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Present streetscapes

1M views 13K replies 418 participants last post by  Slow Burn 
#1 · (Edited)
Which city is the best at ground level?

Let's just see if you can vote for a city OTHER than the one you live in/was born.

As suggested by Kids in the Riot,
 
#2 ·
Birmingham with all the bias I have within me.
 
#4 ·
This thread has been a long time in the waiting. It's gonna be tricky though to decide on which city to vote for in this thread, compared to threads such as 'Best current skyline' and 'best future skyline' because you can't simply look at a few skyline shots to help you make your choice.

If you haven't been to one of the cities listed, is it really fair to vote? The only city listed that I haven't been to is Glasgow and the general feeling is that has one of the best streetscapes in the country. I guess I'm gonna have to visit Glasgow before I can vote on this poll.
 
#5 ·
I think this is one of those threads where people will just vote their own city rather than thinking about it,I thought about voting Glasgow which is quite beautiful at street level but can look a bit uniform with all those stone buildings. Manchester has the most ecclectic streetscape so therefore more interest for me.
 
#11 ·
I have lots of phone-cam (shudder) pics of Leeds which I shall include, taken spontaneously just before I moved to London. My vote, of course, will go to Leeds. I love the mixture of the old and new sitting hand in hand. The shopping is fantastic there, just the right mix of things for the perfect shopping trip (1/4 shopping to 3/4 coffee). There's plenty of open space, but plenty of hidden, cobbled streets with nice pubs down too.

One thing I would complain about though is the lack of green in the city. I don't think I remember ever seeing a tree there, except in Park Square!




I must apologise for the quality of the pictures, but as I say, they were completely spontaneous, and taken literally on my last venture into the city before I left.

Some better quality pics.






All of the thumnails are clickable, and I cannot take any credit for the second set of photies!

Subliving.
 
#12 ·
I have voted Glasgow - only been once but the city centre is good for street-level stuff.

I would put Brum second, possibly bias, but possibly because Brum used to have by far the WORST streetscape (subways, flyovers, lots of city centre traffic) so they had to do something radical. Now we have lots of wide pavements, public squares and high quality public realm. Not as much block paving as I'd like but we're getting there...

I must say (and this isn't a slight) that I am disappointed with Mcr. For all the great proposals and buildings coming on-line I really think the public realm needs sorting. The pavements are quite narrow (I can see that this could be part of the charm, but in my book pedestrians are the most important in a city centre, and it is bad when people have to step into the road on a busy street). It feels like London with the streetscape, and whilst the buildings are gorgeous (old and new), you don't really get the chance to appreciate them.

Don't really remember much of Leeds so won't comment.

Sheffield's pretty good though
 
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