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Compared to other larger more well-known cities, neither. Compared to cities in the same tier, Nashville is more cosmopolitan than San Antonio. San Antonio feels more blue collar and theme park oriented, whereas Nashville is corporate and arts oriented. Nashville is seeing more urban projects, commercial, and retail investment. San Antonio has no answer for Nashville's healthcare or music industry, and certainly not Vanderbilt.
San Antonio has 6 F500, 30 plus billion healthcare industry, 20 plus billion finance/Insurance industry, and an emerging 15 billion tech industry concentrated around cyber security. It is home to 3 F500 energy companies and headquarters for the giant Ford shale. No, S.A. doesn't have a private university as well known as Vanderbilt, but it does have Trinity University which is a highly regarded institution that has achieved national recognition and one of the top private schools in the state.
Vanderbilt is ranked among the top universities in the world, according to the prestigious Academic Ranking of World Universities, UT Health Science Center San Antonio and UTSA also made their list of top world universities.
Compared to other larger more well-known cities, neither. Compared to cities in the same tier, Nashville is more cosmopolitan than San Antonio. San Antonio feels more blue collar and theme park oriented, whereas Nashville is corporate and arts oriented. Nashville is seeing more urban projects, commercial, and retail investment. San Antonio has no answer for Nashville's healthcare or music industry, and certainly not Vanderbilt.
So you think the Grand Ole Opry is not "blue collared and theme park oriented" but 17th century Spanish colonial public institutions and architecture is??
So you think the Grand Ole Opry is not "blue collared and theme park oriented" but 17th century Spanish colonial public institutions and architecture is??
LOL.I was thinking the exact thing but you worded it much more precise.lol
Do you+ realize that Nashville does not have one F500 company but San Antonio has 5?
SA has professional soccer,basketball and hockey.It also has so many more museums.
Not to mention SA has over 270 years of history.A culture that is more uniquely that is SA.
The point should be made that having more "project investment" does not equate to be more "cosmopolitan" although one day it can add up and assist in creating a environment that is eventually cosmopolitan.
Points well made. However, I think you discount what Nashville has in this department, as well. Both cities are quite unique and have a very strong brand. Nashville has professional football, hockey, and soccer, as well as a very popular AAA baseball team receiving a new stadium. Nashville is also the capital and premier city of TN, and as such has a robust arts/cultural scene, as well. As an example of the kind of investment in the arts that occurs in Nashville (and I'm sure SA as well), see:
What I like about Nashville in particular is that it has a very very reputable nightlife scene that appeals to a broad base (in the way Austin similarly does, revolving around music and bars in each), it has a solid gay population/scene (something I have never heard San Antonio as having, which is a huge knock in my opinion...gays have a "cosmopolitan-dar"), and it has more focus on expanding its downtown/downtown surrounding areas than San Antonio, and it helps that Vanderbilt University is right there. That's a pretty huge driver. Nashville's nightlife is also centered around downtown and surrounding areas.
For as much tourism as SA has, I never hear SA mentioned, ever. However, I know people who have had bachelor parties in Nashville, partied there, went to school there, transferred to jobs there, took weekend trips there when I was living in Atlanta, etc etc. I live on the W Coast, and Nashville still comes up, as well as Austin (moreso Austin given tech dynamic), but San Antonio never comes up, ever.
That kind of tells me right there that as strong an economy as San Antonio has, as historic and cultured as it is, and as much tourism as it receives, it's not on the same level as Nashville in terms of being on people's radars. And for that, I would think Nashville is just more cosmopolitan, attracting a larger, more educated young workforce, which bodes well for nightlife, cultural institutions, downtown, etc.
Consider that while SA's airport has more connections to Mexico (its only international connections), and Nashville's airport only has seasonal or charted connections there and one other international connection to Toronto, Nashville's airport sees a considerably higher amount of passenger traffic than San Antonio's (11.6 mil vs 8.2 mil).
Last edited by JMT; 05-18-2015 at 06:31 PM..
Reason: Cleveland is not part of this thread.
Points well made. However, I think you discount what Nashville has in this department, as well. Both cities are quite unique and have a very strong brand. Nashville has professional football, hockey, and soccer, as well as a very popular AAA baseball team receiving a new stadium. Nashville is also the capital and premier city of TN, and as such has a robust arts/cultural scene, as well. As an example of the kind of investment in the arts that occurs in Nashville (and I'm sure SA as well), see:
What I like about Nashville in particular is that it has a very very reputable nightlife scene that appeals to a broad base (in the way Austin similarly does, revolving around music and bars in each), it has a solid gay population/scene (something I have never heard San Antonio as having, which is a huge knock in my opinion...gays have a "cosmopolitan-dar"), and it has more focus on expanding its downtown/downtown surrounding areas than San Antonio, and it helps that Vanderbilt University is right there. That's a pretty huge driver. Nashville's nightlife is also centered around downtown and surrounding areas.
