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That's a really sad mentality to have and I bet you're very much in the minority of people who thinks all "old architecture" looks the same. I'd hate to go by on a daily basis and be so indifferent towards my surroundings. Having been to Boston, New York, London, Madrid and New Delhi (not Mexico City, though), I know how different they are. The fact that they look the same to you is pretty sad.
What you're saying is, "It's not like it was when I was younger, so it's not unique."
Man, the more I read your posts on this, the more self-centered your perspective appears. Yeah, those areas have changed. But (surprise!) they were changing LONG before you ever experienced them. Someone who grew up in Maverick Square 20 years before you would be telling you the exact same thing. Causway Street didn't have the El' in 1630 or 1776 or 1863 and it wasn't the only urban street to have an El' on it when it existed. How do you think people felt when the El' was being built (you know, when the city was "modernizing") Don't you think many people probably felt that they wouldn't even recognize that area anymore? That Boston was just the same as all of these other cities (Chicago, New York, etc) with their newfangled elevated trains running over the streets? Dude, it's not not as if the city had been the same for hundreds of years when you showed up and only just started "modernizing." It's been evolving it from the start and it will continue to evolve.
The fact is that this city has over 300 years of history and that's not going anywhere. That history defines this city. There will be new buildings, stores, restaurants, etc. but all of those things will be building on an existing foundation of historic structures, culture and more... not wiping it away. Some of those "new" things will eventually become old and as definitive of Boston as the Paul Revere House is today. The Citgo sign was once maligned for being an eyesore and a blight. When they tried to take it down a few years ago there was an outcry because it was considered a landmark now.
If you really can't tell the difference between Boston and Madrid, or Boston and Santiago, I feel sorry for you. You're certainly in the minority. I can't imagine going through life and not being able to see the characteristics that make things unique.
I think you're reading waaaay too much into my posts. I'm just saying that the modernization I see happening in Boston, I also see the exact same changes happening elsewhere and they're all starting to run together. Maybe I'm just getting old. Whatever the reason, my opinion is what it is and I'm entitled to it and it doesn't make me "self-centered". It means that I have a different perspective than you do because I'm a different kind of person. Maybe studying every detail of architecture just isn't my thing...I could probably play you four different types of House music and you couldn't tell me the difference between them. I could show you seven different Spanish dialects and you probably couldn't tell me the difference between them either...just because I don't study the uniqueness of buildings in the cities I live in and walk around trying to find the "feel" of the place doesn't make me some lifeless drone that is to be pitied. It just means that I have an indelible image in my mind of what Boston is to me and with the changes that are happening there compared to the changes I see in other places, it seems they're all becoming very similar. I don't understand why that has drawn you to these lengthy replies and evoked such a powerful response, but you're just going to have to let it go because I just don't get it.
I think you're reading waaaay too much into my posts. I'm just saying that the modernization I see happening in Boston, I also see the exact same changes happening elsewhere and they're all starting to run together. Maybe I'm just getting old. Whatever the reason, my opinion is what it is and I'm entitled to it and it doesn't make me "self-centered". It means that I have a different perspective than you do because I'm a different kind of person. Maybe studying every detail of architecture just isn't my thing...I could probably play you four different types of House music and you couldn't tell me the difference between them. I could show you seven different Spanish dialects and you probably couldn't tell me the difference between them either...just because I don't study the uniqueness of buildings in the cities I live in and walk around trying to find the "feel" of the place doesn't make me some lifeless drone that is to be pitied. It just means that I have an indelible image in my mind of what Boston is to me and with the changes that are happening there compared to the changes I see in other places, it seems they're all becoming very similar. I don't understand why that has drawn you to these lengthy replies and evoked such a powerful response, but you're just going to have to let it go because I just don't get it.
The reason why it has drawn me into these lengthy replies is because I can't fathom how someone can seriously say that Boston (or any city for that matter) looks just like every other city on Earth. You don't need to "study every architectural detail " to see differences. It's as simple as looking around you. A city isn't house music which you have to seek out. It's your environment... it's all around you all the time. You just have to have even a minuscule ability to observe things.. But on that same note, I don't study automobiles professionally or as a hobby, but I do know the difference between a red SUV and a blue sedan.
You're certainly entitled to your opinion, just as I am to mine. When we post on these forums, we open ourselves up to be challenged by others' opinions. I'll let it go because it's clear that the vast majority of people can still tell the difference between Boston and other cities (the OP is from Kansas City and he was able to tell the difference hence the reason for starting this thread in the first place). In fact, there's an entire segment of the economy (tourism) based on people being able to tell the difference between places.
Does Boston feel European. I was just on google maps and it seemed to me that the architecture and streetscape were heavily European influenced. For instance, Commonwealth Avenue. I understand that Boston really was the first big city settled by the Europeans, but it hasn't changed the way that New York, Philly, and even Providence.
Do you think it feels like Europe?
A lot moreso than Dallas, a lot less-so than Rome.
The reason why it has drawn me into these lengthy replies is because I can't fathom how someone can seriously say that Boston (or any city for that matter) looks just like every other city on Earth. You don't need to "study every architectural detail " to see differences. It's as simple as looking around you. A city isn't house music which you have to seek out. It's your environment... it's all around you all the time. You just have to have even a minuscule ability to observe things.. But on that same note, I don't study automobiles professionally or as a hobby, but I do know the difference between a red SUV and a blue sedan.
