When it comes to urban travel, one almost never hears about visiting Houston or Pittsburgh or Louisville. The big European destinations come up, as do Japan's and select ones in the Middle East and elsewhere, but aside from New York, Miami, DC, LA, and San Francisco, urban travel in the United States (and Canada) is next to nonexistent from international travelers and even for domestic travelers (unless they live nearby). And a key problem with this is the lifelessness that one feels in American cities. Even some of the big ones like San Francisco and DC are also succumbing to this lifeless air (Boston felt downright banal), whereas even smallish cities/large towns in Italy or Germany show more life and activity than American cities with six or seven digit population figures.Why is this the case? Was it like this 20+ years ago?
please don't visit dc it is such a waste of time goddamn if I could stop everyone thinking it is coolits a bizarre mix of wealthy robot people selling war and weapons and poor former slaves looking to agitate and disrupt who can barely control their mannerismscincinnati seemed nice!american cities are too diverse to enjoy, you can only go to the non diverse parts and they dont mark on signs "this way to the nice white part of town" its more an iykyk thingalso, americans are hyper-individual and everyone is in their own bubble not really interacting with others too much unless they knew them before or are relatedi recommend visiting small towns and rivers and gorges of americathe nature is more exciting than samey skyscrapers and unwelcoming streets also, I'd recommend coming during a festival, especially to see a small town, when everyone is out and active
>>2863786Combination of newness, so not much history, and the fact that most cities are just places where people go to work then drive back home to the suburbs. Only poors live in cities. Granted, some east coast and older cities can be fun to explore, but for most it's basically like having a bunch of Frankfurts
>>2863791wheeling, wv has cool older homes that look like they date to the early 1800s that are very distinctive, sometimes you get gorgeous random mansions in american towns/cities that ARE historic but it's a random process to find them its not like they usually have BIG SIGNS saying historic homes this way. also if you are in wheeling there's a spooky iron bridge you can walk across cuz it was deemed unfit for car traffic and you can get a commanding view above the ohio river from itamerica has a lot of fun river views>Only poors live in cities.hmm maybe that's cuz certain people live in cities that they don't want to be around.
>>2863786Unironically cars. Cities that are not walkable are not worth visiting.
>>2863786No mention of New Orleans, which feels more like the capital of some banana republic than part of the U.S. Great food, music, people and architecture but also insane levels of crime. Big state university cities like Austin, Boulder or Ann Arbor had some unique charm at one point and a lot of energetic culture due to the critical mass of young people but now they’re just unaffordable and sterile, full of white people virtue signaling how much they hate white people. Same with small cities like Asheville once they’re discovered. Certain city neighborhoods and small towns have some realness but with most American cities there’s no there there.
>>2863786Most Americans idea of vacations and tourism involve traveling the country itself, riding the highways, eating out at roadside restaurants, visiting national parks and tourst traps, camping and fishing, etc. etc.. Don't let the Urbanists fool you, all the good stuff's in the rural areas. Doesn't help that all the big cities are run by people that think letting repeat offending felon's out with a slap on the wrist is a good idea just because of their dark complexion.>>2863801>Unironically cars. more like Nogs, Always nogs. Cars just made it so people that don't want to live near nogs could. You can tell how safe or dangerous a City is based off of Demographics alone.
>>2863786Look up Robert Moses. Unsurprisingly the answer is once again the Jews.But also white americans tend to be massive pussies who abandoned the cities en masse because they were that scared if being within 10 miles of a black person.
>>2863786I’m not here to fucking entertain you, you little ferret. I wanna be left the fuck alone. I love living in a boring city. I don’t want to see people out SHOUTING and enjoying their lives. Fucking go away
>>2863786>lifelessnessIt's too expensive for the weirdos who make it interesting to live there.>>2863791>Only poors live in cities.Lol
Because American society has been rebuilt around trying to avoid the consequences of the civil rights act, without repealing the civil rights act
>>2863786>one almost never hears about visiting Houston or Pittsburgh or LouisvilleBecause you would be vacationing to those places to experience "middle American culture" which foreigners don't want to do. It also requires planning and research to have a good vacation in a place like Louisville whereas Nigel Peabody can hop off his plane at LaGuardia and already have an entire trip planned without ever putting any real thought into it. Like I'm stuck hosting my wife's family from abroad a lot and if when I leave them alone to enjoy 5 days in Springfield, IL they bitch about how bored they are but when I curate their visit to include all the typical Lincoln and State government stops, the nice nature, the shitty delicious local slop, and some Midwestern classics like bowling and bingo they seem to enjoy their trip even though they're there to see their sister/niece/cousin and not to experience the town.
