New tower of glass opposit the golden cross

Regardless, Cardiff is very under-developed for a "capital" city. It doesn't feel like much of a city to me either. Maybe I've spent too much of my life outside of Wales, because I certainly have a very different perspective than most Welsh people.

Regardless, Cardiff is very under-developed for a "capital" city. It doesn't feel like much of a city to me either. Maybe I've spent too much of my life outside of Wales, because I certainly have a very different perspective than most Welsh people.

I wouldn't argue against that, but it's only really been a city for a relatively short period of time. The fact that it now competes with cities that have been established for hundreds of years shows that Cardiff is doing something right, and gives promising signs for the future. There are a few hurdles, such as the general Welsh attitude of anti-development and anti-progression, and the organisation of development could be a lot better (e.g., the interchange not allowing for the metro at all), but as a future core city of the UK, it's going in the right direction.

Ahh, nah. Bristol is miles ahead of Cardiff in every metric. It literally takes 2 hours to get from Bower Ashton (south Bristol) to Frenchay (North). Cardiff is growing very quickly but Bristol isnt the best example as it is also growing at an astonishing rate.

Oh, and about the building height, within a month of the 60m height restriction being lifted, an 82m tower has started construction.

I'd say it's much bigger than the 12th. People forget that we essentially have suburbs that are not counted as Cardiff. Caerphilly, Penarth, most of the Vale. Even parts of Newport like Marshfield should really be considered as Cardiff. This is why population count is such a poor metric for city size, and how Leeds can be considered the second biggest city in the UK when it clearly isn't. If you stretched Cardiff's boundaries to its actual suburban area then it would be closer to 500,000.

If we're only talking of city centres, think about how long it would take you to walk from the edge of the civic centre to the bay. Cardiff only feels compact because nobody ever goes beyond the shopping districts, so they never really get a sense of the real size. There's no way small cities like Leicester and Coventry should be considered bigger than Cardiff. If it keeps going the way it is, Cardiff could soon be 6th or 5th. We're already catching up to Bristol. We may have to officially annex Caerphilly, Penarth and the like before long.

Cardiff is a great city with a phenomenal growth rate but I don't see it catching up Bristol anytime soon. Bristol is outpacing Cardiff in most economic indicators.

That's is more to do with bristol'so history and Cardiff developing later.

Cardiff is growing at a greater pace than bristol and has been for some considerable time.

Spend a day walking around New Zealand's capital Wellington, a small city of around 405,000. Then come back to Cardiff and see how under-developed it is. Wellington doesn't have anywhere near the size of the metro region that Cardiff does either. Despite Auckland being the commercial centre of New Zealand, see some of the businessness which have their HQ in Wellington:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington#Economy
In comparison, Cardiff has the Admiral Group and a bunch of regional offices and call centres.

People should stop using comparisons with English regional cities as a defence for Cardiff's shortcomings.

But if we are going to make comparisons to English cities, why is Cardiff (a captial city since 1955) lagging behind a minor regional city (Bristol) in the south west of England. Why do so many Welsh people end up living and working in Bristol because there's better pay and better opportunities?

Maybe it's due to perception by business.

Many businesses Base their south West & Wales regional offices in Bristol, but if there is a cardiff office it's for the Wales regional office only.

Ahh, nah. Bristol is miles ahead of Cardiff in every metric. It literally takes 2 hours to get from Bower Ashton (south Bristol) to Frenchay (North). Cardiff is growing very quickly but Bristol isnt the best example as it is also growing at an astonishing rate.

Oh, and about the building height, within a month of the 60m height restriction being lifted, an 82m tower has started construction.

2 hours. Leave the tractor on the farm mate. I regularly travel in and around bristol and it's not much bigger than Cardiff in terms of urban area. I'd say the city centre and harbourside area are no bigger than cadiff's city centre plus bay, but the latter two being given separate doesn't given the sense of scale you get on bristol

If you ignore the geopolitical boundaries, travelling from dinas in the west to s'mell in the east is as great as distance.

Regardless, Cardiff is very under-developed for a "capital" city. It doesn't feel like much of a city to me either. Maybe I've spent too much of my life outside of Wales, because I certainly have a very different perspective than most Welsh people.

It's completely unfair to compare Cardiff to Wellington, which is the capital city of an independent nation state, and has government, diplomatic and commercial resources that Cardiff cannot have.

Now if you want to get those the best way would be to campaign for Welsh independence, and I'm sure you'd be welcome in Plaid Cymru....

Maybe it's due to perception by business.

Many businesses Base their south West & Wales regional offices in Bristol, but if there is a cardiff office it's for the Wales regional office only.

I've commented about this before. It is one of business perception and the strategic location of Bristol. English-based businesses think they can do work in Wales based in Bristol.

The attitude has been there for centuries. Where was the administrative capital of Wales post Statute of Rhuddlan? Oh yeah, Ludlow, Shropshire. Historically, it’s an attitude that’s really stifled the development of our towns and cities and it’s continuing.

That needs to change and we shouldn't be reliant on Bristol or any other minor city for services. I shouldn't be designing landmark projects for Cardiff in Bristol for a Welsh client. Don’t you think I’d rather be developing those expertise and training up young engineers in Cardiff?

It would be one thing if it was a two-way street, but it’s not.

Again I say Cardiff has a remarkable growth rate, but Bristol has outpaced Cardiff over the last decade in nearly every way and is continuing to do so.

It’s a much more prosperous city and is the capital of the South West region Of England. It’s GVA is above the national average and Cardiff is Wales is a capital city of a nation with a population of only 3 million and a relative GVA at around 80% of Bristol’s GVA.

Cardiff suffers from having much poorer hinterlands and it is theses hinterlands and international immigration that Cardiff will draw in to feed its population growth. Bristol has already done what Cardiff is attempting to do now. Not being biased towards nay one camp, the only area where Cardiff is ahead of Bristol is in its sporting infrastructure and the fact it has focused on building much taller buildings. It's clear Cardiff has taller buildings than Bristol whatever importance one would like to put on that. Then again Castlemead does stand at around 80 metres also.

Bristol also has as much developments going on now as Cardiff right now:

South Bristol Link road, just completed, will open up new economic areas to the south of Bristol
Metro bus under construction
Redevelopment of Frenchay hospital site
Major development on the old Filton airfield site
Major development on the site opposite Rolls Royce
Continuation of development at Temple Quay, HMRC etc.
Redcliffe Quarter, construction started
Land next to KPMG building on Victoria Street
Bristol airport expansion i.e. expanded terminal , hotel and carpark
Developments at LYDE green, Highbrook Park and Scholars chase
New distribution depots at Severnside

And for Cardiff:

Capital quarter,
Developments at Dumballs Road
University expansion at Maindy Road
Cardiff pointe including ice arena and pool and Bayscape
Major development at Central Square
Bridge street student accommodation
Howard road student accommodation
Fitzlan Place ,
Major housing push northeast of the city
Eastern bay link Road

I don't particularly spend much time in Bristol, however when I do visit the city it feels significantly bigger than Cardiff mainly due to the infrastructure they already have in place.

Yes Cardiff is growing at a rapid place however we need to focus on density and transport and make our city feel a lot more urban. I think we are sort of heading in the right direction but we have a long way to go yet.