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I'm quite familiar with both of these cities - have close relatives who live in both and visit often. I have no dog in this fight though - I don't live in either or plan to. It's Kansas City. I'm glad it's winning. Nashville is a superior city IMO for urban neighborhoods and amenities, but KC's core is definitely more urban and walkable. I've wandered around on foot in both as a tourist, and when I'm in KC, I think -- hmmm, who would have thunk there is such a continuous fabric here in the middle of nothing? When I'm in Nashville, I feel like ... really... that gap and that gap and that gap in an upcoming urban place?
Nashville is trendier, faster paced, and has better amenities, but to say it has superior urban neighborhoods is false. Kansas City's urban neighborhoods are seamless and offer better amenities as of this point. I love how well defined each neighborhood is, the sidewalks, and how clean they are kept. Some of Nashville's urban neighborhoods are filthy, lack retail, restaurants, sidewalks, and are not pedestrian friendly. It also doesn't help that they are sliced up by interstates and highways. Kansas City is more urban.
Nashville is trendier, faster paced, and has better amenities, but to say it has superior urban neighborhoods is false. Kansas City's urban neighborhoods are seamless and offer better amenities as of this point. I love how well defined each neighborhood is, the sidewalks, and how clean they are kept. Some of Nashville's urban neighborhoods are filthy, lack retail, restaurants, sidewalks, and are not pedestrian friendly. It also doesn't help that they are sliced up by interstates and highways. Kansas City is more urban.
Nashville is trendier yes. I'm not sure KC will ever be "trendy" to the country outside of KC or outside of those that have already been there. KC will always have a stigma to it that a cool city can't possibly exist in such a location (location generally being Kansas to anybody more than 100 miles from KC).
Faster paced? I don't know. I think they are about the same. Neither are all that fast paced. If anything, KC seems faster paced than Nashville.
Amenities? This is where you totally lose me. I don't get it when people don't give KC credit here. KC generally has the amenities of a city of 3-4 million people. It's quite amazing just how much there is to do in KC, how much culture, arts etc are there. The amusement parks, pro sports teams and venues, theater etc. KC has had bigger city amenities for a long time. Very few cities of KC's size beat it so I don't see how any smaller, newer cities can beat KC. Nashville, Indy, Austin supporters etc all say they have more amenities. I don't see it.
As far as the original question. I like Nashville and it's booming, but I don't find their downtown to be all that vibrant outside the relatively small bar districts where the tourists are. I guess the difference is that tourists in KC (including local suburban tourists) don't really go downtown. They tend to visit districts outside of downtown like the River Market, Westport, the Plaza etc. They go downtown in droves to the P&L district if there is a major event or for Friday and Saturday night partying, but you don't see mobs of tourists just walking around downtown KC looking for the Hard Rock Cafe. You just see locals living there.
So I would say Downtown KC wins for the most part. When you include areas outside of Downtown, KC pulls away quickly as usual in competitions like this. As far as potential growth and building big shiny new towers and getting national attention? Nashville of course. Nashville's downtown is also an impressive and growing corporate center. KC just can not seem to get the local business community interested in downtown while Nashville companies want to be downtown. I think this is the biggest problem with Downtown KC. All the jobs are in the burbs and even if you live downtown, you will likely be commuting.
What is meant by fast paced? People being rushed? Fast talking business deals. People walking fast to make connections. Faster service.
The only thing that can be misconstrued as fast paced about Nashville is wild driving on the freeways and more traffic due to poor design and accidents.
Nashville is trendier yes. I'm not sure KC will ever be "trendy" to the country outside of KC or outside of those that have already been there. KC will always have a stigma to it that a cool city can't possibly exist in such a location (location generally being Kansas to anybody more than 100 miles from KC).
Faster paced? I don't know. I think they are about the same. Neither are all that fast paced. If anything, KC seems faster paced than Nashville.
Amenities? This is where you totally lose me. I don't get it when people don't give KC credit here. KC generally has the amenities of a city of 3-4 million people. It's quite amazing just how much there is to do in KC, how much culture, arts etc are there. The amusement parks, pro sports teams and venues, theater etc. KC has had bigger city amenities for a long time. Very few cities of KC's size beat it so I don't see how any smaller, newer cities can beat KC. Nashville, Indy, Austin supporters etc all say they have more amenities. I don't see it.
As far as the original question. I like Nashville and it's booming, but I don't find their downtown to be all that vibrant outside the relatively small bar districts where the tourists are. I guess the difference is that tourists in KC (including local suburban tourists) don't really go downtown. They tend to visit districts outside of downtown like the River Market, Westport, the Plaza etc. They go downtown in droves to the P&L district if there is a major event or for Friday and Saturday night partying, but you don't see mobs of tourists just walking around downtown KC looking for the Hard Rock Cafe. You just see locals living there.
