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I was talking with a friend and he said Charlotte is nothing but a large, glorified Columbia, SC. I disagree with him as I believe a better comparison for Charlotte would be as a mini-Atlanta rather than a glorified Columbia. It is my perception that Charlotte offers a ton more than Columbia does. However, I have never been to Columbia so I can't say for sure. Are these two cities really that similar?
That would be an incorrect assessment. Columbia is a state capital, has a large university located downtown, is home to a large military installation (Fort Jackson), is one of the first planned cities in the nation, and is located along a river (actually three). Charlotte has none of those things and is a Piedmont textile mill town turned rapidly-growing financial center with more modern, big-city amenities (pro sports, light rail, high-end retail, etc.). Both have their own charms and share some similarities, but calling Charlotte a "glorified Columbia" misses the mark entirely.
^ Of course you have way more knowledge of Columbia than I do. Putting aside the historical construction of Atlanta, Charlotte, and Columbia, IMO I think both comparisons are accurate for Charlotte. I would say Charlotte is both a larger version of Columbia and a smaller version of Atlanta. Charlotte is transforming with having two schools either in Uptown or close to it, JCSU and JWU, with UNCC adding a business school uptown. There is also the the Charlotte school of law and CMC has several allied health schools located and CPCC is also eith close or in uptown. These are definitely not USC but I just want to make a case that Charlotte has a strong educational presnce uptown.
^I can see where you're coming from. I'm just thinking that if someone were to ask me to compare Charlotte to a smaller city, Columbia probably wouldn't be the first to come to mind even though similarities exist between the two.
I can see Winston. In a way, one could even say that Charlotte's prosperity has been at Winston's expense (Piedmont Airlines, Wachovia, etc.). I think Greenville (SC) would be another good comparison. Both have successfully transitioned themselves from Piedmont textile mill towns to cities of modern industry without being state capitals, relying on universities, having the benefit of being in the mountains or on the coast, and both have done wonderful jobs of revitalizing their downtowns, albeit in different ways.
I must say though, I don't really get the Birmingham comparison, other than for it also being headquarters to some banks. We don't have the sort of history Birmingham has, for better or for worse, and it shows. I've always heard that Charlotte and Indianapolis compare favorably.
Size/Political position in state/Industry/Entertainment&Leisure/etc.
The biggest difference has to be size. Columbia would only be the 8th largest city in the state if it were in NC. Cary is even larger than Columbia and it's just a suburban town (no scorn toward Cary intended, they actually call it the Town of Cary).
Size/Political position in state/Industry/Entertainment&Leisure/etc.
The biggest difference has to be size. Columbia would only be the 8th largest city in the state if it were in NC. Cary is even larger than Columbia and it's just a suburban town (no scorn toward Cary intended, they actually call it the Town of Cary).
If Columbia were in NC, it wouldn't be subject to SC's stringent annexation laws, so it would probably be the third largest city in NC since its MSA and urbanized area population would be the third largest after Charlotte and Raleigh.
Of course, I'm aware of the size difference (which is directly related to entertainment/leisure), but I thought you were getting at something I might have missed when you said they were completely different types of cities. I'm not too sure what you mean by "political position in state" though. Both Charlotte and Columbia are politically moderate cities. Columbia may even be a tad darker shade of purple than Charlotte.
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