Greater Sarasota vs. Greater Tucson (live, better, compared, places)

[theurbanfiles]

Greater Tucson vs. Greater Sarasota
Why these two? Well, despite being quite different, they have some similarities
1. Both are Combined Statistical Areas that will be coming in at roughly 1.1 Million people during the 2020 Census, perhaps right next to one another. Tucson had a head start and will likely be ahead, however, Sarasota is growing at a significantly faster rate.
2. Both are somewhat close to a larger (also similarly sized) region/media market in their area-Tampa for Sarasota, and Phoenix for Tucson. The difference being, that while Tucson isn’t far from Phoenix, it is separated by stark open road and desert, whereas at this point, even though Tampa doesn’t have an officially recognized CSA, Sarasota is often considered as part of Greater Tampa Bay (whether through the Greater Tampa Bay partnership or Tampa Bay Media Market).
3. Tucson is a college town, with the University of Arizona, but it seems to be getting large enough to where the college doesn’t necessarily dominate the town. Sarasota has been nicknamed the “retired person’s college town”, however, it also appears that aspect is starting to have a less dominant effect over the region, and the area is getting younger overall.
4. Tucson is the center of its area-with a significantly higher population in it’s city limits overall and a more prominent core, with more sprawl heading into outlying areas. Sarasota on the other hand, is a polycentric region within an even more polycentric region. That means its core might be smaller/less important overall, but it seems to have a more consistent grid, one that continues south into Venice, north into Bradenton, and that one, were it not stopped by water boundary, would continue into the even more natural and dense grid of Pinellas. Even Nogales, Tucson Metro’s “Second City” is isolated from the main city itself by an hour or more.
5. Both have spring training connections, as Tucson used to have several Cactus League teams. However, they have moved on, whereas Sarasota continues to have a Grapefruit League team as do the other principal cities of the metro (North Port and Bradenton). Tucson does have college sports, and it seems to have more tourist type attractions, however, Sarasota almost certainly has a better fine arts/culture scene.
6. Both have natural scenery that embodies their region within walking distance from their downtown. Within an hour walking from Downtown Sarasota, you can be at the beach: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Li...!14m1!1BCgIgAQ
Whereas within an hour walking from Downtown Tucson, you can be on a mountaintop:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Se...RICCAI!5m1!1e4
It is unusual for one to be able to do either of those things from a city center, and both of those qualities certainly bolster the appeal of their respective areas.
7. The last difference I would note is in design form. Tucson has an older history than Sarasota and takes a lot more pride in it perhaps as a result (missions, native sites, etc.), and even modern architecture in some cases seems to pay homage to that. Sarasota on the other hand, while it has some Mediterranean Revival influences, seems to generally take a more ambivalent stance towards history in general, it’s more notable architecture has been more avant-garde. In fact, an architectural style, the Sarasota School, or Sarasota Modern, actually developed here behind well known architects like Paul Rudolph who really launched careers here, in fact one architectural historian Henry Russell Hitchcock said that, "the most exciting new architecture in the world is being done in Sarasota by a group of young architects.” Sarasota Downtown is increasingly becoming a sea of midrise condos overlooking the water, but those influences are a more primary focus of any new buildings in Sarasota as well.

Compare and Discuss!
1. Urban Form/Neighborhoods
2. Culture/Museums
3. Food/Drink Scene
4. Location
5. Scenery
6. Economic Opportunity
7. Amenities/Entertainment
8. Climate
9. Other Intangibles (Retail, History, Transit, Schools, Safety, etc.)
10. Where would you rather visit for a short/long weekend?
11. Where would you rather live?

Some additional information about these two-a notable difference is obviously population size, with Tucson having 546K. However, that is also bit of a misnomer. Tucson's city boundaries is 227 SqMi compared with Sarasota which is just 14.9 SqMi of land (5 x 3 city). However, to adjust this a bit more, I looked at the density of places that were west of 75, south of 275, and north of where 41 crosses over by Osprey/Nokomis.

At that point, Bradenton actually measured out to 417K people in 158 SqMi (keep in mind, the fastest-growing parts of the area right now are likely North Port, Parrish and Lakewood Ranch, but I didn't include those because I felt they function more similarly to suburbs, where this could be considered a more realistic assessment of Greater Sarasota's urban footprint.

As far as urbanity/density itself, I believe Tucson's densest zip is 85719, the area effectively east and northeast of Downtown and surrounding and including everything but the actual UA campus. It is 5500 PSQM, which edges out the (I believe) densest zip in Greater Sarasota, 34207 (5200 PSQM), which is sort of the "middle zone" between Sarasota and Bradenton (it's center is roughly 5 miles from the Downtown cores of Sarasota and Bradenton). Almost certainly though, the densest single area of population and land would be Downtown Sarasota itself-the density of this zip is undermined by part of it being lower density housing over the areas by the water which is included.. otherwise, Downtown itself probably already has a density over 10,000 PSQM and steadily increasing in number with new construction en masse. According to Emporis, Sarasota now has 77 highrise structures, whereas Tucson has 23... Phoenix for that matter only has 99. On WalkScore, Sarasota's Main Street District, laid out by Andres Duany, now has a higher rating than any single neighborhood in AZ, and in FL, only ranks behind the area surrounding Miami Beach's Lincoln Road Mall.