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Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,060,466 times
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Wow I had no idea HK/Paris had such a high foreign born contingent!
I guess this thread is proving quite educational!
How anyone can argue Sao Paulo is in the top 10 most international is beyond me.
Huge doesn't equal globally international. I'm sure it's a nice city, but South America is probably the most forgotten of all continents. For a start, just how many people have even been to SP?
When I think 'international' city I think of a city where policies are decided for the entire world.
Without a doubt, for the USA, that is NYC and DC. No cities in the usa even come close. NYC for example is a major financie/banking hub as well as the seat of the UN. DC is the seat of the country's government, fed, just about every imaginable embassy/think tank.
After that I think Miami is without a doubt #3. It influences only latin america as a media/banking/finance hub for latin america. because it's only limited to latin america it can't be even mentioned in the same sentence as NYC and DC but then I don't think any other us city is even close to Miami.
What's left? A lot of people brought up LA/Bay area/Chicago (well maybe some people will bring up chicago). None of those cities seem to really determine anything for the rest of the world. Sure they export some products (the bay area does all those gadgets) which are very sought after, they attract immigrants from all over the world because of their climate/jobs/hype and they can be transportation hubs BUT what else?
For the rest of the world I would London/Tokyo/Brussels (seat of EU)/HK get to be mentioned in the same tier as NYC/DC.
Paris/Toronto/Sydney/Shanghai/Singapore get to be mentioned in the same tier as miami or maybe half a category infront of Miami.
Wow I had no idea HK/Paris had such a high foreign born contingent!
Don't know if anyone cares but most of the foreign-born in Hong Kong are certainly people who moved there from China either before or after the handover.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,060,466 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack
Don't know if anyone cares but most of the foreign-born in Hong Kong are certainly people who moved there from China either before or after the handover.
That's true. I was expecting to see a lot more non-Chinese people who aren't tourists (i.e. expats or long-time locals) but it seems that HK's native population is at least 80% Chinese by my estimates. There are sizable populations of Europeans, Australians, Americans, Indians.etc though.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,060,466 times
Reputation: 11862
Quote:
Originally Posted by PosterExtraordinaire
When I think 'international' city I think of a city where policies are decided for the entire world.
Without a doubt, for the USA, that is NYC and DC. No cities in the usa even come close. NYC for example is a major financie/banking hub as well as the seat of the UN. DC is the seat of the country's government, fed, just about every imaginable embassy/think tank.
After that I think Miami is without a doubt #3. It influences only latin america as a media/banking/finance hub for latin america. because it's only limited to latin america it can't be even mentioned in the same sentence as NYC and DC but then I don't think any other us city is even close to Miami.
What's left? A lot of people brought up LA/Bay area/Chicago (well maybe some people will bring up chicago). None of those cities seem to really determine anything for the rest of the world. Sure they export some products (the bay area does all those gadgets) which are very sought after, they attract immigrants from all over the world because of their climate/jobs/hype and they can be transportation hubs BUT what else?
For the rest of the world I would London/Tokyo/Brussels (seat of EU)/HK get to be mentioned in the same tier as NYC/DC.
Paris/Toronto/Sydney/Shanghai/Singapore get to be mentioned in the same tier as miami or maybe half a category infront of Miami.
I think SF is more international in a real sense than DC, and Miami too. Sure, DC has the political clout, but the Bay Area (which is more what i talk about when I mention SF. So I should mention SF/SJ/Bay area) has the IT, which arguably have had an even bigger impact on the world. Also, SF itself seems far more global while DC still feels very American so I'll go SF as more global than DC or Chicago.
I think SF is more international in a real sense than DC, and Miami too. Sure, DC has the political clout, but the Bay Area (which is more what i talk about when I mention SF. So I should mention SF/SJ/Bay area) has the IT, which arguably have had an even bigger impact on the world. Also, SF itself seems far more global while DC still feels very American so I'll go SF as more global than DC or Chicago.
in a real sense no. When you say 'international i get a vague sense you mean a lot of foreign immigrants, a lot of media hype, and a strong economy. To me all that spells is that the city is famous, diverse, and rich.
