Cities that are Perceived as Larger or Smaller than they are (place, people)
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Cities that seemed smaller than I thought they would be:
Minneapolis - a thought it was would feel more like a Chicago, felt much smaller, but there is alot to like about this city.
Denver - with all the talk, I just thought it would be much bigger, unimpressed with all the hype it got last 15-20 years, but the Train Station is fantastic!
Atlanta - the skyline is so cool, I thought the downtown would be more impressive, train system was a disappointment.
Austin - its just way too small for all the hype, but still love this town, who doesn't!
Portland - a toss-up, probably about what I thought, but for the hype a bit too small, but fantastic riverfront and wonderful walkable bridges
Boston - cool harbor, but for some reason I thought it would be bigger, train station a big disappointment
Memphis - I guess I didn't know what to expect, overall probably the size and feel about what I had thought.
San Antonio - Impressed with Riverwalk as most poeple, but I just thought it would be bigger, I guess because of the spread-out metro.
Cities that seemed bigger than I had thought they would be--
Brooklyn - (the Borough as a separate city, apart from the whole of NYC) - JFK to downtown Brooklyn seemed so far and so many neighborhoods in between, awesome waterfront on East River, so many cool neighborhoods, and surprisingly regular low rise, low density type neighborhoods bordering Queens.
Nashville - the nightlife, Music City culture was way bigger than I thought, Love this town!
Orlando - on a first visit decades ago, it felt very small; but lately, it feels Big, feels like it has a big bright future.
Washington DC - Geographically its always talked about how small it is, but the Mall combined with the "downtown", the Cool train station, the Potomac, Alexandria across the way, and many cool DC proper neighborhoods all bikeable, Museums galore, I was impressed.
Milwaukee - A huge lake front, great riverfront(s), streetcar, I was pleasantly impressed, overall it probably felt the size I thought it would be.
Kansas City - a compact real downtown, streetcar, riverfront district, outdoor music venue downtown, don't know about the metro, as I was only downtown.
Pittsburgh - the geography is just so cool, with the Three Rivers, that skyline, hilly neighborhoods, lots of plain old homes, and The walkable bridges galore, the Funicular!, hard not to like this city. Actually, when you walk it and bike it, it does feel small, this is a toss up...looks big, but feels small.
Salt Lake City - Clean, sterlish, spread-out so that's why I guess I thought it would feel smaller.
Spokane - I didn't know it would feel like a mini Denver or Salt Lake City
Boise - I didn't know it would feel like a mini Denver or Salt Lake City
Dallas - the downtown actually felt slightly smaller than I thought, but still big, yet a bit unimpressive, overall Metro is enormous
Houston - Sterile downtown, but big, ever so spread-out Metro, there is alot I don't know about this city.
Phoenix - The train to the downtown a big plus, the metro just feels big, a cleaner, nicer Inland Empire/LA.
I can't really judge the cities below in how they feel or felt in size because I either have lived in them, and/or have been part of them for so long, over time, too hard to say:
San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Diego
Portland - first visit was in the early 90's, definitely felt way smaller than I thought, it had a dark mysterious feeling to it on a first visit.
Seattle - first visit was in the early 90's, I think it felt smaller than I thought it would feel back then, but I loved it from the beginning, but, similar with SF, I don't love these cities so much these days. They both lost alot of their appeal, but I'm sure its appeal may come again?
Cities that seemed smaller than I thought they would be:
*Memphis - it's so spread out, and downtown is pretty old school urban and more dense than you'd think. But the city felt quiet in many parts, and sort of sleepier than I had imagined
*Raleigh - fast-growing and part of the triangle of cities, and a lot of new everything going up everywhere. But the city of Raleigh felt like a city of maybe 200,000. Downtown was smaller than I had anticipated it would be
*Hartford, CT - downtown has some old stock building density, and quite a few towers, but the city itself is not vast at all, and there are many bad neighborhoods, of the small amount there are
*San Francisco - one of my favorite cities, and people may disagree. I LOVE San Francisco, and could even see living there. But I was pretty surprised at how compact the high rise and skyscraper districts are. I loved Chinatown though, and thought it was better than NYC's. I just thought the city was pretty tight dense and tall, and in my head I was thinking much bigger overall? But the metro is huge, so it adds to the "big city feel"
*Indianapolis - so much smaller feeling and vibing than I thought. Downtown was ok, very corporate feeling and busy on some streets. But the city itself felt like a town in many neighborhoods and I didn't get a very exciting, "things going on here" vibe. It felt isolated and smaller than I had hoped
Cities that seemed so much bigger than I had thought they would be--
*Salt Lake City - downtown surprised me. The bustle, the cleanliness, the many dense highrises and the transit system. It seemed a lot bigger overall and I liked it
*Denver - bustling, large downtown with a really good transit system. The city's neighborhoods were lively too, and lots of construction everywhere
*Austin - exciting, growing, vibrant. Lots of construction everywhere with big brand tech companies and logos going on high rises all over. It felt big and getting bigger
*Nashville - vibrant, exciting, growing and "the place to be" sort of environment. New construction everywhere, a downtown that is getting larger and it felt big in many areas. Lots of good food and drink everywhere--and it felt like a party that you did not want to miss
*Miami Beach - felt like a section of Manhattan was dropped on the beach. Exciting, dense, vibrant with tons of people, good restaurants, good parties, great bars and just so so much going on and so much to do and see.
I enjoyed these descriptions!
I've have not been to Miami Beach in 10 years, my expectations are high. Looking for forward to all of South Florida from Palm Beach down to Miami....taking the BrightLine High Speed Train.
I usually get the opposite from friends who visit for the first time. Did you see the whole thing: Fenway, North End, Seaport, Harvard Square, etc?
If all you saw was the Harbor and South Station, then I guess this makes sense.
