Elements of Urbanism: Charleston 2009

[Metro Jacksonville]

Elements of Urbanism: Charleston 2009



Metro Jacksonville takes a look at a city that has built an economy out of the preservation of history.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2009-sep-elements-of-urbanism-charleston-2009

[vicupstate]

Great Pics.

[heights unknown]

It's a shame Charleston is a much smaller city and has more convention space, and, it appears more things to do.  And I love the appearance and "old world charm" of Charleston; this is a City I could live in or possibly fall in love with. Is the downtown filled with things to do?

Heights Unknown

[Cliffs_Daughter]

I was just there this weekend - We did the Friday evening out with the kids and walked over from the college area to Waterfront Park and back, then the Saturday night pub crawl. If I didn't have In-laws up there to nag me endlessly, I could easily live there.
And yes, Heights, there are LOTS of things to do there. They have an aquarium & Fort Sumter, among other things.

[Captain Zissou]

I have been to Charleston twice and loved it.  I was just off King Street and was able to walk everywhere I needed to go. 
Forgive my ignorance, but what factors go into the Population density calculation that makes our score so high?? We are often higher than many cities where I would have not thought that to be the case.

[cdb]

I love Charleston.... Have been there at least 4-5 times for long weekends or full weeks... Charleston is St. Augustine on steroids.... Also the pics are great.... Reading this article has already got me thinking about my next trip up there....

[Cliffs_Daughter]

Charleston is St. Augustine on steroids....

You know, that's exactly what I thought!
I just mapped the hike we took with the kids, and we started at King/Liberty going through the French quarter down to Waterfront Park. And long a walk as it was, it was not boring. Every turn had something to see, hear, or smell.

[Overstreet]

My sister in law was well into her 30s before she'd drive across the Cooper River Bridge with out  a life jacket on. Strangest thing to see her driving with an orange life jacket across that old Grace Memorial Bridge (built in 1929).

Personally though, I prefered Mount Pleasant for some reason. Best shrimp grits I've ever had was in Mount Pleasant. Best place to stay was small hotel on piling on Shem Creek. But I like a little less urban than y'all.

[vicupstate]

^^ A Life Jacket wouldn't have done any good over most of that old Bridge, the impact would have killed her if she crashed through the railing.  It wasn't for the faint of heart, to be sure.     

[Keith-N-Jax]

Looks very nice and clean.

[charlestondxman]

Those pictures are very good of Charleston and the area. The Dock Street Theater has been under renovations for the last couple of years, and is opening back up late this year. South of Broad is mostly the rich area, where all the high-end Charleston families live.

There are some bad things about Charleston, but they're getting better. The bus system, the Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority (CARTA) has gotten much better over the last few years, compared to just a few years ago, when they were thinking about cutting service altogether.

Now, they have express buses that travel between major business areas of Charleston. One bus goes from James Island to North Charleston, hitting all of the major hospitals and going right thru downtown heading toward the mall, and the other goes from Mt. Pleasant to West Ashley.

http://www.ridecarta.com/shared/docs/589/carta%20express%20effective%204_2008.pdf

Charleston is also getting its first year-round cruise ship line, as Carnival is doing 5-7 day voyages to the Bahamas and Key West starting next May, 70 a year. This will bring $70 million into the local economy. This was helped by our mayor, Joe Riley, who has been mayor since 1975. What do you think about Charleston?

[vicupstate]

One thing that I would like to see on the next Charleston profile is the more 'off the beaten path' areas, specifically the areas on the Peninsula but not the landmarks of Rainbow Row, Battery etc., but instead Ansonborough, Harleston village, Waggoner Terrace, etc.  There are some buildings on Upper Bay St, Huger St., Rutledge Ave. Ashley Ave. etc. that are very urban, historic and attractive. They aren't considered 'landmarks' just because there are so many other landmarks already.

If Joe Riley could be cloned and made Mayor of every major city, the US would be an urban utopia in about 10-20 years, in much the way that Europe is considered now.  He wrote the book on implementing virtually everything that we talk about on this forum.