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Now, I know why northern cities distinguish heavily between their cities and suburbs, but this seems true of Miami and Charlotte as well.
In Charlotte, people don’t really consider Gastonia, Concord, etc as Charlotte. Miami folk I’ve come across refer to ft. Lauderdale as its own city, but here in Atlanta, we call almost everything in metro “Atlanta”.
What causes this to happen with the other southern metros and not Atlanta?
In Atlanta's case, the region sprawled so fast and so far that the surrounding towns that did have their own identities were swallowed up by Greater Atlanta, and the others basically owe most of their identity and growth to being suburbs of Atlanta. Also, consider that much of suburban Atlanta's growth has been fueled by African Americans who benefited from Maynard Jackson's decision to increase the numbers of minority contractors with the city and those who were inspired by the optics of successful Black leadership in Atlanta itself and thus had little issue identifying with Atlanta.
Gastonia and Concord haven't been swallowed up by Charlotte's sprawl and still have their own individual urbanized areas. I'd argue that because Charlotte's and Concord's UAs seem to only be separated by the county line and development patterns show that it is clearly growing as an extension of Charlotte and Concord's should be folded into Charlotte's, but Gastonia is still seen as distinct, particularly from a socioeconomic perspective. The prosperity that has trickled up into Concord and down into Rock Hill via Fort Mill seems to have eluded Gastonia, but I think that's starting to change. And the state line going through Charlotte's metro helps to account for the phenomenon as far as the SC 'burbs go.
Now of course, when folks from Gastonia, Concord, etc. are away from home, they may say they are from Charlotte for the sake of convenience. But yeah, it lacks the Atlanta metro dynamic and I think it's for the reasons I discussed above.
I can't speak for the other cities but the Miami metro has around 100 municipalities and was laid out by Henry Flagler who was a northerner and his railroad empire.
It has a similar continuous development pattern that you see in the northeast with suburbs running into each other and only distinguishable by city limit signs.
In Atlanta's case, the region sprawled so fast and so far that the surrounding towns that did have their own identities were swallowed up by Greater Atlanta, and the others basically owe most of their identity and growth to being suburbs of Atlanta. Also, consider that much of suburban Atlanta's growth has been fueled by African Americans who benefited from Maynard Jackson's decision to increase the numbers of minority contractors with the city and those who were inspired by the optics of successful Black leadership in Atlanta itself and thus had little issue identifying with Atlanta.
Gastonia and Concord haven't been swallowed up by Charlotte's sprawl and still have their own individual urbanized areas. I'd argue that because Charlotte's and Concord's UAs seem to only be separated by the county line and development patterns show that it is clearly growing as an extension of Charlotte and Concord's should be folded into Charlotte's, but Gastonia is still seen as distinct, particularly from a socioeconomic perspective. The prosperity that has trickled up into Concord and down into Rock Hill via Fort Mill seems to have eluded Gastonia, but I think that's starting to change. And the state line going through Charlotte's metro helps to account for the phenomenon as far as the SC 'burbs go.
Now of course, when folks from Gastonia, Concord, etc. are away from home, they may say they are from Charlotte for the sake of convenience. But yeah, it lacks the Atlanta metro dynamic and I think it's for the reasons I discussed above.
Thanks for always taking the time to answer these kindve questions, it’s very odd when I hear my family in metro Charlotte saying “they don’t feel like going to Charlotte today”
To be fair, I hear that here, but ppl usually say “i hate driving downtown” as if it just has to be Atlanta’s and not the one in their respective suburb.
What about Miami? West-Palm and Lauderdale are kindve the same as what I hear from Charlotte folk.
Houston is a lot like Atlanta, but I also think that’s because its city limits are so big.
I can't speak for the other cities but the Miami metro has around 100 municipalities and was laid out by Henry Flagler who was a northerner and his railroad empire.
It has a similar continuous development pattern that you see in the northeast with suburbs running into each other and only distinguishable by city limit signs.
Maybe it could be a cultural thing, black ppl from the area definitely distinguish in my experience. I know a few non AAs from west palm, they distinguish as well, or just say south Florida.
Maybe it could be a cultural thing, black ppl from the area definitely distinguish in my experience. I know a few non AAs from west palm, they distinguish as well, or just say south Florida.
Well regionally some say "the 305" but I can tell you some of these people who live in places like Coral Gables are snooty and would never proclaim they are from "Miami" !
Southeast Florida has a highly "elongated" development pattern along north-south lines, since it is circumscribed by the Everglades to the west and Atlantic Ocean to the east. The geography does not lend itself to the type of "hub and spoke" model that is exemplified by metro Atlanta, where there are few obstacles to development in any direction. Residents of suburbs in all directions commute to the city of Atlanta for work, school or recreation; whereas there is very little crossover between central and northern Palm Beach County with Miami-Dade.
I think Charlotte may develop more of Atlanta's centralized dynamic in the future, once more growth spills over to the region's secondary cities. Gastonia is right on bustling I-85 and very convenient to the airport, so it will probably become more integrated with Charlotte over time.
I don’t think people from Charlotte would like Gastonians calling themselves Charlotteans. The cultures are just too different. The suburban areas I’ve lived in in Meck county would even openly ridicule Gaston county and pretty much all NC counties surrounding Meck except Union. Fort Mill & Indian Land SC also fits in with Meck.
Mecklenburg and it’s NC neighbors aren’t the closest and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. I feel like the SC counties are much, much more Charlotte than it’s NC neighbors (excluding Union). I’d venture to say Meck and the NC counties can’t even cooperate
Now, I know why northern cities distinguish heavily between their cities and suburbs, but this seems true of Miami and Charlotte as well.
In Charlotte, people don’t really consider Gastonia, Concord, etc as Charlotte. Miami folk I’ve come across refer to ft. Lauderdale as its own city, but here in Atlanta, we call almost everything in metro “Atlanta”.
What causes this to happen with the other southern metros and not Atlanta?
The three counties in SE Florida can hold their own separately, unlike Atlanta winch really doesn't have any backup cities the one's it does have are pretty much incorporated suburbs of Atlanta. Ft. Lauderdale, and Palm Beach counties grew alongside Miami dade, but were never really completely dependent on it. They also all have there own International Airports winch hosts millions of passengers a year.
In Atlanta's case, the region sprawled so fast and so far that the surrounding towns that did have their own identities were swallowed up by Greater Atlanta, and the others basically owe most of their identity and growth to being suburbs of Atlanta. Also, consider that much of suburban Atlanta's growth has been fueled by African Americans who benefited from Maynard Jackson's decision to increase the numbers of minority contractors with the city and those who were inspired by the optics of successful Black leadership in Atlanta itself and thus had little issue identifying with Atlanta.
Gastonia and Concord haven't been swallowed up by Charlotte's sprawl and still have their own individual urbanized areas. I'd argue that because Charlotte's and Concord's UAs seem to only be separated by the county line and development patterns show that it is clearly growing as an extension of Charlotte and Concord's should be folded into Charlotte's, but Gastonia is still seen as distinct, particularly from a socioeconomic perspective. The prosperity that has trickled up into Concord and down into Rock Hill via Fort Mill seems to have eluded Gastonia, but I think that's starting to change. And the state line going through Charlotte's metro helps to account for the phenomenon as far as the SC 'burbs go.
Now of course, when folks from Gastonia, Concord, etc. are away from home, they may say they are from Charlotte for the sake of convenience. But yeah, it lacks the Atlanta metro dynamic and I think it's for the reasons I discussed above.
Great breakdown.
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