> Some cities are exceptions to this, e.g. the city of Rochester, NY, which kind of just "ends" at its western border (the Erie Canal), rapidly dissipating into

> Some cities are exceptions to this, e.g. the city of Rochester, NY, which kind of just "ends" at its western border (the Erie Canal), rapidly dissipating into rural suburbs of Gates, Greece, and Chili. But this always seemed like a strange and jarring transition to me. Maybe a lot of places are like this? And maybe more places were like this in the past. This is because of the belt road fad of the 50s. While it makes transit from the suburbs to parts of the city convenient it ultimately causes sharp changes in density on the sides of the belt. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-01/burying-rochester-s-inner-loop-a-1950s-era-planning-disaster https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-01/burying-r...