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I think I get your argument now. Yes, I mean I guess a place like Austin would be more vibrant than NYC or DC as well as it gets packed on the weekends. You're a young guy, so I'm guessing kind of a partier? So different perspective for me. Vibrant to me, is more of the east coast density and walkability. I guess that's actually bustling.
It's kind of amazing how much some cities get the benefit while others consistently get knocked down a peg or three. This is sunbelt-data.com
Yeah definitely- Boston and DC are a snoozefest to me compared to say, Miami or Nashville.
Its just an age thing more than not.
Everyone is right. Like the mods have said there are no right answers
Nashville has activity around it's downtown, good for comparing to much of the Southern/ Sunbelt cities. But to call it a "vibrant" downtown day or night by comparison coming from a city bigger than it with more contiguity is a huge stretch...I've seen Tampa mentioned here and Orlando, give me a break people. All of these cities are making strides in adding bars/ vibrancy overall, but there's levels to this. I'd argue that downtown Baltimore has as much downtown "vibrancy" as any of those cities aforementioned cities, let alone Philly, DC, Seattle etc.
Haha, exactly!
There are levels to everything in the world. What’s your point? Just because X city is more vibrant than Y city doesn’t mean Y city is not vibrant. The thread title clearly asks for vibrant cities. The OP asks about downtown cores that are still lively where everyone still goes out to eat, clubs, etc isn’t just a place people go to solely for work. It doesn’t ask to tier them or rank them in relation to NYC or anything else. Simply put, vibrancy is vibrancy, where people hang out and do stuff there after 5pm. By that measure, Nashville is vibrant. Orlando is vibrant. Even Tampa is vibrant. Who cares if they’re not as vibrant as cities twice their size? Saying they are not vibrant because they are smaller or don’t have as much vibrancy as mega cities is incredibly narrow minded.
The thing about Nashville that I've realized is different than almost every city its similar size, is that the big things "to do" and where "all the action is" is centered mostly downtown, or stretching to the midtown areas.
Nashville planning has done a great job in focusing new development downtown, (or midtown) and making Nashville pretty dense, compared to the vast majority of its sunbelt peers.
Most cities with downtowns similar size to Nashville will have a 1/3rd of the consistent foot traffic that Nashville has. Most of this is fueled by the tourism, but that has also allowed the city to capitalize and build on this, by bringing in other investments into downtown to further boost crowds, vibrancy and activity.
Like major corporate HQs, destination shopping (Apple, Whole Foods, etc), destination museums, celebrity-branded multi-level live music bars, and sports.
The Predator's arena (Bridgestone Arena) is right in the heart of where the bars, restaurants, hotels, museums, shopping and entertainment sits. Everything focuses in on this area, and while the tourist crowds are really the nuts and bolts of Nashville's downtown vibrancy and crowds of people.
The thing about this district in Nashville is that most any day of the week, any time of the day before say, 1 or 2am, there will be nonstop foot traffic consistently, and dense foot traffic.
This pans out into other areas of downtown and midtown, and while of course there are many "dead zones," on the whole, Nashville's downtown is easily in the top 10 busiest in the US.
If I had to rank the US downtowns, mine would go something like this:
10 New Orleans
9 Nashville
8 Washington, DC
7 Seattle
6 Miami Beach
5 Boston
4 Philadelphia (center city)
3 San Francisco
big gap
2 Chicago
huge gap
1 New York City
How does Nashville rank ahead of Austin on this metric? Austin has the same packed nightlife districts (Dirty 6, West 6, Warehouse district, Rainey St, and the Red River music scene are all downtown), and has more annual tourism than does Nashville. It also has much higher downtown population denisty and more daytime business activity than Nashville, along with a bunch of downtown outdoor amenities that I don't think Nashville can match (the Lady Bird Lake hike and bike trail + the lake itself).
Does Nashville's downtown have a floating Brotilla every day of the week?
To be clear, neither of these cities are anywhere close to legacy cities in daytime activity. I do think an argument can be made for weekend nights, though.
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
8,128 posts, read 7,560,868 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by masssachoicetts
Yeah definitely- Boston and DC are a snoozefest to me compared to say, Miami or Nashville.
Its just an age thing more than not.
Everyone is right. Like the mods have said there are no right answers
Miami's downtown? I assume you mean Miami Beach, so will easily take that.
