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Geographically, the Triangle is halfway between Charlotte and Richmond. Charlotte is much bigger, but there are certainly similarities shared with the Triangle, given the fact that both metros are in the same state and have grown over the past few decades. Meanwhile, Richmond's tobacco legacy is similar to Durham, while Richmond and Raleigh are both capital cities along the eastern edge of the Piedmont.
Do you believe the Triangle is more similar to Charlotte or Richmond? In terms of geography, growth, culture, history, demographics, jobs, etc.
Raleigh/Durham is more similar to Charlotte. A lot of that has to do with a smaller urban footprint than Richmond pre-1950, so a lot of the infrastructure, building styles and layouts of the Raleigh area and Charlotte area are similar to each other.
Durham proper reminds me of Winston Salem, with more developments and a more modern feel (From its universities). Raleigh reminds me of a slightly more car-dependent, spread out Charlotte.
I know this sounds weird, but towns like Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, Wake Forest and Cary remind me of somewhere in NOVA or even NH/NE over NC. Raleigh feels more Northeastern and its suburbs North and West of it do too.
Raleigh-Durham “metro” CSA is about 2.1million, Charlotte CSA about 2.8million in a catchment area ~1800 sq. miles larger, with less overall density. Wake County is more populous than Mecklenburg. Charlotte is indeed larger, but “much bigger” is a bit of hyperbole. It does have a centralized urban core and taller buildings and more pro Sports (vs college), so there’s that.
Richmond is at a metro population of ~1.3million in an area size similar to Raleigh-Durham’s CSA. It’s centralized urban core is older and very well established.
All of these do have their own sprawl.
The multi-core Triangle on average has somewhat better educational attainment and higher average household incomes than the other two. Triangle diversity and Charlotte’s are more similar than Richmond’s but not by much (the NC metros are a bit more Hispanic and Asian).
I find the Triangle and Charlotte to be more similar in many dimensions, except for the state capital aspects of Triangle/Raleigh and Richmond. That changes the dynamic of a city a bit with employment type and centralization of state museums and institutions, but I believe the “same state” aspects play more. Richmond feels much further away and discontinuous in culture and perceived distance (even on frequent trips to DC), whereas the Triangle to Charlotte is continuous “Carolina.” Just my thoughts.
Richmond is more of a southern, country town with a sizeable urban core. More outdoors sports, kayaking, fishing, mountain biking in the Richmond region compared to Raleigh/Charlotte, so tends to have more of an outdoors culture. Also closer to the shore.
The only difference is Charlotte is like a mini Atlanta with a big African-American influence on its culture, which neither Richmond or Raleigh have much of though.
Durham especially is nothing like Charlotte considering it's heritage and largely historic industrial feel, which Richmond has in spades.
Say what? You need to expand your thinking about this subject beyond the amount of old buildings downtown and even then, it misses some things.
All three of these cities were industrially significant in their pasts, and this is where Durham has a common heritage with Charlotte when it comes to textiles and a common heritage with Richmond when it comes to tobacco. And both Charlotte and Durham are home to very important entities named after the same wealthy family.
While Charlotte is nobody's serious idea of a textbook example of historic preservationism, it actually has done a pretty good job of preserving and rehabbing its historic mills which are scattered throughout the urban core outside of Uptown. Some, like Atherton Mill in South End, aren't readily recognizable as such however.
Durham and Charlotte are also quite similar to each other here when it comes to their modern white-collar, well-paying signature industries that allowed them to transition away from their legacy industries with relative ease: biotech/medicne for Durham and banking for Charlotte. Richmond also had an easier industrial transition than most others, but it has a much more diverse modern economy than Charlotte and Durham and, as a result, lacks a signature industry. Richmond is akin to a mini-Atlanta (minus its transportation/logistics sectors) in that respect as a state capital that's also a corporate headquarters hub for a wide range of companies.
Richmond is more of a southern, country town with a sizeable urban core. More outdoors sports, kayaking, fishing, mountain biking in the Richmond region compared to Raleigh/Charlotte, so tends to have more of an outdoors culture. Also closer to the shore.
The only difference is Charlotte is like a mini Atlanta with a big African-American influence on its culture, which neither Richmond or Raleigh have much of though.
Durham has a fairly big African-American influence.
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