Southern cities with a "big city" feel?
 

What southern cities have that "big city" feel that one may experience when they visit NYC or Chicago?

New Orleans

Houston

Miami

Downtown Houston has that. Wide streets and sidewalks. Lots of tall buildings. On a grid. At least for a southern city.

Downtown Austin, with the explosion of skyscrapers and street life (finally away from 6th street) in the last couple of years. It feels like a significantly larger city when you're downtown. Even five years ago it didn't have much of that feel. Outside of downtown, though, it's just another sprawling southern city, although with some interesting pockets, especially south of the river.

That said, I don't think any cities in the south should be remotely compared with NYC or Chicago.

To me, Uptown and the med center area have even more of a big city feel, and are very high rise, although downtown's skyscrapers are pretty awesome.

Overall, the med center (TMC), with its pedestrian traffic, light rail running through, and multiple highrises is my favorite area of Houston having a "big city" feel.

+ Atlanta

ATL .. a messed up one, but big feel

South Beach definitely has a feel of downtown Chicago level vibrancy, especially at night. But I wouldn't group Miami in with the south.

Depends on what you're asking for, exactly. If you're looking for an urban experience that compares to what you could find in New York or Chicago, then, in my opinion, you aren't going to find it in the south. However, if you're simply looking for cities where you can find vibrant urban districts, then you've got a number of options that seem to increase by the year.

On top of the cities already mentioned (Dallas, Austin, Miami, Houston, Atlanta) I'd also add cities like San Antonio, New Orleans, Nashville, Memphis, Richmond, Louisville, and even smaller cities like Winston-Salem, Chattanooga, Charleston, Savannah, and I'm sure others I'm forgetting.

Agreed with the thoughts on Downtown Houston, it's big time by almost any measure.

Houston, without a doubt. When you're downtown here, it feels closer to New York or LA than any other southern city I've been to. Not only that, but Houston's Uptown skyline has as many skyscrapers as downtown Denver or Pittsburgh, and the Texas Medical Center has as many as Raleigh or Tampa. Even outside of downtown, there are a lot of dense neighborhoods of townhouses, side-yard houses, and there are 15-25 story apartment buildings popping up everywhere here.

My choice as someone who have travelled extensively would be Miami. Miami reminds me of a smaller version of Chicago especially, in so many ways. Its been years since i visited Houston so i cannot say, but i am hearing many impressive remarks about the city lately. The other resemblance to New York and Chicago is that Miami has a waterfront component that is synonymous with these two cities.

None of them remind me of NYC or Chicago. But in terms of southern cities that feel like a "big city":

Atlanta
Dallas
Miami

I'm sure Houston does as well, but I've never been there. Austin doesn't feel like a big city to me yet, although downtown Austin is becoming competitive with the downtowns of some cities much larger than it. Charlotte also doesn't feel like a big city to me, but that city also has a large downtown and is growing rapidly.

Miami definitely has a big city feel, and certainly like some overlap with Chicago/Philly in some areas. But I agree with another poster that Miami is tough to consider "the south".

I think it's missing hte point to look for a New York/Chicago/Philly/Boston-style city in the South. It's not the best of what it has to offer. Each region has it's own vibe that can make a city cool when everything comes together. What's the best Atlanta-style city in the North? The best Los Angeles-style city in the Midwest? Charleston is one of the most beautiful, walkable cities in the US, although it feels nothing like what I think you're referring to and is pretty small. Nashville has such a really fun, unique not-so-country country vibe but is nothing like a NY-style "big city".

I guess my point is that it's like asking which Italian restaurant has the best hamburger--don't go there looking for that or you'll miss what makes the place good.

None of them feel like a big city although some are big. When I think about big cities - I think about active street life most of the days including weekends and activities that would draw people downtown like unique shopping or entertainment venues. I think a lot of the southern cities got big mainly through sprawl and their downtowns are for mainly office workers on weekdays. I guess one question to ask - if you were visiting (a city), would you stay downtown. For NYC, Chicago and many northern or western cities, yes, for most southern cities, no.

24 hour city centers (active street life):
South Beach - largely tourism driven
New Orleans - largely tourism driven
To a lesser but quickly increasing extent Austin - more authentic with people living working and entertaining

Visual similarity - Downtown canyons/grids etc.
Houston

Sprawling skylines from a distance
Miami
Houston
Atlanta

New Orleans & Miami/ Miami Beach

Houston feels big but not because of downtown. It's just massive and spread out and has similar vibe as LA rather than NY or Chicago. Our downtown is rather underwhelming. Tall buildings but no energy at the street level seen in other big cities. Someone mentioned the TMC, there's the density and hustle/ bustle there.

Houston IMO easily has the most impressive skyscraper canyon feel of the Big 4 in the South(HOU, DAL, MIA, ATL), yet it probably has the least vibrant core of the four. It also has the least transit access. The most developed downtown, yet has the least big city amenities. It's an irony to say the least.

Atlanta's downtown is probably the least big city feel of the four(doesn't have many skyscraper canyons) because development spreaded out between Downtown, Midtown, and Buckhead. But Midtown Atlanta is an impressive beast on it's own which makes the core of Atlanta(DT/MT) feel large. Here's a recent picture of Midtown from the east.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EY8JyGVWsAAzCYu?format=jpg

Here's a photo from the southwest:
https://instagram.fatl1-2.fna.fbcdn....80&oe=5F0D20D3

Midtown/Buckhead both developed along the MARTA rail line which I suppose is a good thing if the development wasn't going to concentrate in the downtown area.

Is Louisville (or Cincinnati, for that matter) really southern? ;)

I've lived in both neighborhoods. South Beach and the French Quarter are mostly urban residential neighborhoods with only a hand full of streets dedicated to commerce, retail, and entertainment.