What is America's "Fourth" City? (place, Los Angeles, life)

[TheCity]

Originally Posted by theoneandonlyLA

We're all aware of the United States' Alpha global cities: New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago (although Chicago is somewhat debatable, but shall be included notwithstanding this). The question is, what is America's fourth city? Is there one that is on par, or close to being on par, with the other three previously mentioned centers? Is there a city that has reached both national and international prominence in the same way that these cities have, such that it can be included among these? What say you?

Chicago is a world class city without a doubt. LA places third behind Chicago.

How does Houston have 5 votes? Above DC and SF? Must be a joke.

[st. louie louie]

Washington DC
No other city on the list has the international clout that comes out of DC.
SF would be #5

[kidphilly]

Well in terms of number 4; honestly the top 4 are NYC, LA, Chicago, and DC (some arguments can be made to place them in various orders (esp 3 and 4) but they are the top 4 and DC because of the political clout trumps larger cities.

After that I would say SF or Philly or Boston in the next tier (all could be argued for spots 5 - 7)

next are the Big boys of the Sunbelt (and I know I will take heat on this) though they are developing and are either very close to the SF/Philly/Bos tier as it stands today and could very well pass them. As I watch these I am curious to see if any single of these can differentiate itself from the others; they are very compelling yet no single one has exceled past the others significantly. Miami is also the wild card; but likely slightly behind the other Sunbelts.


So to me it goes like this:

1 NYC
2 LA
3 CHI/DC

5 Bos/Philly/SF

8 ATL/DFW/HOU

I think everyone would agree on the top ten

5-10 all have good arguments to be in any of those places and would really depend the specific criteria being assessed

[johnatl]

D.c.

[theoneandonlyLA]

Originally Posted by downtown1

Only New York & Chicago are alpha cities. LA is now a beta city according to GaWC world rankings.

Sorry to disappoint you, but you're wrong. LA is classified an Alpha city according to GaWC. I don't know where you retrieved your information, but here you go:

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/world2008c.html

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/world2008t.html

[TheCity]

Originally Posted by theoneandonlyLA

Sorry to disappoint you, but you're wrong. LA is classified an Alpha city according to GaWC. I don't know where you retrieved your information, but here you go:

GaWC - The World According to GaWC 2008 and GaWC - The World According to GaWC 2008

LA is a world class city. But, LA is still a tier below Chicago.

[theoneandonlyLA]

Originally Posted by TheCity

Chicago is a world class city without a doubt. LA places third behind Chicago.

How does Houston have 5 votes? Above DC and SF? Must be a joke.

Chicago's place is debatable, and LA in no way places third behind Chicago. We'll just have to agree to disagree on that one.

Anyway, I can see why people are voting for Houston. Houston is the principal city on the Gulf Coast, and so it dominates there. NYC = East Coast, LA = West Coast, Chicago = Great Lakes. It would make sense to include the largest city on our Southern coast.

[tmac9wr]

Originally Posted by theoneandonlyLA

Sorry to disappoint you, but you're wrong. LA is classified an Alpha city according to GaWC. I don't know where you retrieved your information, but here you go:

GaWC - The World According to GaWC 2008 and GaWC - The World According to GaWC 2008

I'm pretty sure LA was demoted to a Beta+ in 2009.

Anyway, I accidentally voted for SF but totally forgot about Washington DC. I personally would rank the cities as follows (in terms of importance)...

4. Washington DC (I would actually rank it higher, but out of the options listed)
5. San Francisco
6. Boston
7. Houston
8. Philadelphia
9. DFW/Atlanta

[TheCity]

Originally Posted by theoneandonlyLA

Chicago's place is debatable, and LA in no way places third behind Chicago. We'll just have to agree to disagree on that one.

Anyway, I can see why people are voting for Houston. Houston is the principal city on the Gulf Coast, and so it dominates there. NYC = East Coast, LA = West Coast, Chicago = Great Lakes. It would make sense to include the largest city on our Southern coast.

You just posted a link, which proved LA was below Chicago.

* FYI, I am talking strictly importance, which is what GaWC rankings are from too.

[kidphilly]

Originally Posted by theoneandonlyLA

Chicago's place is debatable, and LA in no way places third behind Chicago. We'll just have to agree to disagree on that one.

Anyway, I can see why people are voting for Houston. Houston is the principal city on the Gulf Coast, and so it dominates there. NYC = East Coast, LA = West Coast, Chicago = Great Lakes. It would make sense to include the largest city on our Southern coast.

Honestly there is no city after NY, LA and Chi that comes close to DC in relevance regardless of where it is located

I think most people would percieve DFW a little ahead of houston let alone in the 4th slot - the battle of 5 -10 is pretty close between a lot of areas

Interestingly the Sunbelt area has 3 cities that are all very close and no single one seperates from the pack