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Sydney and Melbourne are remarkably similar in built form and Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth are nothing special.
“The two big cities of Australia are tonally as distinct from each other as Boston is from L.A. or Lyon from Marseilles.”
- Helen Garner, Australian writer
Sydney and Melbourne look nothing alike. Even the light feels different. Geographically they're not remotely alike. Yes, they have beaches. So what. So does LA and so does NYC. Does this mean they're similar to?
I was surprised how pretty and laid back Fremantle felt in a city like Perth. It had a bohemian/European vibe. Then you go to somewhere like Brisbane and it’s super tropical and green, down on the Gold Coast with the endless beaches and skyscrapers. Sydney of course with the harbour, sandstone buildings, the beaches. Melbourne with the alleys, the super hipster vibe in so many suburbs and the buildings from the Victoria gold rush. Adelaide is a garden city, you can see it from google maps. Canberra that was actually planned. I don’t think Australian cities are super homogenous like everyone says. I even would dare to say that America is more homogenous. Each city has a different flavour. The typical Queenslander houses are so beautiful. I don’t know how to link pics.
You seem to have more of a discerning eye than these other Yanks.
Honestly, all of these pictures could pass for Cleveland lol.
Australian cities are incredibly formulaic: sporadic Georgian/Victorian heritage buildings [the ones that weren't bulldozed] + "starchitect" highrises that run the gamut from meh to vomit-inducing + the same cookie cutter residential skyscraper.
Rinse and repeat across the 3-5 real cities that Australia has.
The only city that's unique is Sydney, and that's because of its natural setting.
Melbourne is up-and-coming but is an architectural disaster for any building post-2000.
Yikes you're full of it. Cleveland? What the FRUCK are you smoking? Has Australia's gargantuan social progression and consistently highly ranked liveability hurt your (socially fragmented) American feelings?
A case has been made for the diversity of Australia's cities recently.
I am quite familiar with all of them and they're all attractive to me but I don't find there are that many stark differences between them.
Certainly not to the degree that is being claimed, or compared to other countries.
I don't think Canada wins this contest but among Canada's major cities you have:
One (Quebec City) that is reminiscent of a city in northern France with a huge castle in the middle of it overlooking a river and islands from a dramatic promontory.
You also have an almost Asian-style Pacific rim metropolis (Vancouver) with the ocean on one side and snow-capped mountains on the other.
You also have a foggy coastal capital (St John's) that is the same distance from Rome as it is from Vancouver, and which looks like an oversized coastal fishing town in Ireland or Norway.
Other cities like Ottawa and Victoria have a decent share of British traits, whereas many cities on the Prairies are reminiscent of large cities in Middle America.
Toronto is kind of a mix of London and NYC and a booming Asian megacity.
Montreal is basically a Frankenstein's monster architecturally.
I'm deeply in love with European inner cities, American inner cities can't hold a candle to them, but I would trade our suburbs for American ones in a heartbeat!
I think Melbourne rivals NY and surpases most North American skyscraper cities. It has a beautiful skyline, especially when seen from the Yarra (sp?). The newest scrapers are not that nice though. It has a very diverse architecture that most NA cities lack.
Just in a small area called East End you get:
St Paul's Cathedral Scots' Church T & G Building St. Michael's Uniting Church Grand Hyatt - it's one of the better-looking Modernist buildings from the 20th century (its windows are gold-like) Town Hall Chinatown
and many theatres
I can't think of an American city with so many stiles on such a smallish pot of land.
Of course age has everything to do with It! European cities (and yes that includes English ones too) have thousands of years worth of building styles! Does the 'new world' have Roman viaducts? Norman castles? The 'dreamy spires' of Oxford? A cathedral or medievel buildings as old as Canterbury's? No it has a 2 or 3 hundred years worth of buildings at best.
Most of those amount to artifacts. In most cases, roman and norman elements, for example, aren't a meaningful part of the built environments of most cities in Europe, they amount to sites and landmarks. There are a few exceptions, like Rome. Other than that...
And no, it's not true that age alone gives diversity. IMO, a variety of international/colonial influences and a strong tradition of contemporary design are more impactful than having a norman castle nearby, or a roman ruin.
Don't get me wrong, it might help, but the built environments of Paris and Bordeaux don't owe a ton to the romans.
The medieval architectural styles and villages would, but these are found throughout Europe, in styles consistent to whatever country they are in. There age doesn't lend anything to the diversity of architecture/urban development in Europe.
