Did American Towns Lose Their Individuality?

this makes me sad. there was this one town i stopped in, some time in the 70s. i'm not sure which one it was. might have been chyanne wyoming. where they did this and it was great.
but wherever it was, it was the only place in the u.s. i had ever seen where they actually did.

 

The store front architecture all looks the same now too; even the doctor's offices.

 

Almost all businesses by me have a strip mall look to them. Lease signs all over too.

 

The schools even have this architecture making the elementary, middle, and high school all like alike. Where my grandkids go, they are all strung out in a row next to each other. It's confusing as hell.

 

Fun facts

Megalopolis -more than ten million people each.
Conurbation -three to ten million people.
Metropolis – one to three million.
Large city – 1 million people but over 300,000 people.
City – is over 100,000 people up to 300,000.
Large town 20,000 to 100,000.
Town – 1,000 to 20,000.
Village hundreds to thousand.
Hamlet –100
Isolated dwelling –1 or 2 buildings


Back to OP
I live in a town.
Now in my little town a huge upscale mall is being built. I'm sure it's only a matter of a few years, my little town of 6k will be registered as a city. With it a population explosion.

Make way for Eminent domain!

 

Here we have towns that are seen as cities. How? Because they got 'city rights' in medieval times :-D Big deal back then! Gave a town privileges and power.

 

don't worry, malls don't necessary equal population explosion. the "town" that i currently live in built a very nice mall maybe 15 years ago when it was still considered a "large town." but since then half the people have moved out and the 90% deserted mall seems like it should be in a horror movie when you're walking through its empty hallways.

 

^

 

Why Did Half The Population Leave Town...???...



Cheers Glen.

 

It's still a mystery but it all started to happen after Undies moved there....

 

^... I Can Accept That Explanation......



Cheers Glen.

 

it all happened before i moved here so i only know what i've heard secondhand, but the short answer is that several factories closed, so the extremely busy shipyard dried up, so the rest of the factories closed.

 

Sounds like the mall that my friend lived near in Pennsylvania. About 65% of the stores were closed.
Felt a bit strange for me coming from NJ where there is a mall within a half hour (no traffic) drive in every direction. And every one of them are always more than 95% full for as long as I can remember.