For as much tourism as SA has, I never hear SA mentioned, ever. However, I know people who have had bachelor parties in Nashville, partied there, went to school there, transferred to jobs there, took weekend trips there when I was living in Atlanta, etc etc. I live on the W Coast, and Nashville still comes up, as well as Austin (moreso Austin given tech dynamic), but San Antonio never comes up, ever.
That kind of tells me right there that as strong an economy as San Antonio has, as historic and cultured as it is, and as much tourism as it receives, it's not on the same level as Nashville in terms of being on people's radars. And for that, I would think Nashville is just more cosmopolitan, attracting a larger, more educated young workforce, which bodes well for nightlife, cultural institutions, downtown, etc.
Consider that while SA's airport has more connections to Mexico (its only international connections), and Nashville's airport only has seasonal or charted connections there and one other international connection to Toronto, Nashville's airport sees a considerably higher amount of passenger traffic than San Antonio's (11.6 mil vs 8.2 mil).
I not discounting Nashville at all.Here in Atlanta its like every other week someone mentions Nashville in some manner or another
just because your circle of friends and people dont have SA on their radar does not mean that people are not interested.
31 million people visited and spent over $13 b in San Antonio last year.Nashville had less than 13
million visitors who spent $4.1b.Less than Savannah.
Nashville is growing and thats why I said someday but TODAY its just not there but I dont think San Antonio is either.However between the two its SA.
True Nashville attracts a more educated workforce but we are not talking a wide difference where it would make a huge difference.Its not
You mention Nashville cultural institutions but they pale GREATLY compared to Cleveland as well.Even Atlanta's cultural institutions pale compared to Cleveland.Not to mention Cleveland great architechture.
SA also wins in the category of culture,history and architecture.I mean SA was a part of Mexico so its influence is "multinational" which is one of the descriptions of what is cosmopolitan.
Im not hating on Nashville as I would prefer to live there than SA by a hair but this notion that "fast growing" and "the most" is somehow more important than what is already present.
Such as SA has a higher foreign born population,more visitors by far and an history that covers two countries.No sorry but SA wins this category today who knows in a few years as both are changing.
Last edited by JMT; 05-18-2015 at 06:33 PM..
Reason: Cleveland is not part of this thread.
I think a lot of posters are incorrectly assuming that sophistication and cosmopolitanism are synonyms--they're not.
A cosmopolitan city is one that appeals to haute culture, popular culture, subcultures, and many international cultures alike. Though San Francisco is more sophisticated, the quintessential cosmopolitan city for me is Chicago: you can see world-class art, get hammered on cheap beer, pig out on hot dogs or a Michelin-rated restaurant, see a ballet, sun bathe on the beach, go to a monster truck rally, listen to jazz, etc.
Paris-on-ponce does make the point that Nashville is more sophisticated than San Antonio, but is it more cosmopolitan? I'm still not convinced.
I'm not sure you understand what cosmopolitan means. San Francisco more cosmopolitan than Chicago if you go by its actual definition - "having an exciting character associated with travel and a mixture of cultures."
^^^Here on the West Coast, which has a huge Latino population, primarily Mexican, I have never heard San Antonio mentioned. Among my social circle, Nashville has come up as a place to visit. It should be noted that both cities are known as convention cities.
Also, in terms of visitors and dollars spent, I never rely on those numbers as they are almost never apples to apples. For instance, according to your numbers which I know you probably got from a list, and they got that from some visitor bureau, twice as many people visited SA than SF (per your numbers versus SF's visitor bureau numbers), and spent more money. Anyone who knows either city would know that that is simply not the case.
The way Nashville counts visitors and $$$ spent - could be a bit different. Nashville could exclude business travel. Who knows? Point being, both cities are on par with each other as convention cities. Both cities likely have quite similar visitor numbers. And as I pointed out, Nashville's airport alone has significantly higher passenger traffic than San Antonio's. Unless Nashville has that much more business going on (and as a smaller city/metro, I doubt that...and considering both airports are Southwest Airlines point to point focus airports, Nashville's being larger), then I wouldn't say SA has leagues more tourism than Nashville.
Last edited by JMT; 05-18-2015 at 06:34 PM..
Reason: Cleveland is not part of this thread.
Do you+ realize that Nashville does not have one F500 company but San Antonio has 5?
Metro Nashville has four F500 companies actually. With the exception of Dollar General, they're all healthcare related.
Vangard Health Systems (Nashville, TN)
Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) (Nashville, TN)
Dollar General (Goodlettsville, TN)
Community Health Systems (Franklin, TN)
Honorable mention goes to Nissan's North American HQ, also in Franklin.
Metro Nashville has four F500 companies actually. With the exception of Dollar General, they're all healthcare related.
Vangard Health Systems (Nashville, TN)
Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) (Nashville, TN)
Dollar General (Goodlettsville, TN)
Community Health Systems (Franklin, TN)
Honorable mention goes to Nissan's North American HQ, also in Franklin.
Never been to either city, wife is actually in Nashville right now but I've read stuff in the past about all the wealthy Mexicans relocating to and visiting San Antonio.
Doesn't that possibly give it an edge over Nashville with "cosmopolitanism"?
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