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I'm going to Vancouver again in June so i'll be in a better position to comment more then because i'll have a fresh take on the city again. In the meantime my hunch even without having visited Dallas is that Vancouver is more my kind of city. I like the density of the urban core. It blends decent urbanity with fantastic nature options right on that urban footstep oh so well.
I guess it depends where you are but I'd say in many circles these days there is a lot of fetishizing of diversity going on.
I don't happen to see it as an essential, vital good thing. More like a preference.
Hmm I don't really feel you with this. I think there are people who actually enjoy a diverse environment and feel at ease in such environs. In my case I grew up with that from a wee age - practically all my friends from childhood to College (I went to a snow white College in Barrie - total shock!) are from many parts of the world. It is all I've ever known so any notion of fetishizing it would be as bizarre to me as someone who grows up in a strong/monotonous native culture being accused of fetishizing their local culture. I don't think either side should be so judgmental.
Hmm I don't really feel you with this. I think there are people who actually enjoy a diverse environment and feel at ease in such environs. In my case I grew up with that from a wee age - practically all my friends from childhood to College (I went to a snow white College in Barrie - total shock!) are from many parts of the world. It is all I've ever known so any notion of fetishizing it would be as bizarre to me as someone who grows up in a strong/monotonous native culture being accused of fetishizing their local culture. I don't think either side should be so judgmental.
Well, I didn't have you in mind. You don't seem obsessed with it, and simply express your preference when the topic is raised. Or correct dumb people who make silly comments like "Toronto isn't diverse as El Paso because it doesn't have enough Hispanics..."
But I do find that many Canadians and even a lot of Americans (coastal and big city people mostly) seem to be fairly obsessed with diversity as an essential characteristic for being a "good city". Which is kind of weird because a very non-diverse city like Quebec City is arguably a better city (lover's city) than the reasonably diverse Winnipeg, on most metrics. In the U.S. there is no shortage of crappy diverse cities and lots of non-diverse cities are actually pretty good.
Anyway, diversity in and of itself just seems like an odd thing to me to be gushing with pride about. *Functional, harmonious diversity*... maybe that makes a bit more sense as a point of pride.
Well, I didn't have you in mind. You don't seem obsessed with it, and simply express your preference when the topic is raised. Or correct dumb people who make silly comments like "Toronto isn't diverse as El Paso because it doesn't have enough Hispanics..."
But I do find that many Canadians and even a lot of Americans (coastal and big city people mostly) seem to be fairly obsessed with diversity as an essential characteristic for being a "good city". Which is kind of weird because a very non-diverse city like Quebec City is arguably a better city (lover's city) than the reasonably diverse Winnipeg, on most metrics. In the U.S. there is no shortage of crappy diverse cities and lots of non-diverse cities are actually pretty good.
Anyway, diversity in and of itself just seems like an odd thing to me to be gushing with pride about. *Functional, harmonious diversity*... maybe that makes a bit more sense as a point of pride
Thanks for elaborating on this. Interesting thing I observed when I first entered C/D in the C v C forum was that diversity to some Americans is different how we look at it in Canada. They looked at racial diversity ie White/Black/Hispanic diversity as sort of the ultimate expression of diversity. We tend to look at it more from a cultural and ethnic perspective. Toronto likes to say it has over 140 different mother tongues as a way to express how diverse it is. Not so much we have 30 percent Asian, 50 percent White 10 percent black and 10 percent other.
I will certainly agree with your sentiment that diversity doesn't have to be highly prevalent for a city to be great. Some of the finest cities in the world actually have a pretty strong and monotonous local character/culture. I was just in Bangkok and even though it is a very touristic city and has a strong expat community - I wouldn't say it is exactly diverse (Kuala Lumpur is more so) though BKK is probably my favourite city in the world. So I agree with you, diversity is not an essential ingredient for great cities. I think there are great diverse cities and great not so diverse cities and vice versa. It really is as simple as that.
Well, I didn't have you in mind. You don't seem obsessed with it, and simply express your preference when the topic is raised. Or correct dumb people who make silly comments like "Toronto isn't diverse as El Paso because it doesn't have enough Hispanics..."
