Whiterun might have been planned to be bigger at one point, I mean Nazeem has a key to a Manor that never made it into the game but Solitude is the capitol of Skyrim so wouldn't that be the "Imperial City" of Skyrim?

I was disappointed in Dawnstar, Morthal, Falkreath and Winterhold because those are capitols and are just villages really. Morthal is even the capitol of a hold that doesn't have any other towns... thankfully MODs changed some that.

There is no city in Skyrim that's supposed to be like the Imperial City, there's not a city in Tamriel that's like it. The closest size wise is Daggerfall, I believe. Solitude, Windhelm and pre-destruction Winterhold would have been roughly the same size.

Agreed. That's why when I saw the comment earlier someone made about Whiterun falling short of being the "Imperial City" of Skyrim I was like... ummm... no? Even if they put in all that they had planned it would have fell short but still... could only wonder what it should have looked like.

The only way I could ratify Whiterun being the 'Imperial City' of Skyrim, is it's status as a (trade) hub. Even then, that's a fairly generous stretch.

Yeah, not sure if you have PC but if it wasn't for the Market Outskirts MOD Whiterun was a poor trade hub. Heck the EEC was in Solitude and they are the biggest company in trading.