One of the things I hate most about the skyscraper forum (and probably have made others sick of hearing me gripe about it) is the ranking of US cities and the feeling that there is a cut-off point (or even that one has to go up for another to go down). And while I do believe there is some limitation to "world class cities", much of that thinking I just plain do not buy.
Quite simply, if London and Paris can exist as world class cities a stone throw away from each other, there is a lot to suggest that the greatness of one city does not depend on the vulnerability of another.
Therefore, I thought I would throw this question out to you:
How do you know that an American city has arrived, that it has truly created an envirnoment that is "world class", major, a player without question?
What are the factors: both physical (facts on the ground), population (size? and diversity), culturally, business, transportation....actually everything!
I'm not into censorship, and even if I were, I don't control what other posts. But as this was the initial post, please note that I
1. did not mention any American city (and included London and Paris only for comparitive purposes)
2. did not feel this thread was subject to "numbers"....that is, this is not a competitive thing, but an assumption that any number of US cities can achieve this status.
So I am trying here to totally eliminate any comparison (or mentioning) of US cities since I'm more interested in the generic things any of them would need to be great.
I'm really trying to come up with "If it walks like a world class city and it talks like a world class city, it is a world class city": so, what factors does it take to walk and talk that way?
Quite simply, if London and Paris can exist as world class cities a stone throw away from each other, there is a lot to suggest that the greatness of one city does not depend on the vulnerability of another.
Therefore, I thought I would throw this question out to you:
How do you know that an American city has arrived, that it has truly created an envirnoment that is "world class", major, a player without question?
What are the factors: both physical (facts on the ground), population (size? and diversity), culturally, business, transportation....actually everything!
I'm not into censorship, and even if I were, I don't control what other posts. But as this was the initial post, please note that I
1. did not mention any American city (and included London and Paris only for comparitive purposes)
2. did not feel this thread was subject to "numbers"....that is, this is not a competitive thing, but an assumption that any number of US cities can achieve this status.
So I am trying here to totally eliminate any comparison (or mentioning) of US cities since I'm more interested in the generic things any of them would need to be great.
I'm really trying to come up with "If it walks like a world class city and it talks like a world class city, it is a world class city": so, what factors does it take to walk and talk that way?