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charlotte's cool. they're like us 40 years ago, i guess. i'd consider the east coast cities of atlanta, charlotte, raleigh, richmond, and baltimore to all be part of the same basic area of the country— we're all very similar, with similar histories and development, we're just at different stages in how far we've come along.
I've always thought something similar. I was thinking the other day, looking at the status of Atlanta in say 1983 vs. 1993 against Charlotte in 2013. I think 20 - 30 years is a little more accurate. Closer to 1983 ATL though, as I couldn't imagine Charlotte hosting the 2016 Olympics in similar fashion to Atlanta in '96. That said, I've been an advocate for sometime of Charlotte throwing for 2023 PanAm games. It'd be a nice, fairly realistic goal for the city IMO.
But yes, Charlotte is a mini-Atlanta in many, many ways. I'd like for us to LEARN from Atlanta though. Emulate the positive developments in Atlanta (developing tourism, cultivating a strong diversified economy) while avoiding some of the pitfalls (traffic, sprawl issues).
Ha ha...I started this thread 3 years ago when I first moved to Charlotte, NC. I'm back in Atlanta now but Charlotte, NC and Atlanta are very much alike....Atlanta is the older sibling in college and Charlotte the younger about to enter 9th grade.
I have never heard this argument when I lived in Atlanta. But now that I live here in Charlotte I hear it all the time. Honestly there is NO COMPARISON!!! Atlanta is a top world performer with cities like Houston, Chicago, San Francisco, New York etc.
This is typical of almost all regions in the U.S.
Living in metro Boston, I had only ever heard Boston compared to NYC. While there are some similarities (mostly due to each city's age and proximity), they're very different and obviously on different tiers. You'll rarely hear people in NYC comparing NYC to Boston.
On a smaller scale, I lived in Providence and Portland, ME. People in both cities (especially Portland) frequently compared their cities to Boston. Obviously Portland and Providence are on completely different tiers.
I think the reason this happens is simple. The people in smaller cities are "looking up" to their larger regional counterparts. The sibling comparison is a good one. Older siblings typically don't compare themselves to smaller younger siblings when growing up (except to say, "I'm bigger/better than you!") whereas younger siblings always use the older sibling as a measuring stick.
Regardless, it's certainly not unique to Charlotte and Atlanta.
Charlotte isn't a "mini-Atlanta". I'm curious to know where that accusation came from.
Charlotte is Charlotte. Atlanta is Atlanta.
You can't say a smaller metro is a "mini" larger metro just because they're close to each other. I'm guessing Columbia is a mini-Charlotte? Birmingham a mini Atlanta?
Charlotte is absolutely a mini-Atlanta. In a plethora of ways. Similar southern culture. Similar ambitious growth policies. Similar urban planning issues, in particular sprawl. Similar political issues (heavily conservative outlying suburbs fighting with a progressive inner ring). It's not a negative to say Charlotte is a mini-Atlanta, but there are too many similarities for that not to be the case. Yes, there are certainly things unique to both cities that make them great. And unfortunately Atlanta trumps Charlotte in most categories. But outside of their respective downtown's, if I were to drop you in a neighborhood, you probably couldn't guess what city you were in just by looking around. Similar construction of homes, similar flora and fauna. It is what it is. And yes, Columbia is a mini-Charlotte.
Why did you say unfortunately Atlanta trumps Charlotte?? Unfortunately we are 4x the size of Charlotte. And I wouldn't have wasted my time responding fltonc because the whole universe and beyond is centered around Charlotte, NC as far as they are concerned.
You can't say a smaller metro is a "mini" larger metro just because they're close to each other. I'm guessing Columbia is a mini-Charlotte? Birmingham a mini Atlanta?
Although Columbia and Charlotte share some similarities (historically both were rail hubs and had prominent textile industries, today the FIRE industry is prominent in each [more so in Charlotte]), I wouldn't call Columbia a mini-Charlotte. However, in some ways Birmingham is a mini-Atlanta. They have similar industrial histories so their cores feel alike in terms of the historic buildings. They have similar geographic settings and have historic prominence as far as the Civil Rights movement go. The cities also have similar demographics and were considered peer cities until Atlanta started pulling away in the postwar period.
In general, geographic proximity does make some cities smaller versions of larger cities in the region--like I find Jackson, MS to be like a mini-Memphis, Winston-Salem seems to be a mini-Richmond in some respects, people say OKC is like a mini-version of Dallas, etc.
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Originally Posted by ah59396
Charlotte is absolutely a mini-Atlanta. In a plethora of ways. Similar southern culture. Similar ambitious growth policies. Similar urban planning issues, in particular sprawl. Similar political issues (heavily conservative outlying suburbs fighting with a progressive inner ring). It's not a negative to say Charlotte is a mini-Atlanta, but there are too many similarities for that not to be the case. Yes, there are certainly things unique to both cities that make them great. And unfortunately Atlanta trumps Charlotte in most categories. But outside of their respective downtown's, if I were to drop you in a neighborhood, you probably couldn't guess what city you were in just by looking around. Similar construction of homes, similar flora and fauna. It is what it is.
I tend to agree.
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And yes, Columbia is a mini-Charlotte.
As I said above, despite a few characteristics, I wouldn't really say this. I think Columbia has a few defining features which preclude it from being categorized as a mini-Charlotte, including geography (Columbia sits at the confluence of two rivers on the fall line), status as a capital city and college town with an urban university campus, and having preserved a bit more of its historic urban fabric. In many ways, it's more akin to a mini-Columbus, OH--named for the same person, state capital, home to state's flagship university, river city, insurance town, centrally located within the state with two other similarly-sized metros, somewhat more left-leaning than other cities within its state, etc.
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