Spent a good bit of time in Raleigh as that's where my brother lives. Lots of university students walking, bicycling or taking the bus there. Traffic is less congested than in the outlying car-centric regions as a result. Yes there are smelly loud negros, but everyone is a tolerant liberal who lets them do their thing, and in exchange they let you be. Raleigh is the only city I've been to that had beefy non-white security guards hired by the downtoen business association to patrol the streets and ensure nobody starts trouble...while also not giving a fuck about blunt smoking or alcohol drinking. Yes there are some whites downtown on leisure trips, using the bus depot or patronizing the businesses; they clearly disapprove of the bad smells and shenanigans, but they try their best to enjoy the city nonetheless. Compared to the overall population of the metro area, however, the numbers of people out in public downtown are very, very low. This is the norm in American cities.
>>2863786Houston's downtown is nothing but financial skyscrapers. Pittsburgh I've heard has come a long way in recent decades. It used to be downright awful, filthy and polluted. Now it's the poster city for all of Appalachia.
>why aren’t the cities specifically designed to be playgrounds for adults so boring?Because they’re places for regular people to live and work and shop and do all that regular routine life type stuff. Also keep in mind the U.S. is absolutely massive and until about 200 years ago 90% of it was uninhabited wildlands. We don’t have the benefit of having a “Leonardo Da Vinci took a nap and a dump here once” historical site on every block.
>>2863985Our cities ackshually used to be very nice, walkable, and lively until midcentury corporations, politicians, and city planner jews all willfully destroyed them to makeway for massive highways, urban sprawl, and car dependency.
The US is kinda boring compared to other countries. China and India are def more interesting than the US culturally. North Xinjiang, Western Sichuan, Qinghai, Yunnan and Guizhou are so much fun.
>>2863987They did all that to avoid the groid like other posters have mentioned.>>2863840>>2863811>>2863809
>>2863786>Houston or Pittsburgh or Louisvillehouston is a notch above these other places. you do need a car though
>>2863936Pittsburgh is tiny. It's a postage stamp downtown radiating outwards with housing, housing, and more housing for miles and miles. You have to think of it less as a big city, and more as the only city in Appalachia proper up in the highlands and it exists because the rivers meet. It's not bad or anything, especially not compared to eastern PA, but if you expect something sort of large and thriving you will be disappointed. Pittsburgh is more about hills, some historic architecture, but really just having ANY sort of large urbanized base for miles around. >>2864011um no houston is endless sprawl and very little culture
>>2863786Most us cities weren't built for your amusement retard. They are built for cars, and fucking freedom. Unironically, collegetowns near large colleges tend to be more interesting than random downtowns since they're designed for walking
>>2864055it makes me psychologically anxious to be in a place that is functionally being used for glorified adult daycare (college)a lot of small towns in America were built for logging. The town starts where the railroad ended. Cars were less important, at first.
>>2863987Yeah, back when business was still being done on Main Street. Saturday would be so full of life, with everyone from the countryside coming into town to do their shopping. Some Main Streets have revitalized really well. Summer is when you're gonna see the most people out and enjoying themselves, particularly in the northern states.>>2864044Some of Houston's neighborhoods have become faggoty and artsy. They even have hostels. You can ride city buses around. But yeah, by world city standards, Houston is a soulless, crime-ridden shithole with way too much money for its own good.>>2864055Car maker propaganda is so ridiculously effective on the average TV watching mutt. You're so free that 90% of the miles you put on your car are from driving back and forth to work to pay for your car. Not to mention the innumerable laws and regulations that govern your behavior as an owner/driver. Riding Third World buses feels genuinely freeing. No responsibility, just relax and go with the flow.
>>2864160>Some of Houston's neighborhoods have become faggoty and artsy.The only part of Houston I found enjoyable was Montrose, the gay neighborhood. Houston had such wide roads. It blew my mind. And really flat too. I also remember air conditioned tunnels everywhere and like elevated walkways and just everything being chain food everywhere. I did have some good Vietnamese and some AMAZING Thai food at a place I now forget the name of.
>>2863786>one almost never hears about visiting Houston or Pittsburgh or LouisvilleWhy do you care what you've "heard about?" Just do what you want to do. I've visited 2 of those places and many other midsize US cities and found interesting things to do and every place's unique urban identity.
>>2863786are any cities interesting? things to do in any city:>eat>drink
It's annoying when urbanists create these veiled threads to talk about their urbanist revenge fantasies against car drivers
>>2864532rochester ny has a huge waterfall in the city, though it is pretty ghetto otherwise
>>2864532Museums, concerts, theaters, historical places, walking tours, shopping, clubbing, bars, cafés, all kinds of sports ...
>>2864554depends where you go, but to some extent museums, concerts, and theaters have been ruined for me, especially if you try to go in major cities, by onerous security theater, searches, bag restrictions, and others rulesIf I can't just bring my backpack inside your thing without being hassled, I'm not coming in. The fact that you assume I have ill intentions or are potentially causing you harm for me being there makes me feel unwelcome. sports are boring and fake, bars are for alcoholics, clubbing is for young peopleso that leaves historical places, walking tours ($$$ if not self guided, eating, and shopping
>>2864557>searches, bag restrictions, and others rulesOnly in 3rd world countries like France.