An international city is a city where a lot of businessmen, politicians, bankers, diplomats live, jet to and between and decide actions that effect the rest of the world. Decisions are made in dc/nyc that effect if there will be a war, if the global economy contracts or not, etc. Nothing of that importance gets decided in SF/bay area or LA or Chi. Nor are these places on the short list of places the politicos fly to and between. No where NEAR DC and NYC. That DC feels very american is not important to this discussion, it doesn't have the immigrant diversity of SF (especially within the city, the suburbs are actually more diverse) but its impact is far more international than SF/Bay.
As to MIA, everything I said about NYC/DC applies to MIA except substitute the world for latin america. you actually need to know spanish (in addition to english) to climb the corporate ladder in MIA. Hell, you'll probably get farther in MIA knowing JUST spanish than JUST english. No other us city can claim that.
And there are plenty of other cities that export globally influential products. Atlanta exports CNN/Coca Cola. Detroit: automobiles. Seattle: Amazon and Microsoft.
in a real sense no. When you say 'international i get a vague sense you mean a lot of foreign immigrants, a lot of media hype, and a strong economy. To me all that spells is that the city is famous, diverse, and rich.
An international city is a city where a lot of businessmen, politicians, bankers, diplomats live, jet to and between and decide actions that effect the rest of the world. Decisions are made in dc/nyc that effect if there will be a war, if the global economy contracts or not, etc. Nothing of that importance gets decided in SF/bay area or LA or Chi. Nor are these places on the short list of places the politicos fly to and between. No where NEAR DC and NYC. That DC feels very american is not important to this discussion, it doesn't have the immigrant diversity of SF (especially within the city, the suburbs are actually more diverse) but its impact is far more international than SF/Bay.
As to MIA, everything I said about NYC/DC applies to MIA except substitute the world for latin america. you actually need to know spanish (in addition to english) to climb the corporate ladder in MIA. Hell, you'll probably get farther in MIA knowing JUST spanish than JUST english. No other us city can claim that.
And there are plenty of other cities that export globally influential products. Atlanta exports CNN/Coca Cola. Detroit: automobiles. Seattle: Amazon and Microsoft.
In a real sense, the Bay Area isn't just a single industry, but a sort of business ecosystem that has created or attracted those able to create massive infrastructural changes to almost every field in ways that most people don't comprehend, but actively make use of every day.
Wow I had no idea HK/Paris had such a high foreign born contingent!
I guess this thread is proving quite educational!
How anyone can argue Sao Paulo is in the top 10 most international is beyond me.
Huge doesn't equal globally international. I'm sure it's a nice city, but South America is probably the most forgotten of all continents. For a start, just how many people have even been to SP?
Forgotten by who? There are a good deal of European visitors to Brazil and the East Asian population has been growing steadily (after already having the largest Japanese population outside of Japan -- almost all of that population located in Sao Paul). When it comes to ethnic diversity, Sao Paulo has almost any city beat--though a lot of that diversity is in second and third generation descendants. They've kept the ethnic enclaves and many of their traditions and customs (including food).
However, there's still a good deal of immigrants to Sao Paulo due to the poverty of nearby countries (such as Bolivia), the economic opportunity that comes from a booming economy, and established ethnic enclaves that give immigrants a foothold in adjusting to a new country. Then there's the unprecedented amount of returning Brazilians (including those who had never seen Brazil) over the last several years as opportunities opened up at home and the recession tanked abroad. There are also the many international corporations that wish to do business in Brazil and set up their regional headquarters in Sao Paulo.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,060,466 times
Reputation: 11862
Quote:
Originally Posted by OyCrumbler
Forgotten by who? There are a good deal of European visitors to Brazil and the East Asian population has been growing steadily (after already having the largest Japanese population outside of Japan -- almost all of that population located in Sao Paul). When it comes to ethnic diversity, Sao Paulo has almost any city beat--though a lot of that diversity is in second and third generation descendants. They've kept the ethnic enclaves and many of their traditions and customs (including food).
However, there's still a good deal of immigrants to Sao Paulo due to the poverty of nearby countries (such as Bolivia), the economic opportunity that comes from a booming economy, and established ethnic enclaves that give immigrants a foothold in adjusting to a new country. Then there's the unprecedented amount of returning Brazilians (including those who had never seen Brazil) over the last several years as opportunities opened up at home and the recession tanked abroad. There are also the many international corporations that wish to do business in Brazil and set up their regional headquarters in Sao Paulo.
Sao Paulo might be more international than I give it credit for it, but there are many cities around the world which I would put above it. As Brazil's economy becomes more important this might change.
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