CardiffWalesMap

Now I'm not a particular fan of American Football, however I watched last years superbowl and really enjoyed it and stuck with it to the end! Anyway that's not the point of this thread! As a matter of interest the rather impressive US Bank stadium is in Minneapolis which has a population not that much greater than Cardiff's (in fact our population could even be greater than there's in the not too distant future - although I'm sure the population of Minneapolis is projected to increase also). I was interested in the US Bank stadium and then noticed that Minneapolis had a very impressive skyline, so I wondered how big the city was? I thought at least 1million plus. Now I'm not saying that we will ever have such a dynamic skyline but it is nevertheless food for thought!! OK a bit skyscraper geek! but I'm sure Minneapolis isn't the only city that 'punches above it's weight on the skyline front!

paul cardiffwalesmap wrote:Now I'm not a particular fan of American Football, however I watched last years superbowl and really enjoyed it and stuck with it to the end! Anyway that's not the point of this thread! As a matter of interest the rather impressive US Bank stadium is in Minneapolis which has a population not that much greater than Cardiff's (in fact our population could even be greater than there's in the not too distant future - although I'm sure the population of Minneapolis is projected to increase also). I was interested in the US Bank stadium and then noticed that Minneapolis had a very impressive skyline, so I wondered how big the city was? I thought at least 1million plus. Now I'm not saying that we will ever have such a dynamic skyline but it is nevertheless food for thought!! OK a bit skyscraper geek! but I'm sure Minneapolis isn't the only city that 'punches above it's weight on the skyline front!

I'm not all that familiar with that part of the U.S., but looking at Wikipedia and Google Maps I think it's part of a metropolis of 3.5 million people with it's neighbour St.Pauls's (300,000k) and then a fair few towns making up the rest of the 3.5million.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minneapolis%E2%80%93Saint_Paul



It's not unlike the Greater Boston area that I'm a bit more familiar with. Boston itself just under 700,000k but the heart of a metropolis with other smaller cities and towns such as Cambridge adding between 4-8 million depending on what boundary you are drawing.

I guess that Minneapolis skyline is that impressive is largely due to quite a few world or USA HQs of companies, but also some hotels and apartment blocks. Have a look at this list and the occupiers, over 20 buildings above 30 floors, quite a few above 40 and some above 50.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Minneapolis

It's where Cardiff's is lacking, we don't have many big employers that need that size of office, and our major development proposals on the whole are student housing led with the odd hotel. Sure we've had quite a few new offices go up, or about to go up that's taller than most offices built in the city over the last few years, but HMRC and Admiral being the biggest are just mid-rises at around 12 floors high.

It gives you some real perspective.

American skyscrapers are beautiful though aren't they?

Paul you are confusing city proper population with the greater urban area population.
Many American cites have "small" city proper population compared to their wider urban expanse. While in the UK the difference is usually much less.

I am sure that there a lot of people in Minneapolis who would love to have our castle and civic centre. Although impressive, the skyline in Minneapolis is somewhat anonymous. Literally, you could be anywhere in the world. I think that perhaps it may be a sad day when Cardiff becomes the same.

here you go paul,....http://mapmerizer.mikavaa.com/#11;51.53 ... alse;false

this shows how much bigger the Minneapolis urban area is

Yes - it has to be said that my research on this was very poor!! oh well at least I managed to post that photo and somehow relate it to Cardiff developments! and I totally agree with you jonbvn Cardiff Castle would be beyond there wildest dreams! we are well blessed with this and plenty more. Hopefully the more high rise areas of our city have been identified, I like to thing that we can to a certain extent get the best of both worlds ie. historic and modern.

cardiffian wrote:here you go paul,....http://mapmerizer.mikavaa.com/#11;51.53 ... alse;false

this shows how much bigger the Minneapolis urban area is

Nice one Cardiffian and double oops -

Cardiff capotal region covers the ten local authority areas of: Cardiff, Monmouthshire, Newport, Torfaen, Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Vale of Glamorgan and Bridgend.

That gives a total population of 1.5 million

Hopefully can have the best of both world with a high rise area and a low rise historic civic centre.

Something like Paris on a small scale?

We don't really have a historic city centre in Cardiff, most of the older building are victorian and Edwardian...which is not really historic in the real scene. By the way Paris flattened most of their "historic" centre in the early 1800's to make way for a "modern" city.

Personally I find the "castle" offensive to the eye.

Having said that the civic centre is quite interesting, just in the wrong place, so you don't get to see it from any entry point to the city, instead you are diverted around it, so it lacks the impact it could have.

I don't think whether something is high-rise or low rise matters that much, its more the quality of the buildings and quality of construction materials that creating an interesting built environment in a city.