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All in all, Europe is Europe, the US and is the US
Actually, Europe is not Europe. Swedish cities and Italian cities, for example, are very different.
For that matter, the US is not the US. I have a hard time saying that say Baltimore, MD and Scottsdale, AZ are within a recognizably American scheme of urban planning and architecture.
There are European cities dominated by low density sprawl, and compact, American cities.
The one platitude you can make is that American cities more often have a downtown characterized by tall buildings or even skyscrapers. A phenomenon not absent, but not characteristic of most cities in Europe.
To address the OP's question, I would say that you can't often generalize about major cities based on their countries. For example, New York City and London have more in common with each other than they do with the countries they are in. I could say the same about San Francisco and Melbourne, or Seattle and Oslo (despite the differences in scale).
You know in a lot of cities in Europe the suburbs are actually bad parts of town and the "city" is where the affluent live and play. It's the exact opposite in the US.
I wonder where that myth comes from? The banlieues of Paris? I can't think of many cities in Europe with deprived suburbs. Yes, oftentimes the city centers are very expensive and desirable places to live, but many many middle-class Europeans (and also quite a few upper-class people) live a happy, safe suburban life with more or less the same benefits and drawbacks as American suburbanites. The only major difference I can think of is that most suburbs in Europe are cities in their own right and have a more developed infrastructure (i.e. walkable core, stores...) than their American counterparts.
Even Paris has middle-class and upper-class suburbs.
Actually, Europe is not Europe. Swedish cities and Italian cities, for example, are very different.
For that matter, the US is not the US. I have a hard time saying that say Baltimore, MD and Scottsdale, AZ are within a recognizably American scheme of urban planning and architecture.
There are European cities dominated by low density sprawl, and compact, American cities.
The one platitude you can make is that American cities more often have a downtown characterized by tall buildings or even skyscrapers. A phenomenon not absent, but not characteristic of most cities in Europe.
To address the OP's question, I would say that you can't often generalize about major cities based on their countries. For example, New York City and London have more in common with each other than they do with the countries they are in. I could say the same about San Francisco and Melbourne, or Seattle and Oslo (despite the differences in scale).
Very good post. Haven't been to Europe yet myself but I can't imagine all European cities being similar enough to directly compare to one another. Just look at San Francisco and Los Angeles, they are about as different as two American cities can be.
Very good post. Haven't been to Europe yet myself but I can't imagine all European cities being similar enough to directly compare to one another. Just look at San Francisco and Los Angeles, they are about as different as two American cities can be.
Although their outer regions share some things in common .
Although their outer regions share some things in common .
Forgive me, I don't do the CD thing of using city and metro interchangeably as these are also different between the two. LA has "suburbs" that are still within the city of Los Angeles. San Francisco is it's own county and all outlying areas are in different counties and in many cases can be considered suburbs of San Jose or Oakland.
Aside from NY and a few old cities with "gentrified" downtowns that were subject to rigurous urban planning (removing winos, disadvantaged minorities and poor whites), the rest of American cities do not bear any resemblance at all.
Many American cities are the size of some European countries.
The main difference is the use of space..the infinite frontier...and the fact than in Europe there are no segments of the population confined in ghettos, very dangerous ghettos.
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