You're certainly entitled to your opinion, just as I am to mine. When we post on these forums, we open ourselves up to be challenged by others' opinions. I'll let it go because it's clear that the vast majority of people can still tell the difference between Boston and other cities (the OP is from Kansas City and he was able to tell the difference hence the reason for starting this thread in the first place). In fact, there's an entire segment of the economy (tourism) based on people being able to tell the difference between places.
I guess I just never put that much thought into it...Maybe if I was from someplace else and saw Boston as an outsider looking in and it didn't feel so "normal" to me (and then subsequently New York and Santiago feeling so similar as well), I might have a different opinion. I will give you that Atlanta "felt" MUCH different from all of the above though. To me, that city felt very unique and was an entirely different landscape than I'd ever lived in before.
I guess I just never put that much thought into it...Maybe if I was from someplace else and saw Boston as an outsider looking in and it didn't feel so "normal" to me (and then subsequently New York and Santiago feeling so similar as well), I might have a different opinion. I will give you that Atlanta "felt" MUCH different from all of the above though. To me, that city felt very unique and was an entirely different landscape than I'd ever lived in before.
waaaait so NYC, Sanitago, and Boston are all just generic modernized cities that look the same but Atlanta is different. It seems you're a little selective in what you chose to notice.
Not to mention that your general sentiment has been expressed by every old man that has ever lived. No doubt I will be bitching about how different Boston is when I'm your age in 2060. I'll grumble about how when I was a kid I would go to Jordan Marsh to see the Enchanted Village and the Sox couldn't win a WS and Southie and Charlestown were actually like how Hollywood likes to pretend they still are. kids these days don't know what real Boston is like. Grumblegrumblegrumble...
waaaait so NYC, Sanitago, and Boston are all just generic modernized cities that look the same but Atlanta is different. It seems you're a little selective in what you chose to notice.
Not to mention that your general sentiment has been expressed by every old man that has ever lived. No doubt I will be bitching about how different Boston is when I'm your age in 2060. I'll grumble about how when I was a kid I would go to Jordan Marsh to see the Enchanted Village and the Sox couldn't win a WS and Southie and Charlestown were actually like how Hollywood likes to pretend they still are. kids these days don't know what real Boston is like. Grumblegrumblegrumble...
I didn't say generic, I said very similar. It's the same general idea...a crowded and cramped city center surrounded by residential areas that all have their own little flavor and a sprawl out to the suburbs.
Atlanta, by comparison, is a huge sprawl in all directions with almost no identifiable neighborhoods and very little urban population. I find it ironic that you're faulting me for noticing the difference between Atlanta and Boston, but you're not willing to admit that New York and Boston are incredibly similar design-wise? Look at some pictures of Santiago Centro...there's very little to separate it aesthetically from Manhattan or Downtown Crossing.
And the more those three places modernize, they all seem to be following the same trends, so eventually there won't be that much difference between them at all. When they were first built, I'm sure they were made to look quite different because they were inspired by different cultures, but the way things are moving now, they're just made to follow modern trends and are therefore losing their individuality. I don't understand how that concept has sparked all this debate (or maybe I just didn't make myself clear, I don't know).
Compare and contrast:
Now, is that Boston? Sure looks like it could be, doesn't it? But...it's the intersection of Mac-Iver and Augustinas, in downtown Santiago.
Now go have a browse at some of the more modern developments that are going up in downtown Santiago, in NYC, in Boston, in every city on the globe. They're practically identical. As time goes on and the world becomes smaller, architectural trends start to bleed together and places start to lose their individuality. Please tell me what part of that statement is so horribly wrong that it's sparked three pages of debate.
RC1981, a question I have is whether Atlanta is the only Sun Belt/new-style/Southern/Western city you've been to. If it is, then for you Atlanta would certainly stand out from the older, densely built cities you're saying are all the same. However, if you don't pay very close attention to the details that give each city its own flavor, and instead focus only on a city's general layout, your description of Atlanta could just as easily fit Houston, Phoenix, or, on a larger scale, even Los Angeles.
I don't want to read too much into a few posts, but the fact that you describe Atlanta as having hardly any identifiable neighborhoods leads me to infer that maybe you really don't look too closely at each city's distinctive details, as Atlanta does have plenty of neighborhoods with their own individual looks, as any longtime Atlantan would be able to point out.
If you look mainly at a city's general layout, not the details so much, it's certainly true that you're unlikely to notice much of a difference between cities, because most or all cities really fit pretty well into one or another of a very few basic models: old, densely built cities that had most of their growth before the explosion of automobile-based suburbia; sprawling cities that have had much of their growth during the auto-suburbia era; and maybe a hybrid of the two, in the case of some cities that were already large, or at least solidly mid-sized, cities prior to the post-WWII expansion of auto-based suburbia, so they have a concentrated and densely built inner core, and have also had significant growth in recent decades, resulting in an abrupt shift into a largely suburban character right outside that old central core, even while still within the city limits. (Columbus comes to mind as an example of this mixed model.) Few if any cities will fall outside any of these three models in their basic layouts, but it's in the details that you'll find each city's distinctive character.
Last edited by ogre; 07-15-2011 at 12:21 AM..
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