I spent last weekend in Nashville with my wife and 4-year old. It was a random reason to get away and see a city we’d never been too. Also, got to teach the kiddo how to travel!
Expectations were low cause we had short legs with us but all around, we enjoyed seeing the few sites we did and just seeing a different environment. Yes, from what you read, Nashville is booming and there are plenty of cranes put to work right now. You can also spot new developments if you are paying attention and know “that look.” Apartment buildings looked the same as ours but maybe with a different paint job. There was a also a skyhouse, just like Raleigh. (and lots of other cities)
That’s 4 cranes that you can see when walking down Broadway.
Nashville makes me want Raleigh to have a little bit more tourism here as it is a nice fuel to the streetlife fire. At the same time, one observation I made is that there are very little residential buildings near all this activity in the core downtown. The residents almost step back a little. With the Bridgestone Arena, Country Music Hall of Fame, and all the bars, you have office towers and hotels that fill in the gaps.
I saw lots of growth around The Gulch and that seems to be quickly becoming a spot on to its own. I don’t know what was there before but it looks like it is completely turned over. Everything is new in this photo.
The downtown, in every part I saw, is still littered with surface parking. I didn’t really leave the downtown area so didn’t see what the traffic was like but you can tell that this is still a predominantly car-driven city. Some sidewalks were being widened but Raleigh has more bike lanes than Nashville from what I saw.
We used transit a bit to get around and the free downtown circuits were helpful. Other routes were VERY infrequent and if everything stays the same, I feel Raleigh’s transit may provide more value than Nashville’s, again from my POV. We used the bus from the airport to downtown and while it was very convenient point-to-point, the timetables were odd and routes different in both directions.
Nashville felt cool cause it oozed that music city vibe, murals everywhere, art, and while I’m not at all a country music fan, I could get into hitting the Honky Tonk with some friends for a good time. When in Rome, right? 
At the same time, it was hard to tell where the locals were. The Gulch maybe? Still, it had a lot of tourists. While Broadway was packed with bar hoppers, the riverwalk area was deserted. No locals going for a stroll there. These buildings face the river and while they technically are the loading side for the businesses facing 2nd ave, the wide sidewalk here was dead when I walked down it.
Nashville might be a good peer city for Raleigh to look towards on some things. At the same time, it has a lot more building stock, pre-WWII, to work with while Raleigh does not. This is a major factor, I think, in a city’s look and feel. Raleigh and Nashville both have good bones it’s just that Nashville has a lot more of it.
Raleigh probably needs to start activating more areas for urban development. With the Penmarc stadium being worked on, downtown should stretch to the south towards it. At the same time, it should move north along the capital blvd corridor. That’ll make the city feel bigger.
I’d love to go back with friends or when the kid is older, can stay out longer but I enjoyed the visit. That’s my quick take, would love for those with Nashville experience to chime in.