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I agree with that, although I don't agree that downtown=city size.
I think that it's interesting that Nashville has historically been the much larger city. Nashville had over 100,000 people a hundred years ago. It was the same size as Houston. I'm guessing that accounts in part for its larger downtown along with its entertainment history.
I agree downtown does not equal city size. Raleigh's downtown does not match the CSA, some might say MSA as well. The region is multi nodal which makes it harder to compare.
Nashville has about 40 highrises/skyscrapers currently and they're building another 10 and at least 20 are under proposal/approval. I can't see how Raleigh is denser than Nashville.
Raleigh felt like a city of 150,000 people when I visited in 2019. The downtown is growing but also feels smallish. There's a corporate, start-up vibe, and great companies and universities in the area, but it does not feel denser than Nashville.
I saw many old school, 1960s/70/80s subdivisions in Raleigh. Lots of beautiful classic homes.
Denser? Where.
Raleigh has a great quality of life, but does not feel like a large city--many people love that about the area.
Nashville midtown to downtown is so much more vibrant and exciting than anywhere in Raleigh. But don't get me wrong, I love the triangle area and would move there potentially.
North Hills/Midtown is dense, as is West Raleigh and both Downtown Durham and Downtown Raleigh. Nashville and the Triangle are similarly populated, and Nashville’s city population is inflated due to size. Raleigh is definitely denser just due to that fact (as is most of its suburbs, though it’s suburban dense mostly). The main difference is Nashville’s population is more centralized, Triangle is definitely more multi-nodal.
Raleigh is a very pretty city. I love how downtown is slowly taking shape-it's becoming nicer and a bit more "city vibe" for sure.
Nashville downtown and midtown areas are equivalent to about 4 downtown Raleigh's though, in terms of density, skyscrapers and vibrancy.
This shows Raleigh is growing, and that it has a phenomenal quality of life.
Raleigh's "dense" downtown is basically a "t" shaped intersection of 10 buildings or so, and growing.
But also illustrates how much smaller it is when compared to a city like Nashville.
The density reference that was made was regarding the metro areas for each city, not just a small part. That said, neither city is known for density, but Nashville does have a dense downtown area while Raleigh doesn't have an equivalent. Raleigh may be slightly more dense overall, I don't know, but it's probably not enough of a difference either way to impact someone's decision. I have relatives in both cities and really the most noticeable difference is the downtowns although one relative lives in a large house within Nashville city limits that is rural as far as I'm concerned.
I think that everyone agrees that Nashville is much more vibrant. I don't know how many times more vibrant it is, but it's more for sure. In terms of the total package of what a young person might want in a city, Nashville checks more boxes than Raleigh.
The Triangle has a bigger developed core simply due to Downtown Raleigh to Downtown Durham being a long 25-mile development with only the RTP breaking it up. But Nashville’s center is more developed for sure.
The Triangle has a bigger developed core simply due to Downtown Raleigh to Downtown Durham being a long 25-mile development with only the RTP breaking it up. But Nashville’s center is more developed for sure.
I wouldn't say Raleigh has the bigger core but rather both Raleigh and Durham are close to touching which gives the feel of a large contiguous area. A similar feel can be seen in the Nashville MSA with Frankin 30 miles or Murfreesboro 35 miles. The Triangle benefits with having a more flat terrain conducive for large scale development going all directions, where as most of Nashville’s development spreads directly south, southeast and east due to the expense of developing the more rugged areas north, northwest and west.
I wouldn't say Raleigh has the bigger core but rather both Raleigh and Durham are close to touching which gives the feel of a large contiguous area. A similar feel can be seen in the Nashville MSA with Frankin 30 miles or Murfreesboro 35 miles. The Triangle benefits with having a more flat terrain conducive for large scale development going all directions, where as most of Nashville’s development spreads directly south, southeast and east due to the expense of developing the more rugged areas north, northwest and west.
The Raleigh-Cary-Morrisville-(RTP)-Durham corridor feels like a larger contiguous area because it is a larger contiguous area. Nashville is built differently however. It plops more of its population in the central 5 miles of downtown, whereas Raleigh-to-Durham’s population is more distributed along the wide corridor that is Northwestern Wake and Southern Durham counties. Some of that is indeed topography, but much of it is just due to it being a multi-nodal region with two large cities anchored by the largest employment center being in between. It’s a unique setup that definitely makes the regions feel dissimilar even when their populations are similar.
The Raleigh-Cary-Morrisville-(RTP)-Durham corridor feels like a larger contiguous area because it is a larger contiguous area. Nashville is built differently however. It plops more of its population in the central 5 miles of downtown, whereas Raleigh-to-Durham’s population is more distributed along the wide corridor that is Northwestern Wake and Southern Durham counties.
Not true as a vast majority of the Nashville MSA population is located in the Rutherford, Williamson and Wilson counties. Again Nashville’s built environment is largely a reflection of its terrain and history. The consolidation of Davidson County being a large part of that. Historically Nashville was the much larger city. In 1950, Nashville’s population was 174,307 Raleigh was 65,679, Durham was 71,311. Even if you combine both Raleigh and Durham's 1950 population that's still only 136,990, which is smaller than Nashville's population pre consolidation with Davidson County when the city was roughly 50 square miles. This in my opinion gives Nashville the bigger city feel because it was much larger much earlier. Now if you're talking dense suburban development over a larger contiguous area, then the RTP has that as it doesn't have the geographic constraints that prevent it from spreading in all directions.
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