But I do find that many Canadians and even a lot of Americans (coastal and big city people mostly) seem to be fairly obsessed with diversity as an essential characteristic for being a "good city". Which is kind of weird because a very non-diverse city like Quebec City is arguably a better city (lover's city) than the reasonably diverse Winnipeg, on most metrics. In the U.S. there is no shortage of crappy diverse cities and lots of non-diverse cities are actually pretty good.
Anyway, diversity in and of itself just seems like an odd thing to me to be gushing with pride about. *Functional, harmonious diversity*... maybe that makes a bit more sense as a point of pride.
Probably because historically that is where the most diversity exists.
I don't find it weird at all, especially when you have grown up in it. I could not live in a place that wasn't diverse. I'd be bored to tears after a while.
As you pointed out though, it's really " Functional harmonious diversity " that Canadians are proud of and mean when they say diversity. So perhaps it's just the term, since saying " diversity" is so much easier than " functionals harmonious diversity " which sounds like a night school course.
I think we do that pretty well, so why not be proud of that?
Hmm I don't really feel you with this. I think there are people who actually enjoy a diverse environment and feel at ease in such environs. In my case I grew up with that from a wee age - practically all my friends from childhood to College (I went to a snow white College in Barrie - total shock!) are from many parts of the world. It is all I've ever known so any notion of fetishizing it would be as bizarre to me as someone who grows up in a strong/monotonous native culture being accused of fetishizing their local culture. I don't think either side should be so judgmental.
Me as well.
I grew up with Italians, French Canadians, Polish, German, Russian, Greeks, Chinese, Japanese, Hungarians, and others. All speaking their native tongues and broken english.
So why is this good? Well, as you will probably agree, it prepared me a little bit better for the world. My world was perhaps bigger than someone growing up in a small town with no diversity. As a child I heard stories from the father of my friend who were Polish, about concentration camps. I ate real Italian, Chinese etc food in the homes of these people. I saw bits of their culture daily.
When I travelled, I was already familiar with some of the food, and the languages, although not understood always, didn't sound so odd to me.
It made me learn that different doesn't always mean bad.
I don't think I'm fetishizing it, it's just a fact.
I just have an issue with the notion that cities that are very diverse (and their populations) are somehow more virtuous simply because of this fact.
Most diverse cities didn't choose to become diverse. That decision is generally made by some higher authority or sometimes it's even just happenstance. They're diverse just because they *are*, not because they chose to be so.
It's akin to the comments you sometimes hear about people in oil-rich regions (Texas, Alberta, Santa Cruz in Bolivia, etc.) being harder-working (and therefore more virtuous), all of which allegedly explains their generally high levels of prosperity relative to other regions.
Well, I didn't have you in mind. You don't seem obsessed with it, and simply express your preference when the topic is raised. Or correct dumb people who make silly comments like "Toronto isn't diverse as El Paso because it doesn't have enough Hispanics..."
But I do find that many Canadians and even a lot of Americans (coastal and big city people mostly) seem to be fairly obsessed with diversity as an essential characteristic for being a "good city". Which is kind of weird because a very non-diverse city like Quebec City is arguably a better city (lover's city) than the reasonably diverse Winnipeg, on most metrics. In the U.S. there is no shortage of crappy diverse cities and lots of non-diverse cities are actually pretty good.
Anyway, diversity in and of itself just seems like an odd thing to me to be gushing with pride about. *Functional, harmonious diversity*... maybe that makes a bit more sense as a point of pride.
Diversity sounds so much sexier than a lot of white people who get along.
I just have an issue with the notion that cities that are very diverse (and their populations) are somehow more virtuous simply because of this fact.
Most diverse cities didn't choose to become diverse. That decision is generally made by some higher authority or sometimes it's even just happenstance. They're diverse just because they *are*, not because they chose to be so.
It's akin to the comments you sometimes hear about people in oil-rich regions (Texas, Alberta, Santa Cruz in Bolivia, etc.) being harder-working (and therefore more virtuous), all of which allegedly explains their generally high levels of prosperity relative to other regions.
It's you who is seeing this as virtuous. Interesting
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