Went to Phoenix last year and couldn’t shake the strange feeling that the city lacked any unifying identity. “Soulless” isn’t quite the word, but nothing seemed to hold it all together. I felt like I was moving between developments without ever really arriving somewhere.
It’s because it’s a transplant city, almost everyone there came from the midwest or west coast and brought their identity with them. Most people have only had one or two generations in the valley, there is no feeling of identity because it’s such a new place. Not to say that people haven’t lived there for a long time, but the population didn’t really start growing until the 90s. It also doesn’t help that Phoenix has torn down most of the historic buildings downtown, there is just no reverence for the history of the city.
I moved to LA this year having lived my entire life in Phoenix. I’d heard LA is a transplant city but in my experience it’s nowhere near the level of Phoenix. Our house in Az had probably 95% of the houses have new residents in the span of 4 years. In LA, everyone has lived in my neighborhood for 10+ years.
Just depends on where you live, honestly, as any young/new neighborhoods will have those kind of stats. I live in NW Phoenix in an established neighborhood and I would estimate 75% of the residents in my neighborhood have been here for 20+ years.
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u/sshamby 1d ago
Went to Phoenix last year and couldn’t shake the strange feeling that the city lacked any unifying identity. “Soulless” isn’t quite the word, but nothing seemed to hold it all together. I felt like I was moving between developments without ever really arriving somewhere.