So I would say Downtown KC wins for the most part. When you include areas outside of Downtown, KC pulls away quickly as usual in competitions like this. As far as potential growth and building big shiny new towers and getting national attention? Nashville of course. Nashville's downtown is also an impressive and growing corporate center. KC just can not seem to get the local business community interested in downtown while Nashville companies want to be downtown. I think this is the biggest problem with Downtown KC. All the jobs are in the burbs and even if you live downtown, you will likely be commuting.
I never said more amenities. I said better amenities. Nashville has better hotels, music venues, and is adding more retail, restaurants, and grocery stores downtown. I love both cities, but Kansas City appeared to be more laid back, not as snooty as Nashville (that is a good thing). It would be interesting to see the amount of tourist dollars spent in each city, number of hotel rooms, and attractions etc. Something like Country Club Plaza district is sorely needed in or near downtown Nashville.
I never said more amenities. I said better amenities. Nashville has better hotels, music venues, and is adding more retail, restaurants, and grocery stores downtown. I love both cities, but Kansas City appeared to be more laid back, not as snooty as Nashville (that is a good thing). It would be interesting to see the amount of tourist dollars spent in each city, number of hotel rooms, and attractions etc. Something like Country Club Plaza district is sorely needed in or near downtown Nashville.
I can see better hotels and possibly music venues, I thought I saw a grocery store in DT Kansas City this past spring. Where is the full service grocery store in DT Nashville? I know Whole Foods is planning something but no openning date.
You are right that Kansas City isn't snooty. DT Kansas City isn't as tourist centric as Nashville. KC seems more livable and has a more authentic feel imo. Nashville is more drunk and touristy. There isn't as much of a local vibe thats livable in DT Nashville. You have to go outside of DT Nashville to judge the livability and see how friendly and great the people of Nashville truly are.
Last edited by mjtinmemphis; 07-12-2017 at 05:37 PM..
Nashville is fast paced to someone coming from a much smaller place. This is not meant as a slight to anyone. If I spent most of my life in Elmira, New York, I'd probably think of Nashville as a fast paced city...
Nashville is not fast paced compared to any city with at least paced compared to any city of at 850k metro I've been to (at the low end thinking of Knoxville and Albany, New York). Nashville does have a section or two with higher vibrancy than most cities in the 850k-2 million range but that vibrancy is largely tourist driven...
Personally, I find these two cities very comparable. I nearly moved to Nashville in 2012, was this close. Neither of these two cities are much my style but I find them comparable to each other much more than people from either side may think...
There are already threads comparing Kansas City and Nashville. Please get back to this thread's topic of which city's downtown is more walkable and more urban.
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its - possession
it's - contraction of it is
your - possession
you're - contraction of you are
their - possession
they're - contraction of they are
there - referring to a place
loose - opposite of tight
lose - opposite of win
who's - contraction of who is
whose - possession
alot - NOT A WORD
I never said more amenities. I said better amenities. Nashville has better hotels, music venues, and is adding more retail, restaurants, and grocery stores downtown. I love both cities, but Kansas City appeared to be more laid back, not as snooty as Nashville (that is a good thing). It would be interesting to see the amount of tourist dollars spent in each city, number of hotel rooms, and attractions etc. Something like Country Club Plaza district is sorely needed in or near downtown Nashville.
Okay. I was thinking metro area amenities. The entire package, not just downtowns.
To keep this thread on track . Yea, I would agree that Downtown Nashville has better hotels now. Although it sort of depends on what you call downtown KC. Most would consider Crown Center part of Downtown KC and if that's the case, Nashville is not too far ahead but still ahead.
However, It looks like Downtown KC is about to add several high profile hotels downtown, so the downtowns will probably be pretty comparable in a few year unless Nashville keeps building large hotels.
Downtown KC has one of the nicest full service urban grocers anywhere. You can't ignore how much the streetcar makes downtown KC more livable too. The performing arts center, sprint center, midland theater, municipal auditorium, city market. A very nice convention center. I mean Downtown KC is not a touristy part of the city, but you would be surprised how many amenities it does have.
Downtown KC has one of the nicest full service urban grocers anywhere. You can't ignore how much the streetcar makes downtown KC more livable too. The performing arts center, sprint center, midland theater, municipal auditorium, city market. A very nice convention center. I mean Downtown KC is not a touristy part of the city, but you would be surprised how many amenities it does have.
Isn't it Cosentinos? I think?
The street car is nice. Many cities are adding hotel rooms over the next 24 months. The convention business is getting very competitive with many newcomers being able to compete for the larger conventions. Nashville and KC included.
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. Yea, I would agree that Downtown Nashville has better hotels now. Although it sort of depends on what you call downtown KC. Most would consider Crown Center part of Downtown KC and if that's the case, Nashville is not too far ahead but still ahead. 
