Talk:Western Michigan

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This article should be renamed West Michigan, to avoid confusion with Western Michigan University. Funnyhat 20:54, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I disagree. If someone doesn't think to put in the full name of the university and ends up here, it ought to be obvious enough what they have to do to find the page they want. "Western Michigan" is the proper name of the region, so it's the proper name for this article. Tverbeek 16:12, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I suppose that's true, but I don't there is one proper name for the region. To the best of my knowledge, it is an informal geographic designation without any official legal boundaries. Funnyhat 19:39, 18 May 2005 (UTC)

That's my point: if it were a formally-defined region, it'd be designated "West Michigan" (like "West Virginia" or "West Germany"). But because it's vaguely and informally defined, the more vague term "western Michigan" applies. It's the same reason WMU is called "Western Michigan University" in the first place: that's the more proper name of the region. Tverbeek 20:15, 18 May 2005 (UTC)

That being said, "West Michigan" is a term with well established use in the region. Both local use and the article repeatedly use "West Michigan," while "Western Michigan," really, seems to be reserved for the University. Contrast with the Bay Area—though not a "formally defined" area, the name is established through local use. Wiki Wikardo 03:46, 5 August 2005 (UTC)

Good point. I've created a redirect for West Michigan to this article. Tverbeek 11:40, 5 August 2005 (UTC)

Well, yes, but the reason I hesitated creating a redirect was because I wanted to move it. :)Wiki Wikardo

All of the famous people from the individual cities should be imported, if that's the way we want to go. Yes, I know I should do it myself. I am feeling rather lazy this evening. I apologize. Euphoria 06:06, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] What areas are considered West Michigan??

Its hard to define regions like this, but I think the explaination in this article is especially vague. The best way to figure out what areas should be included in "West Michigan" is probably to find out if people living in those areas consider themselves to be in West Michigan or not.

In my opinion, being from the Grand Rapids area, West Michigan is centered on Kent and Ottawa counties. I would include Muskegon, Newago, western Montcalm, western Ionia, Barry and Allegan. I think Oceana is pushing it. Kalamzoo and Van Buren are tough ones, but I would consider them Southwest Michigan, but then again, I don't live there. Segelflugzeugwettbewerber 19:01, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

Much of it is influenced by media markets. For example, several television stations in the Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek TV market consider Berrien County to be in their viewing area, although technically that county is part of the South Bend or "Michiana" TV market. Radio markets make it vaguer, because they're usually further divided than the TV markets. It could be considered that the portion of West Michigan south of the baseline is called "Southwest Michigan," but even then, this area is still considered to be part of West Michigan as a whole. The nature of these regions is entirely arbitrary, and thus you won't have a clear definition of "West Michigan" or any other region for that matter. Some areas will overlap as a result. Spicy 14:18, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

From my understanding, "West Michigan" is generally used to refer to the Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland SMSA. This area has a population of more than 1.2 million and is largely distinct from the Kalamazoo-Battle Creek and Benton Harbor areas, which are more commonly referred to as "Soutwest Michigan". It might be useful to make note of this distinction, because as this area contines to grow, West Michigan the metro area may be an increasingly common term not only locally, but around the state and nation. Triphook 22:32, 21 March 2006 (UTC)