But, as I have said, some European countries are very architecturally diverse, notably Italy, Spain, and France, maybe Greece.
I just don't think every European country is, or is as diverse as, say, Canada, the US, or Mexico...
I think Melbourne rivals NY and surpases most North American skyscraper cities. It has a beautiful skyline, especially when seen from the Yarra (sp?). The newest scrapers are not that nice though. It has a very diverse architecture that most NA cities lack.
Just in a small area called East End you get:
St Paul's Cathedral Scots' Church T & G Building St. Michael's Uniting Church Grand Hyatt - it's one of the better-looking Modernist buildings from the 20th century (its windows are gold-like) Town Hall Chinatown
and many theatres
I can't think of an American city with so many stiles on such a smallish pot of land.
This is just abjectly, laughably false. Melbourne falls far below New York and Chicago, and below cities such as San Francisco, Boston, and Philadelphia, for diversity of skyscrapers. New York and Chicago INVENTED the skyscraper, and have more impressive skylines than anything in Australia.
To act like Melbourne can match the splendor of Chicago or New York's entirely original neo-gothic, bauhaus, art deco, or art nouveu skyscrapers is just absurd. There are Italiante and neoclassical high rises in Chicago. Australian cities PALE in comparison.
I think Melbourne rivals NY and surpases most North American skyscraper cities. It has a beautiful skyline, especially when seen from the Yarra (sp?). The newest scrapers are not that nice though. It has a very diverse architecture that most NA cities lack.
Just in a small area called East End you get:
St Paul's Cathedral Scots' Church T & G Building St. Michael's Uniting Church Grand Hyatt - it's one of the better-looking Modernist buildings from the 20th century (its windows are gold-like) Town Hall Chinatown
and many theatres
I can't think of an American city with so many stiles on such a smallish pot of land.
This thread has nothing to do with Melbourne. It's not about "a" city but an entire country's ensemble of cities. Follow the rules.
While Melbourne is the best city in Oceania, Melbourne has pound-for-pound less attractions than many cities in North America and Europe. It's a city of 5 million that performs favorably against cities in the 7-8 million range.
But it rivals New York? Come on...
In 2 square miles, New York fits:
432 Park Avenue
Atlas Statue
Broadway
Bryant Park
Carnegie Hall
Central Park
Central Park Tower
Chrysler Building
Crown Building
Empire State Building
Fifth Avenue
General Electric Building
Grand Central Terminal
Hearst Tower
Hell's Kitchen
Helmsley Building
High Line
Hudson Yards
Macy's Herald Square
Morgan Library
Museum of Modern Art
One Vanderbilt
One57
Paramount Building
Plaza Hotel
Radio City Music Hall
Rainbow Room
Rockefeller Center
Saint Patrick's Cathedral
Seagram Building
Steinway Tower
Tecumseh Statue
Times Square
Trump Tower
United Nations
Vessel
Verre Tower
Waldorf Astoria
Is Melbourne your first trip outside Bulgaria? You should get out more.
Boston, Chicago, Montreal, San Francisco, and Washington also have a lot of tourist sites in a tiny plot of land.
This is just abjectly, laughably false. Melbourne falls far below New York and Chicago, and below cities such as San Francisco, Boston, and Philadelphia, for diversity of skyscrapers. New York and Chicago INVENTED the skyscraper, and have more impressive skylines than anything in Australia.
To act like Melbourne can match the splendor of Chicago or New York's entirely original neo-gothic, bauhaus, art deco, or art nouveu skyscrapers is just absurd. There are Italiante and neoclassical high rises in Chicago. Australian cities PALE in comparison.
Melbourne and Sydney are actually shadows of what they once were architecturally.
In the 1940s you could make a credible argument that they were among the most beautiful Anglo cities.
But then they went nuts and tore down a TON of their historic buildings. North America did as well, but Chicago and New York were actually spared after the public outcry after Penn Station's destruction.
Melbourne and Sydney's urban renewal is up there with Cincinnati and Saint Louis as one of the most short-sighted.
Look up Melbourne Fish Market, Scott's Hotel, Coffee Palace, Australia Building, Colonial Building, Crystal Cafe Hotel.
THOSE were gems. Now all Melbourne puts up are purple/barf green highrises with random appendages to be edgy. The skyline is grotesquely ugly, perhaps only rivaled by Toronto in that department.
Thankfully, Sydney has been far classier.
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