of-st-louis

[vicupstate]

St. Louis is a great city.  Forest Park is immaculately maintained and gets lots of use.  The Zoo in the park is free and very nice also.  You can see much of the city by Light Rail.    Looking for a great city to visit for a long weekend? St. Louis fits the bill.

[Gonzo]

I grew up in St. Louis, lived there until 1994 and have visited several times in the past few years. This is an example of a city that knows its historic identity is important and MUST be preserved It is also a city that had a tough time shaking the perception of heavy crime in years past.

The roots for historic fabric in St. Louis were always there, a rich ethnic mix of German, Italian, and French influences. An important location for commerce on both the Mississippi and Missouri rivers as well as a central land-based route. And a government that was not buldozer happy.

I can recall going to Soulard Market for fresh produce, the Central Westend for cultural events, Forest Park for concerts, plays and the zoo, Laclede's Landing for nightlife and Grove Park for the Botanical Gardens. The streets in historic areas like Soulard and Laclede's Landing are still mainly brick. The waterfront is still mostly brick as well. The homes are lovely and most are kept in very good shape. Few homes are marked for demolision -- if any.

This is a city, only 25% of the size of Jacksonville that understands history. In recent years there has been a boom in the historic districts throughout the city.

Wouldn't be great if Jacksonville took a hint from this and worked to return the historic charm to its historic districts?

[hanjin1]

maybe we need to do some elemants of urbanism on some cities that looks worse than jacksonville. sometimes i see these articles and it's depressing to see how bad jacksonville looks compared to them

[Overstreet]

1. Y'all forgot U-city............University City. ..... Salieems ... good Lebanese food.
2. Given the affinity of this group for farmers markets Soulard Market deserves a few pictures. 
3. St Louis looks a lot different with three inches of slush on it.
4. if you really want to compare it to Jacksonville/Duval you have to include the county.  It used to look a lot different downtown. There is a wave of movement of people that happened there. Folks moved to the county and then back again to the city. Happened in Atlanta too. Might happen here too, but there is a lot of county/counties to flow into here before the back wash.

[David]

I'm leaving for St. Louis in a few hours on a work trip. I've never been. Here's my pre-visit perception of the city:

Totally not fact based btw. Corrupt local government, more so than usual. The loss of the rams has the city's morale down. The Ferguson riots took place there last year and they have way more civil unrest than Jacksonville's ever had in recent memory. and...oh yeah. The rapper Nelly is from the Lou, and he's proud. I want to wear  band-aid on my cheek!

I also know we name the way we cut our ribs after them and that they have a Weber restaurant that sounds kinda cool. I'll visit the arch of course but then again, it is a work trip. Flipping 100 or so computers over to my company's domain, fun stuff. Typically makes for 12-14 hour days.

Eitherway i'll come back on here and compare my preconceived notions with the actual experience. I haven't traveled out of Duvvvvavll in quite some time. So it will be refreshing to me for sure.

[thelakelander]

St. Louis is a cool city. Have fun!

[David]

oh yeah i was supposed to give a post trip report on St. Louis: I saw the Arch and went back to work another 12 hour shift.  I did check out Forrest Park though, that was an awesome city park. I was out in the far flung western suburbs of St. Louis with a shared rental car so getting to downtown wasn't quick. It was fairly quiet on a Saturday when we went, except for the fans gathering around Busch Stadium for the Cardinals. Man those are some rabid baseballs fans up there. A lot of the locals I talked to weren't even that bummed about losing the Rams because they're so passionate for their baseball up there.