Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
San Diego has much better clustering downtown with the ballpark, Gaslamp, riverwalk, etc. However, San Diego as a whole, even with neighborhoods like Hillcrest or the town of La Jolla and the density of its suburban parts feels like a smaller, more resort/tourist oriented city/metro than Atlanta, which feels like a larger, more traditional bustling city/center of commerce.
Atlanta also has a fair amount of tourism downtown and a roughly equivalent convention center/setup/thousands of connected hotel rooms in mega hotels, similar to San Diego, though with far less for tourists/downtown residents to do in the way of bars/nightlife. And baseball was far already, now moving up to a suburban county.
*However*, Atlanta has more/older building stock in tighter roads, the taller buildings and WAYYYY more of them certainly don't hurt, the heavy rail connecting the area's business districts and neighborhoods lends a bigger city feel, and then you can't disregard the transformation happening in Midtown, plus the major INTOWN university presence by both Georgia Tech and Georgia State. The big city corporate presence. The government presence by way of simply being a larger city and the capital of a state. Bigger city amenities. Being landlocked and AWAY from a beach also seems to help - there's much more of a "city" vibe in Atlanta than San Diego, which has more of a "tourist/SoCal/FL" vibe.
Also, much of San Diego is quite mountainous. That means, despite Atlanta's overall lower densities, it's all connected in all directions by roads, mega highways, subway, etc. In San Diego's outskirts, particularly the northern areas, you have La Jolla, then hills, then UTC, then hills, then I-15/Rancho Bernardo, then hills, then up and away you start getting into Carlsbad, then hills, etc etc.
Overall, though, I've been there done that with Atlanta. It'd be a close call if I'd rather return there or live in a place like San Diego. Both are relatively sleepy at the end of the day, and both have a superficial vibe and a "young city" appearance overall. One has a beach, the other has 4 seasons and a more traditional "East Coast" vibe/climate.
San Diego has much better clustering downtown with the ballpark, Gaslamp, riverwalk, etc. However, San Diego as a whole, even with neighborhoods like Hillcrest or the town of La Jolla and the density of its suburban parts feels like a smaller, more resort/tourist oriented city/metro than Atlanta, which feels like a larger, more traditional bustling city/center of commerce.
Atlanta also has a fair amount of tourism downtown and a roughly equivalent convention center/setup/thousands of connected hotel rooms in mega hotels, similar to San Diego, though with far less for tourists/downtown residents to do in the way of bars/nightlife. And baseball was far already, now moving up to a suburban county.
It's true the Braves stadium is just a little far from Downtown Atlanta and moving to the burbs soon but you forget that the Georgia Dome sits in Downtown Atlanta with Atlanta Falcon games, College Football and basketball bowl and championship games, high school games, concerts, etc. etc. San Diego's football stadium is far from Downtown.
Also Downtown Atlanta has Phillips Arena with Hawks games, college basketball, concerts, etc. San Diego doesn't even have an NBA team.
And soon Atlanta will have an MLS team that will play Downtown at the new stadium that will replace the Georgia Dome next year.
Some of these things are unquantifiable via "density stats".
I lived in both, Atlanta feels more "big city" and a lot of this is simply due to Atlanta being the focal point for Georgia and one of the major cities of the south. San Diego is a "third" city in just California.
Some of these things are unquantifiable via "density stats".
I lived in both, Atlanta feels more "big city" and a lot of this is simply due to Atlanta being the focal point for Georgia and one of the major cities of the south. San Diego is a "third" city in just California.
What does the focal point has to do with anything?
What does the focal point has to do with anything?
A city that is the main city for a region tends to punch above its weight. Atlanta is the big city for much of the SE in the same way that Denver is for the mountain and western plains region.
Atlanta is then more of a business hub, travel hub (SD is more touristy though), cultural hub, entertainment hub, shopping hub, etc so it has more big city stuff (imo) than SD because it's the focal point of a region. For me at least I feel more in a big city in Atlanta than SD even though Atlanta is very country looking to me.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