Nashville I'm sorry just doesn't blow it out the water for me. Are you the poster that claimed it's top 5?? I think it's definitely a downtown with activity especially good for a Sunbelt metro, but to place it above the Downtown activity of Washington DC is absolutely asinine. I assume you must be speaking on after 5pm specifically which is cool, since the comparison is that per the OP. But DC's downtown dwarfs Nashville and has so much variety of uses that I don't even know where to begin a comparison to Nashville with it's strip of bars. Last I was there was 2010 so maybe I'm missing something, but it wasn't same tier, nor even the next tier below Downtown DC's street activity.
I honestly don't place DC's vibrancy after hours same tier as Boston's, but that's another thread to itself.
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
8,128 posts, read 7,560,868 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by InterestingArm3750
There are levels to everything in the world. What’s your point? Just because X city is more vibrant than Y city doesn’t mean Y city is not vibrant. The thread title clearly asks for vibrant cities. The OP asks about downtown cores that are still lively where everyone still goes out to eat, clubs, etc isn’t just a place people go to solely for work. It doesn’t ask to tier them or rank them in relation to NYC or anything else. Simply put, vibrancy is vibrancy, where people hang out and do stuff there after 5pm. By that measure, Nashville is vibrant. Orlando is vibrant. Even Tampa is vibrant. Who cares if they’re not as vibrant as cities twice their size? Saying they are not vibrant because they are smaller or don’t have as much vibrancy as mega cities is incredibly narrow minded.
My point is I've lived down South and experienced, Nashville, Tampa, Orlando, etc... I'd place Nashville well ahead of Tampa and Orlando. Used to live in Orlando actually. Those cities have activity and vibrancy (well Tampa less so) Ybor City has vibrancy but is that downtown? However, none of them scratch the surface of big city downtown vibrancy that I'm more accustomed to. Detroit, and Baltimore have vibrant downtowns compared to those cities. Again Nashville I do recall being a "happening" place after hours, so not really coming for them, but no way in the world I'd place it ahead of Philly, DC, Seattle and other big city downtowns (after hours). There are more bars per capita in those cities than all of you realize, Philly and DC especially. Coming from where I'm from, and going to Tampa to party then calling it "vibrant" by comparison is the funniest of jokes I've heard.
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
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Quote:
Originally Posted by btownboss4
I think Vibrant and exciting are different.
Vibrant include people going to the barber shop or pharmacy or walking to their cousins house.
Nashville might be exciting but it is lacking the “chore” traffic that makes DC, Boston, Philly etc vibrant.
Precisely. People are taking their own personal experience of "I had one hell of a night in City X" therefore it's more "vibrant" than City Y based on my experience. Rather than go by what's factual in terms of true street activity block by block, street by street, city by city.
I personally remember having a fine ole time out in Downtown Nashville when I visited, the clubs were pretty cool. However with a clear head I wouldn't place the overall "downtown vibrancy" ahead of DC, Philly etc.
If I had to rank the US downtowns, mine would go something like this:
10 New Orleans
9 Nashville
8 Washington, DC
7 Seattle
6 Miami Beach
5 Boston
4 Philadelphia (center city)
3 San Francisco
big gap
2 Chicago
huge gap
1 New York City
Nashville seems like it has like 10 blocks of vibrancy. How is that above downtown New Orleans? The entire Quarter and CBD are vibrant day and night, weekend or weekday.
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
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Quote:
Originally Posted by annie_himself
Nashville seems like it has like 10 blocks of vibrancy. How is that above downtown New Orleans? The entire Quarter and CBD are vibrant day and night, weekend or weekday.
Very true, New Orleans is an entire tier above Nashville in that regard.
My point is I've lived down South and experienced, Nashville, Tampa, Orlando, etc... I'd place Nashville well ahead of Tampa and Orlando. Used to live in Orlando actually. Those cities have activity and vibrancy (well Tampa less so) Ybor City has vibrancy but is that downtown? However, none of them scratch the surface of big city downtown vibrancy that I'm more accustomed to. Detroit, and Baltimore have vibrant downtowns compared to those cities. Again Nashville I do recall being a "happening" place after hours, so not really coming for them, but no way in the world I'd place it ahead of Philly, DC, Seattle and other big city downtowns (after hours). There are more bars per capita in those cities than all of you realize, Philly and DC especially. Coming from where I'm from, and going to Tampa to party then calling it "vibrant" by comparison is the funniest of jokes I've heard.
Tampa has actually improved a lot over the past few years since the Riverwalk was completed. To be fair, I'd still rank it below Orlando, but it is way better than it was a decade ago when everything used to shut down at 5pm.
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