Kyle Ezell (see previous post) delineates four kinds of city environments: Post-industrial urbs, Garden urbs, Eclectic urbs, and Blank Canvas urbs. Here's how he describes them:
You will most likely to be drawn to a post-industrial urb if you "want to live as close to downtown as possible" and don't mind the city hardscape I(few or no trees). You "prefer balconies and rooftops to patios and backyards." You favor loft-type living areas and modern design. You "like the idea of living in an avant garde, edgy environment."
A garden urb is ideal for you if you want an environment similar to a small town or even suburb, albeit with much smaller lots and a premium on parking. You want some kind of garden, no matter how small, but it has to be on your patch of land. You want a single family dwelling or town-house and lots of trees. You prefer a neighborhood that is almost exclusively residential (no mixed uses like commercial, industrial, manufacturing, etc.)
Eclectic urbs are for those who are easily bored. There is always something going on in an eclectic urb, usually right on the street. There are shops and restaurants and galleries and theaters. Eclectic urbs celebrate diversity of all kinds: people and architecture, activities and functions. You are usually the non-conformist type who embraces change if you are drawn to an eclectic urb.
The blank canvas urb offers the most extreme city living environment. This is for the urban pioneer, the person who wants to be first to rehab and revitalize, the one who has a vision that few others have. These are the areas that look the most hopeless: manufacturing and industrial uses mix with abandoned buildings and vacant lots. A blank canvas dweller is one who likes a challenge and is patient and persistent.
These are just short sketches of each kind of urban environment. Ezell goes into much more detail in his book as well as including real-life examples of each type. Columbus is a good case in point. There are lofts and high-rises right downtown, areas with the small-town feel circling the urban hub, mixed-use neighborhoods (commercial and residential) lining the main streets that criss-cross in the downtown area, and devastated areas which are targeted for clean-up and restoration. I myself live in a garden urb (albeit a lower-income area), but I am only a few blocks away from an eclectic urb and a bus ride downtown to the post-industrial urb. There are also many blank canvas areas interspersed throughout the city neighborhoods.
I would prefer to be a little closer to the eclectic urb. There are several garden urbs that are closer then mine is. But they tend to be a lot more expensive, real estate-wise, so I have to be content where I am for now. What I am hoping will happen is that the eclectic urb will fill in the area between the Short North and the University district along the main street that bisects Columbus from north to south. I'm only three blocks away from that area. It already houses the local branch of the city library and a major grocery store, a few pubs, a coin-operated laundry and a "dollar store." I'd like to see a few more shops, maybe a gallery or two and at least one restaurant. We're getting there, but in the meantime, I can still walk or take the bus to anywhere I want to go in the city. It's the best of both worlds.
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