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"When some yuppie mentions the lack of ambiance, they look at them cross-eyed and say, 'You don't understand what this place used to be,' " he said.

But once the economic infrastructure is in place, Garreau said, the cultural amenities are the next stage of development.

Jeffrey Lee, an architect whose firm, Pearce, Brinkley, Cease & Lee, worked on the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, said the Triangle needs to decide what it wants to be before sprawl defines it.

"It's struggling to identify what it's going to be. Hopefully it will find its voice before too long," he said. "Otherwise, what you end up with is Plano, Texas."

The struggle for identity is showing up in a rising sense that not all growth is good and that public places and open spaces are as important as the next housing development.

WakeUp, a group in Wake County, is trying to counter the development lobby.

"We're concerned that most of the decisions locally have been highly influenced by the real estate community and are not taking the interests of all the citizens first," said Karen Rindge, the group's chairwoman.

Betsy Kane, a lawyer and Raleigh planning commission member, has seen an urban and artistic culture emerge in recent years.

"It's definitely not the dominant culture, but it's becoming a significant culture," she said.

One of the leaders of that change is downtown developer Greg Hatem, who founded Empire Properties in 1995. Hatem has restored a number of historic Raleigh buildings for uses as bars, restaurants and offices.

"I think over the next 10 years we're going to redefine ourselves somewhat on what is the center of the Triangle and what is the character of the Triangle. I think to some extent it's going to be these downtowns," he said.

In Raleigh, Hatem said, that character will be not a new character, but a true one.

"We have all this growth, but we're not flashy," he said, "We're kind of understated. We have a simple elegance."

Kotkin said that assessment fits the region, too.

"Excitement is not the word I would use for Raleigh-Durham. Competent. Good place to raise a family. Good place to own a business. A good place to go to school. All those you could sell me on," he said.

Then he added a thought both plaintive and hopeful, "It can't be completely boring forever, right? As the place grows there will more diversity and more people."

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