St Louis

With a lot of the other places that I have visited I have stayed roughly in the centre of the city and have only really left it to get to and from the airport. With St Louis and access to a car ( Thank you Sarah) we have stayed at the edge and consequently I have seem more of the suburbs and outer areas of the city. St Louis I think it is fair to say is an untidy city. It has no real central area as it has sprung up along the river front with many little centres where bridges were built and also along the railway lines. I don't feel that it has been helped by the planning laws as the city seems to sprawl, with a lots of unused space in the city and areas that have been left boarded up or derelict while new buildings have been built towards the outside. In areas I have just started to see areas of gentrification starting where older areas are either redeveloped or renewed and then sold off. In the UK as space is at a premium so 40% of all new building must be on brownfield (or previously used land) and therefore rundown areas are reused more swiftly but at the premium of costing more. On a car journey last night after having been to see My One and Only at the Muny, we found ourselves getting deeper into one of these more rundown areas and the prickles on the back of the neck started to rise (it was the maps fault as it said that was the way to the Interstate) but all was well.