AURORA, Colo. — Second Banana. Tonto to the scene-stealing Lone Ranger. Name the pejorative of disrespect or neglect and this sprawling city, forever in Denver’s shadow as the gawky suburb that outgrew its britches, has probably endured it.

No matter that in raw population count, Aurora is the third-largest urban area in Colorado, with 325,000 people, and the 55th biggest city in the nation, according to the census. In a state where consciousness of cool is a finely honed art — from hippie-tinged Boulder to the snow-clad condo culture of the mountains — Aurora is widely dismissed as a desert, entirely devoid of culture, cachet and clout.

“Aurora is a place to stop for gas on your way to somewhere else,” said Lamonte Purham, a construction worker who has lived here since coming to Colorado from St. Louis 12 years ago.

But powerful forces are now pushing Aurora to a new spot in the firmament, and challenging the hierarchy of power that for generations has long put Denver — the state’s capital and largest city, to Aurora’s west — at the center of everything.