no matter what the formula, "BIG D" isn't a rural area by any criteria, that makes COMMON SENSE!
free dixie,sw
I don't say that a downtown business district is a rural area. What I was saying, I will try to make this clear....is that the census delineates urban and rural areas by population density per square mile. My point was that this criteria can be misleading since it can categorize areas as rural or urban that do not fit into the traditional definitions of such.
The census obviously would not delineate a rural area in the midst of a major city. The problem arises when they categorize outlying areas where population density sometimes does not accurately reflect development patterns and land use.
The area I was discussing in the original post was the area around New York City that the census labels as a metro area (urban). Now if you actually go to many parts of this metro area, you would see farms, woods, single family homes, sometimes mansions and vast estates. What is actually on the ground would not qualify as urban in the traditional definition. On the other hand you can go to some areas in the country that are categorized as rural but what is actually there are vast areas of industrial use. More typical of an urban environment but lacking in population.