America's Best Neighborhoods 2010
Boston's Back Bay, Oak Park, Ill., and downtown Frederick, Md., all make the list this year.
What makes a neighborhood a good place to live? Most of us would agree on a few things: some green space, pretty houses or apartment buildings, a place for your kids to play safely. Maybe an important monument or a sense of history. A movie theater or some nightlife nearby wouldn't be so bad either.
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| Riverside-Avondale, Jacksonville, Florida |
But what makes a neighborhood great? Truly great, that is: one of the best in the entire United States?
That's a bit tougher. Yet each year since 2007, the American Planning Association, a nonprofit educational group for community developers, has issued a list of 10 "Great Neighborhoods." (The organization also publishes lists of "Great Streets" and "Great Public Spaces.") To qualify neighborhoods must be at least 10 years old and have definable boundaries, though they can be urban or suburban, in small towns or large. The designees are typically rich in architecture and history.
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| Frank Lloyd Wright Historic District, Oak Park, Ill. |
The Frank Lloyd Wright Historic District ofOak Park, Ill., fits the bill. Wright moved to the Chicago suburb in 1889 as an aspiring architect. When he left nearly 25 years later, he'd created community that has become synonymous with the Prairie School of architecture. Including Wright's home and studio, the neighborhood contains 23 properties designed or remodeled by the master himself, and some 80 Prairie style buildings in all. (For true history buffs, a kid by the name of Ernest Hemingway was growing up in the same neighborhood about the time Wright was forging his legend in the Chicagosuburbs.)
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| Downtown, Frederick, Md. |
In Denver urban planners have remodeled Lower Downtown, the city's original railroad and warehouse district, and have refashioned it into a vibrant shopping, dining and residential area that makes the list. "LoDo," as the area is affectionately called, is a popular nighttime spot and was a hit with revelers during the Democratic National Convention when the city hosted it in 2008.
In Boston the affluent Back Bay neighborhood, which contains Victorian brownstones and some of the city's tallest skyscrapers, is another favorite (though not without some controversy due to the architectural diversity of the area, says an APA spokesman). Back Bay's 19th-century planners took their cue from the grand boulevards of Paris, according to the American Planning Association. Today Back Bay is home to upscale restaurants, shops and hotels, many on Newbury and Boylston Streets.
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| Lower Downtown, Denver, Colorado |
In selecting their list, a process that takes about six months, the APA takes suggestions from a variety of sources, including staff, the public and its members. A committee of four examines several aspects of a neighborhood, including its sense of community and overall composition, its local character and environment and sustainability practices. It then requests additional information, in essence an application, from the neighborhood's community planners or association. This year the APA considered between 30 and 40 neighborhoods.
"There's not a point system," and neighborhoods aren't ranked, says Denny Johnson, public affairs coordinator for the APA. "We don't think you can honestly do that." He will say that the most defining characteristic of a Great Neighborhood is a "unique sense of place." A preponderance of history seems to be the common characteristic of this year's designees. Many of them also have vibrant commercial zones.
For example, downtown Frederick, Md., is within driving distance of several shrines for Civil War enthusiasts, including Gettysburg, Antietam and Harper's Ferry. It's also got quaint old buildings and a relatively new park--begun after a flood in the 1970s--that the APA describes as a "recreational and cultural treasure."
Lafayette, Indiana's Ninth Street Hill neighborhood was the abode of the city's wealthiest families in the 19th century. Although the area fell into disrepair after World War II, a community group breathed life into the disctrict in the 1980s. A few of the grand mansions remain, but the neighborhood is renowned today for its sense of community as much as its local history.
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| Historic Ninth Street Hill, Lafayette, Ind. |
Other neighborhoods that make the list this year include Jacksonville, Florida'sRiverside-Avondale, an eclectic architectural zone on the St. Johns River; the John S. Park neighborhood in Las Vegas;Cincinnati's Hyde Park; the Cathedral Historic District in Sioux Falls, S.D; and the artsy Paseo in Oklahoma City.
Of course there are great neighborhoods in virtually every town in America. Previous designees on APA's list include North Beach in San Francisco, Philadelphia's Society Hill and Downtown Fargo, N.D.
America's Best Neighborhoods
Lower Downtown
Denver, Colo.
"LoDo," as the neighborhood is affectionately called, is both the old and new face of Denver. Occupying 24 blocks, it's the city's original railroad and warehouse district, transformed (largely in part to a 1989 bond issue) into a vibrant shopping, dining and residential area. LoDo was a popular spot for revelers during the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver.
Riverside Avondale
Jacksonville, Fla.
The American Planning Association calls this historic neighborhood, located on the west bank of the St. Johns River, Jacksonville's "hidden gem." Comprising two adjacent neighborhoods, Riverside Avondale is astonishingly rich in architecture, with homes built in the Tudor Revival, Spanish Eclectic and Prairie styles, among others. The neighborhood is part of the National Register of Historic Places.
Frank Lloyd Wright Historic District
Oak Park, Ill.
In 1889 21-year-old Frank Lloyd Wright moved to the Chicago suburb of Oak Park. By the time he left in 1913, Wright had established the neighborhood's place as a mecca for architecture enthusiasts. Today Oak Park has more than 80 examples of Prairie School architecture, 23 of them designed or remodeled by the master himself.
Historic Ninth Street Hill Neighborhood
Lafayette, Ind.
The abode of Lafayette's elite in the late 19th century, the Ninth Street Hill area today contains a few grand, old mansions. The area fell into disrepair after World War II, but in the 1980s the Ninth Street Hill Neighborhood Association began to restore it as an alluring locale. Just before Christmas each year, the association decorates the hill with hundreds of luminaria, candles placed in paper bags.
Downtown Frederick
Frederick, Md.
About an hour away from both Baltimore and Washington, D.C., Frederick is at the crossroads of American history--Gettysburg, Antietam and Harper's Ferry are also nearby. Some of the downtown buildings date to the 1700s. The American Planning Association calls Frederick's Carroll Creek Park--designed as a flood control project--as a "recreational and cultural treasure."
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