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.
I would admit Atlanta is superior as a city to KC and the STL. Blowing it away? No.
Well I guess it depends on what you define as blowing it away.I guess that too can be subjective.
Economy?Yes,Especially by GDP
Recreation?Maybe a tie
Number of attractions?I do think Atlanta
Population /growth?Yes
You may have different ideas.Thats okay but those are my thoughts.
Lol. This is not even worth debating anymore. You are free to have your opinion.
I don’t think Atlanta blows it away, but probably just off the strength of Atlanta being Atlanta. If the poster is black, Atlanta probably does blow them away. This is not say Atlanta is only for blacks, but the things it offers for us culturally and eventwise can not be matched. Maybe DC.
But as far as my original point, when you have two distinct metros growing alongside one another in the same state you have the potential to have two places with their own flavor, this could be more interesting to some than Atlanta’s mega-metro model.
I don’t think Atlanta blows it away, but probably just off the strength of Atlanta being Atlanta. If the poster is black, Atlanta probably does blow them away. This is not say Atlanta is only for blacks, but the things it offers for us culturally and eventwise can not be matched. Maybe DC.
But as far as my original point, when you have two distinct metros growing alongside one another in the same state you have the potential to have two places with their own flavor, this could be more interesting to some than Atlanta’s mega-metro model.
I thought he was referring to Atlanta having more attractions and similar recreation than Chicago. I think Chicago is the clear winner by a landslide there.
The whole KC/StL vs Atlanta is purely subjective and hard to really compare since we can't really just combine two metros into one. I just find Atlanta underwhelming for its size. Cool city, but not a city I strive to visit or anything. Like I said, smaller cities like Denver, Seattle, Minneapolis etc offer much more for me personally and I can get by in a city like KC or StL without missing much compared to ATL.
I thought he was referring to Atlanta having more attractions and similar recreation than Chicago. I think Chicago is the clear winner by a landslide there.
The whole KC/StL vs Atlanta is purely subjective and hard to really compare since we can't really just combine two metros into one. I just find Atlanta underwhelming for its size. Cool city, but not a city I strive to visit or anything. Like I said, smaller cities like Denver, Seattle, Minneapolis etc offer much more for me personally and I can get by in a city like KC or StL without missing much compared to ATL.
I’ll probably make a Chicago vs Atlanta thread soon, I wouldn’t say by a landslide there unless you prioritize urbanity or efficient public transit. Otherwise, they are both regional hub cities with much of the same thing and attracting the same events imo. Chicago just being like 30% larger.
I look at urbanity, transit, recreation, architecture, things to do, culture etc. Chicago has it all in a relatively small package. In those ares, I really don't think it's even close. Atlanta is probably more ideal in the winter, but Chicago has awesome summers along with nice springs/falls.
If you are just living in the burbs and slugging out commutes every day and don't really take advantage of what central Chicago has to offer, then yeah, they are similar.
I look at urbanity, transit, recreation, architecture, things to do, culture etc. Chicago has it all in a relatively small package. In those ares, I really don't think it's even close. Atlanta is probably more ideal in the winter, but Chicago has awesome summers along with nice springs/falls.
If you are just living in the burbs and slugging out commutes every day and don't really take advantage of what central Chicago has to offer, then yeah, they are similar.
Remember, Atlanta has weird annexation, but most of the inner burbs are practically viewed as neighborhoods by locals. Smyrna/Vinings, Decatur, dunwoody, Brookhaven, City of Atlanta, and few other others constitute an inner core with similar offerings as far as things to do goes. Central Chicago offers more of a traditional big city feel over this inner core though, but it’s no landslide if we are talking just things to do here.
Who cares how many companies a city has unless you work for them all.
I couldn't let this go.
A diverse and vibrant corporate base is a city's crown jewel for many reasons.
- Increased tax base
- Economic growth and prosperity
- Airport growth. A large corporate base is a key factor in determining airline traffic and route growth.
- Each major corporation has their own micro-economy revolving around it. Home Depot, for example, has numerous supplier companies that may set up offices (corporate or back office) and/or warehouses to be near their biggest client. All of this means is that attracting one major corporation, beyond the immediate impact of their own employee base, could draw dozens or more jobs from it's supplier and spinoff companies.
- Philanthropy/Sponsorships.. Many large corporation desire to place a stamp on their home city and to help it stay or become a better place to live. This is for a number of reasons, a couple are to be able to retain & recruit new talent and to give the company a good public image.
- Help to recruit other major corporations to the city. Companies within a city's existing corporate base are some of the best recruitment tools the city has. They let others companies know that the city/state offers a good business environment.
Topic..
Pitting both Kansas City & St Louis against one Atlanta has made for an ackward thread.
Both KC and StL are decent cities in their own right with good legacies, however both have been left in the dust by their true peer cities like; Minneapolis, Denver and Seattle. While, Charlotte, Austin, Raleigh and Nashville are catching up fast.
One can talk about the traffic and sprawl of Atlanta all they want but how would Kansas City be able to handle a population growth of around an additional 4 million residents in the span of 38 years (like Atlanta 1980-present)? We will likely never know.
About amenities. It takes time for a city to mature and develop to match it's population.
Definitely not suggesting from an urban standpoint that Atlanta will be like Chicago, but how long did it take Chicago to catch up to it's massive growth then mature into the world city it is today?
Honestly, a Chicago vs Atlanta thread would suck. Any Sunbelt city going up against C-D homers holy grail issues of urbanity and density is going get layed to waste.
A thread with.. KC vs Denver, Minneapolis, Seattle, Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Cincy, Indy or Austin could be interesting without the inevitable troll-fest of a Chicago-Atlanta matchup.
"One can talk about the traffic and sprawl of Atlanta all they want but how would Kansas City be able to handle a population growth of around an additional 4 million residents in the span of 28 years (like Atlanta 1990-present)? We will likely never know"
This really puts things in perspective. It's mind boggling how much Atlanta has grown in such a short period of time. KC was actually a larger metro than Atlanta as recent as the 1950's or 1960's and Atlanta was not all that much larger as recent as the 80's and 90's. Today, Atlanta is in a totally different built environment tier than KC. Atlanta make KC look like a small town. In some ways it makes DC seem small.
I can't imagine living in a city and seeing that much change in such a short amount of time.
However Atlanta plays a very similar role in the Southeast as Chocago does in the Midwest.
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.
