Battle of "number two" US cities: LA, Chicago, SF, DC, Houston or Boston? (quality, live)
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But I think when looking at economic importance, this ranking below doesnt leave any room for subjectivity.
According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, US Dept of Commerce
Released September 25, 2008
Combined Statistical Area/ Total Gross Product($150B+)
New York-Newark-Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA $1.284 Trillion
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA $825.3 Billion
Washington-Baltimore-Hagerstown, DC-MD-VA-WV $500.0 Billion
Chicago-Naperville-Michigan City, IL-IN-WI $490.9 Billion
San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA $475.5 Billion
Boston-Worcester-Manchester, MA-RI-NH $383.8 Billion
Houston-Baytown-Huntsville, TX $344.5 Billion
Dallas-Ft Worth, TX $341.5 Billion
Philadelphia-Camden-Vineland, PA-NJ-DE-MD $330.0 Billion
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Gainesville, GA-AL $262.6 Billion
Miami-Ft Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL $248.0 Billion
Detroit-Warren-Flint, MI $233.0 Billion
Seattle-Tacoma-Olympia, WA $217.9 Billion
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ $179.4 Billion
Minneapolis-St Paul-St Cloud, MN-WI $186.7 Billion
Denver-Aurora-Boulder, CO $162.3 Billion
San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA $157.8 Billion
London's economy is half the size (maybe not even) of Tokyo's economy, does that make London less important than Tokyo? Absolutely not. Same principle with Los Angeles and Chicago.
Chicago Loop is the nation's 2nd largest financial district with 120+ million square feet of office, only Midtown exceeds it. And yes, the Loop is growing as well.
Chicago is a larger trading center than Los Angeles (in terms of trading volume and contracts agreed daily).
Unlike Chicago, Los Angeles lacks a powerful financial institution. Chicago has CME...the "largest trading pit known to man".
Chicago is a busier intermodular port than LA.
Besides...why are you talking about single industry? Chicago has a more diverse economy than Los Angeles.
Yes, as far as office locations of certain law firms, banks, insurance companies and accounting firms, Chicago is an Alpha City. Congratulations. Im so Proud.
America has 2 alpha cities- New York & Chicago. That's something you should be proud of.
Really??
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Yes, just as Frankfurt and Singapore are important financial centers, so Chicago is.
But outside of the realm of finance and economics, Chicago, like Frankfurt and Singapore, take a huge, enormous back seat to Los Angeles.
London's economy is half the size (maybe not even) of Tokyo's economy, does that make London less important than Tokyo?
Actually this is a perfect example. London does not hinge all of its importance or contribution to the world based on finance and business. London is a cultural as well. Tokyo though larger economically, is not really as relevant to the world outside of its economics.
Likewise, Chicago may have more clout in business, but as far as everything else, Los Angeles is just a cut above.
Chicago is no slouch, but LA is just a bigger player.
Hence this beautiful classification:
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THE WORLD'S MOST WELL ROUNDED CITIES by GaWC released in 2004
Five levels of global city are identified. First, and clearly above all others, there are London and New York. All previous research has highlighted the dominance of these two cities in the world city hierarchy (Taylor 2004a) and they emerge here as the most important 'all-round' global contributors. They are followed by three cities that make smaller all-round contribution and with particular cultural strengths: Los Angeles, Paris and San Francisco. Finally, among 'all-rounders' there are seven incipient world cities identified in Table 11. In the second category of global niche cities, the three leading Pacific Asian cities are critical economic nodes in the world city network and there are also three critical nodes that are non-economic: Brussels, Geneva and Washington, DC. Thus a total of 18 cities are deemed to be global, actual or incipient.
The remaining world cities encompass articulator and niche cities. The former are focussed upon subnets and there are 13 distributed between the three non-economic spheres. Classic examples are Vienna at the centre of a UN agency subnet and Nairobi at the centre of a NGO subnet. There are 21niche world cities identified of which seven have important concentrations of economic activities and 14 concentrations of non-economic activities. Frankfurt is typical of the first group with its concentration of banks while Manila is typical of the second group with its concentration of NGOs.
These two sets of cities represent the upper echelons of the hierarchical tendencies in world city networks. To reiterate a point made in the introduction, they do not encompass all globalization processes, all cities as so involved, but they are the key locales that network formation agents are using in their everyday activities that are creating world city networks.
GLOBAL CITIES
Well rounded global Very large contribution: London and New York Smaller contribution and with cultural bias: Los Angeles, Paris and San Francisco
ii Incipient global cities: Amsterdam, Boston, Chicago, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, Toronto
Global niche cities - specialised global contributions
i Economic: Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo
ii Political and social: Brussels, Geneva, and Washington
WORLD CITIES
Subnet articulator cities
i Cultural: Berlin, Copenhagen, Melbourne, Munich, Oslo, Rome, Stockholm Political: Bangkok, Beijing, Vienna
ii Social: Manila, Nairobi, Ottawa
Worldwide leading cities
i Primarily economic global contributions: Frankfurt, Miami, Munich, Osaka, Singapore, Sydney, Zurich
ii Primarily non-economic global contributions: Abidjan, Addis Ababa, Atlanta, Basle, Barcelona, Cairo, Denver, Harare, Lyon, Manila, Mexico City, Mumbai, New Delhi, Shanghai
Essentially this update says that the most well rounded cities in the world-meaning they have significant economic, cultural and political impact, are:
London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Boston, Chicago, Madrid, Milan, Moscow & Toronto.
See, we all win.
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Chicago Loop is the nation's 2nd largest financial district with 120+ million square feet of office, only Midtown exceeds it. And yes, the Loop is growing as well.
Yet LA still has a larger economy.
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Unlike Chicago, Los Angeles lacks a powerful financial institution. Chicago has CME...the "largest trading pit known to man".
Yet its LAs media outlets that are beamed across the world to billions of people.
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Chicago has a more diverse economy than Los Angeles.
Yes and LA has 5 Million Foreign Born Residents. Chicago has 1.6 Million.
You see, there are lots of criteria we can talk about.
Actually this is a perfect example. London does not hinge all of its importance or contribution to the world based on finance and business. London is a cultural as well. Tokyo though larger economically, is not really as relevant to the world outside of its economics.
I guess a guy from Oakland is smarter than many world-renowned scholars who helped Mastercard to come up with that study.
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Originally Posted by 18Montclair
Irrational is pretending that the number of 5-star hotel rooms is more important than an $800 Billion economy.
Sorry, it doesnt wash.
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