Yes I saw all of Boston mostly on foot/bike, first time was well over 10-15 years ago, and then recently a few months back....and I loved taking the Ferry all the way up to Salem, Mass , returned to Boston (from Salem) by train..what a gem of a little town.
Thinking way back on the first visit, I thought Boston would feel bigger because "its an east coast city so it must be huge like of NYC"
On a first visit if you do all of SF it actually does feel bigger than Boston or Seattle (I'm talking the city proper only not metros, thats a whole other story) SF feels the largest especially by foot/bike because of the Hills, with SF Bay on one side, the Golden Gate on the top, and the Ocean Beaches on the left/west coast,
I lump Boston, Seattle, and San Francisco together, all the same feel and size...especially by foot/bike.
Everyone says Boston is smaller than they thought when they only spend time in the tourist core. I totally get why.
But when you drive them from the Airport to Hyde Park or, like, take someone who's never been to the southern portion of the city, then they're like..." 're still in Boston????" or "Lemme find out Boston is bigger than I thought" The city is like 14 miles long and its most practically traveled on local roads, not stroads or highway. And it varies tremendously in built form, demographics, street layout, and tree canopy.
Some of the more arterial roads like American Legion Highway, Freeport Street, Morrissey Boulevard, Soldiers Field Road, and the larger greenspaces like Franklin Park, Stony Brook Park, the Fens, The Esplanade, Forest Hills Cemetery can make the city seems surprising large and sprawling to still somehow be so densely populated
I hate when people do that. There is more to a city than just downtown or tourist areas.
Boston seems pretty big to me. I'm also smart enough to know that most cities can't be fully experienced in a few days.
Am I the only person who (when in person) gauges city size by it's built up urbanized environment. Like for instance when I'm in the Chicago area, whether I'm in the loop, or in Naperville, or Elgin, or Hammond IN, to me it's all just "Chicago" whether I'm in the city limits or not.
Understanding that my perspective is my own, as a tourist in Boston it felt every bit the core of a 5-6 million person metro area. At least on par with with the Dallas's, Philly's and Atlanta's of the world. It took well over an hour for me to get through the Boston area on a drive to Maine a few years ago, which is what I expected/perceived.
To me a city that may be perceived smaller than folks might think it is would be something like a Milwaukee. It feels much more in line with a Nashville or a Columbus, than it does with an OKC or a Jacksonville, which would be more considered peers to MKE metro. Boston, Philly, Atlanta all feel the size I perceived them to be.
What criteria do people use when gauging a perception of a places size, prior to having in person experience there? Like if Boston "felt" smaller than you expected it to be, what were you expecting??
Am I the only person who (when in person) gauges city size by it's built up urbanized environment. Like for instance when I'm in the Chicago area, whether I'm in the loop, or in Naperville, or Elgin, or Hammond IN, to me it's all just "Chicago" whether I'm in the city limits or not.
Understanding that my perspective is my own, as a tourist in Boston it felt every bit the core of a 5-6 million person metro area. At least on par with with the Dallas's, Philly's and Atlanta's of the world. It took well over an hour for me to get through the Boston area on a drive to Maine a few years ago, which is what I expected/perceived.
To me a city that may be perceived smaller than folks might think it is would be something like a Milwaukee. It feels much more in line with a Nashville or a Columbus, than it does with an OKC or a Jacksonville, which would be more considered peers to MKE metro. Boston, Philly, Atlanta all feel the size I perceived them to be.
What criteria do people use when gauging a perception of a places size, prior to having in person experience there? Like if Boston "felt" smaller than you expected it to be, what were you expecting??
My hunch is Boston is split up geographically by the Harbor and Charles. Philly by comparison is very cohesive.
In addition I think if you wanted beyond South Boston it starts to the casual observer like a bunch of houses but it’s actually a bunch of small apartment buildings. Philly’s Rowhomes can’t be easily mistaken for Detached SFH in a way a lot of Boston’s two and three families can be.
What criteria do people use when gauging a perception of a places size, prior to having in person experience there? Like if Boston "felt" smaller than you expected it to be, what were you expecting??
It depends on your trip, maybe you only have a few days and only have time to walk the core/the downtown, maybe you are staying with a friend or relative and are "stuck" doing only the things they enjoy like going to a ballgame at a stadium in a suburban part of the metro. This could be good and bad, that friend knows all the best mom/pop eateries in that suburban part of town or they only go to chain restaurants in that suburb and know very little about the "vibrant downtown/waterfront"...because they rarely go there.
More than anything, you have to visit a city several times to really get to know it.
Depends on what you are gauging as big or small, Austin is not that big on so many levels, yet it's huge if you love live music.
Before visiting, I think of what that city is known for traditionally, and what it is known for today, what makes it special or unique regardless of how big or small it is.
There is only so much you can do prior to visiting a place, back in the day, there was very little quality info you could go off of - compared to today.
Roughly speaking, I think of how old the city is, its developmental history, booms and busts, its core, and its metro. I think of these things before visiting a city, and immediately group it and compare it with similarly sized cities and metros.
You can read, watch, listen to endless videos, then you have informed and not so informed friends or family that live there. Sometimes, the native knows so little about where they are from compared to a complete stranger, oddly enough. It depends on who you talk to and they have their biases too.
Thinking way back on the first visit, I thought Boston would feel bigger because "its an east coast city so it must be huge like of NYC"
Ah, that makes sense. I recently had a friend from Delaware visit, and it seemed like she was expecting a Baltimore or a Charleston -sized city.
Guess how you imagine Boston must really depend on where you grew up. That said, it does feel like people’s expectations are often wrong in one direction or the other, regardless of whether the expectation was larger or smaller.
Last edited by Boston Shudra; 02-29-2024 at 05:39 PM..
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