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I like a number of the suggestions so far. For one example, the Madrid (7 million people) versus Barcelona (6 million people) suggestion is certainly a contender here. Their size range is nearly in the same ballpark and the two cities compete against one another to be Spain's premier city by culture, tourism, economy, social influence, image and brand awareness, sports, among many other factors.
However, I can't help but notice that some of you didn't really grasp what I am looking for in this thread. For example, the people that have said Los Angeles (18.7 million people) versus San Francisco (8.7 million people) should probably take that rivalry to this thread:
This is not to suggest those cities aren't rivals, they absolutely are, but they don't fit the mold of what I am looking for here. As that thread I just linked would be more appropriate for the above pair of Los Angeles and San Francisco. Especially given that Los Angeles is well more than 2X the San Francisco Bay Area's size, they are not similarly sized at all and are not of similar caliber (one of them is much more important than the other), which is essentially what I am looking for here. Had they been similarly sized, they'd be a candidate pair for this thread but one place is just far larger than the other and that size difference makes it more of a one-way rivalry than a legitimate two-way rivalry, can't ignore that.
My thread is for places that are around the same size and around the same caliber as cities and I also think many folks may be fixating on sports way too much, yes, that's one component of a rivalry but not as big of a deal as other things IMO. I'm looking for much deeper links to a rivalry than just sports. If it was just all about sports and cities of any size then I suppose Green Bay is a rival for Chicago given that the Packers and Bears hate each other. In reality Green Bay is a metropolitan area of 350,000 people and Chicago is a place of nearly 10 million people, just about the only thing these places have a rivalry on is "sports" because that's all Green Bay can offer to Chicago in the way of a rival.
I'm looking for two-way rivalries, meaning places around the same size (by population of the metropolitan region) and around the same level of strength that compete with one another on matters such as (but not limited to) history, economics, social influence, political influence, logistics, trade, geopolitics, wealth, so on and so forth.
For example, while it isn't a "fierce" rivalry given that the two city-states are so many hundreds of miles apart from one another and people don't give the other place much thought on a day-to-day basis (on the basis that people aren't waiting to "stick it" to the other city), Hong Kong and Singapore are similarly sized and of similar caliber to one another and their rivalry stems from the two cities competing against one another for resources, capital investment, and to prove which of their city development models are more successful. At the end of the day, while people in Hong Kong and Singapore don't think of one another daily, they are aware of the other place's achievements and stature and from a societal point-of-view, they do try to match and exceed their stated rival in those aspects.
My apologies if my post comes off as rather harsh or rude, that is not my intention, but yes, just rephrasing what this thread is for and what I am looking for here.
Well, to be fair to those of us who used those two metros, first it wasn't just about sports. I though I made that clear after I mentioned it was just one component. Secondly, those of us who live in CA know that BOTH are of equal importance. However, since they are not of size, I guess they are disqualified but the rest of your assessment is a bit off.
Well, to be fair to those of us who used those two metros, first it wasn't just about sports.
You are going off of the premise that I was referring to you with regard to the sports comment, I wasn't. This thread is fairly contained, only 24 posts, if you read it you will see that you are not the only person that mentioned sports. I actually had in mind the poster that was talking about sports rivalries with regard to the national football/soccer or cricket teams. I just wanted to point out that there are several other ways in which a rivalry can exist and some of those ways reflect more proportionate and even competition than sports - "sports" largely being a type of rivalry that any city can have with any other city, of any size.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gentoo
However, since they are not of size, I guess they are disqualified but the rest of your assessment is a bit off.
Right, they don't really qualify for this thread. The pair of cities have to have metropolitan areas that are "around" the same size, hence why this thread is for actual two-way evenly matched or close to evenly matched rivalries. That is the focal criteria point of this comparison. In this case scenario, one place (Los Angeles) is more than twice as large as the other (San Francisco). Therefore not qualifying.
Also, how is the rest of my assessment off? I only talked about how sports isn't a good gauge of two-way rivalries by citing Chicago and Green Bay and then illustrated a real two-way rivalry by similarly sized Singapore and Hong Kong, off of economic relations and logistics. I also feel I am qualified to speak on those since Singapore is my hometown and Chicago is where I grew up.
If you're just referring to what I said about Los Angeles and San Francisco then all I really said was that one of them is more than 2X the size, thus not qualifying for comparison here and that one of them is more important than the other. Which is debatable but most outside of California view Los Angeles as the much more important one. It has the larger GDP by nominal, real, and PPP. It has the larger accumulated TPI, the larger seaport, the larger air hub, the larger immigrant center, more worldwide name recognition, the larger tourist center, the hub of more freight activity, larger merchandise exports, more cultural significance, and finally it also has well more than 2X the population. I understand Silicon Valley is very important and that the Bay Area's economy is wholly diverse and rather large itself, but it is not on the same scale as Greater Los Angeles. Those are the facts.
Last edited by Trafalgar Law; 06-15-2017 at 04:24 PM..
Los Angeles vs San Francisco (more specifically Southern California vs the Bay Area)
San Francisco vs Seattle (tech center rivalry and in sports)
Los Angeles vs Seattle
Los Angeles vs Phoenix
NYC vs Chicago
NYC vs Boston (definitely in sports)
NYC vs Los Angeles
NYC vs Philly
New York vs Miami
Detroit vs Chicago
Denver vs Kansas City
Dallas vs Houston
This is just a short list. I believe there will be more city-to-city rivalries as MLS (soccer) continues to expand into different cities creating different rivalries like in europe such as barcelona vs madrid which is a very big rivalry. Most of the ones I have are mostly from professional sports (NBA, MLB, NFL) and professionals moving back and forth between these cities for career growth and opportunities.
Maybe people don't realize, Shenzhen is fiercely competing with Hong Kong across the river. Supposed to surpass it in GDP next year.
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