>>2864554Houston and Shittsburgh have all those things and Louisville has all of them except sports teams. Motherfuckers who think only a country's biggest and most popular cities are all that has value to a visitor are retarded. I'd 100% take going back to Liverpool and Toulouse over London and Paris.
>>2863993Topkek
>>2864559the vast majority of large concert venues will search your bags and don't allow you to bring in waterabsolutely fuck them and it's sort of variable, but a lot of museums in more DIVERSE cities will tend to have rules around bags/searches/waterI also got yelled at for touching a wall in a mansion on a tour I literally grazed the tip of my finger against it for 3 seconds. It wasn't even any sort or original surface. It was an Italianate mansion, so the style was to put veneer over wood so the grain looked uniform so I was just touching plastic coating. I hate people who enforce rules on autopilot. They belong in hell the most.
>>2864561>Houston and Shittsburgh>Liverpool and ToulouseThose are cities anon.
>>2864011are you joking houston fucking blowsalso one of the most car dependent cities in the country
Houston is a concrete hell hole.Pittsburgh is a city with natural beauty, history, architecture built by European immigrants.
>>2863801This, combined with cheap land means that American cities are so spread out that they can't even really be considered cities. Most egregious example of this is Phoenix, AZ. Which has a thousand more square kilometers than NYC. The authentic city within that area tends to be very small. If that's what you're after, go to NYC/New England. One of the few places where you can get away with rail travel alone.
Houston was literally a parking lot, idk what you expected.
Apples and oranges anon. Cars are essentially a hedge against de-segregation in America. Having said that, much of America is exclusively enjoyable from driving. Area 51, driving up and down California's coastline, seeing the mountains of Tennessee, and North Carolina. America has a few big cities that still remain gems, but the number gets lower as time goes on. San Diego is great, and Miami has its quirks too.
>>2863786I visit family once a year in Louisville. Louisville is actually a pretty big tourist destination internationally for 3 days a year because of the Kentucky Derby. Churchill Downs where they hold the races is amazing. The city has a lot of great breweries and bourbon distilleries. The restaurant scene is shockingly good too. There are a lot of really great hipster bars. They have a really great bike trail called the Parklands of Floyds Fork. The Speed Art and 21C museums are worth visiting. Definitely go see a basketball game at the Yum Center. The main problem with Louisville is black people committing crime.
>>2863786You've never traveled and/or a complete loser/jeet/incel if this is your take. Bait slop.
>>2863791Newness lol? Cities along the east coast are hundreds of years old. Learn some history FFS because it seems you have zero clue what you're talking about. Boston, Philadelphia, etc aren't as old as other cities but even close to being 'new'. Even most West coast cities are 150+ years old.
>>2866240St. Augustine, Florida (1565): The oldest continuously inhabited European-settled city in the US, known for its Spanish colonial architecture, narrow streets, and the Castillo de San Marcos.Charleston, South Carolina (1670): Known for its massive, well-preserved Historic District featuring antebellum homes, cobblestone streets, and the French Quarter.Boston, Massachusetts (1630): Features the "Old City" areas like Beacon Hill, the North End, and the Freedom Trail, which includes 17th-century buildings.Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1682): Often considered the birthplace of the nation, with its "Old City" and Society Hill areas featuring Elfreth's Alley (the oldest continuously inhabited residential street).New Orleans, Louisiana (1718): The French Quarter is the historic heart of the city, featuring unique French and Spanish colonial architecture.Santa Fe, New Mexico (1607): The oldest state capital in the US, famous for its Adobe-style architecture and the Historic Plaza.Savannah, Georgia (1733): Renowned for its large-scale city grid with 22 squares and preserved 18th- and 19th-century architecture.Williamsburg, Virginia (1632): A restored living-history city that represents the 18th-century capital of Virginia.Alexandria, Virginia (1749): The "Old Town" area is a well-preserved historic district with 18th-century townhouses and cobblestone streets.Newport, Rhode Island (1639): Famous for its colonial-era homes, wharves, and historic downtown, particularly around the College Hill area.Annapolis, Maryland (1649): Known for its 18th-century brick architecture, the Maryland State House, and colonial street layout.Nantucket, Massachusetts: A former whaling port that has preserved its 18th and 19th-century buildings.
>>2866241ChatGPT ass post
>>2863786Barely any history, thus no soul. That's the sad truth.
Fucking retarded man. Asking why Pittsburgh is boring is like asking why Nagoya, Chelyabinsk or Curitiba are boring. The only place where 10th largest cities and the like aren’t totally boring is Europe and only because Europeans built a beautiful culture that left nice buildings and statues everywhere. These people were the ancestors of Americans also by the way. > hurr durr why is Pheonix, a former military mail post town that only exists as a pit stop for wave after wave of Mexican immigrants and is scarcely a century old so boring? Why is Pittsburgh, a post-industrial town in Appalachia that isn’t even in America’s top 15 most populated cities so boring?It’s retarded.
