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I'm interested in learning about how these three cities compare and contrast with each other, mainly because there doesn't seem to be a lot of discussions about the similarities/differences between these cities online, aside from Australians calling Canberra boring, or Canadians on Reddit calling Washington a "poor man's Ottawa".
I do consider that none of them are the largest city in their respective country, yet they're their nation's capital. They're also all planned cities.
How do these three cities compare to each other, culturally speaking? Think not just in terms of political influence, but economic and cultural as well
Which has the best fashion scene?
The best food?
Suburbs and surrounding environs?
Climate?
Architecture? How does it differ between the cities?
Layout
People/diversity
Nightlife
Music and arts scenes
Infrastructure and transportation
Standard of living and quality of life
Just some subjects to discuss
Last edited by geriatricfairy; 05-24-2020 at 04:04 PM..
The DC area is the most educated and highest income metro area in the United States. It has a lot of the pros and cons that one might expect to come with such a city.
The fashion scene is nothing particularly special. It is rather generic. The food scene is pretty good and has a lot of diversity. There are some Michelin restaurants. The climate is okay if you like 4 distinct seasons. The architecture has considerable European influence. Nightlife, music and art scenes are okay, but nothing particularly stands out. Infrastructure and public transportation are good for an American city. The suburbs are well-connected to the city by metro rail. The great majority of the population is in the suburbs, not the city.
The biggest things about DC are of course politics, government, history and a huge museum complex.
Interesting! Wellington should be in this group too. But anyway, Canberra must be one of the dullest cities on earth! DC is probably has the most beautiful buildings in the USA, I loved the layout of the city, after all it was designed by a French. Ottawa is miserable in winter but the Capitol Hill is pretty any time of the year.
Best food? I’d say DC but in both Ottawa and Canberra you can find anything
Suburbs/environs? Maybe Canberra. It’s well located between the stunning beaches, the snow mountains and Sydney is only 2-3 hours away. 2nd is for Ottawa, it’s truly a bilingual city, so unique. I remember visiting a McDonald and every worker spoke both french and english.
Climate? Canberra is milder and drier than both DC and Ottawa. But I’d choose DC because it varies, with hot summers and snowy winters.
Architecture? DC by far. Amazing buildings, monuments. The White House and the capitol are both iconic and beautiful. Canberra is horrible, it seems like a city from the Soviet era; wide avenues, lots of roundabouts, many brutalist buildings. The Parliament House, yeah it’s cool but nothing amazing. It’s such a pointless city. It’s sterile. War memorial is cool but yet again, nothing amazing.
Layout? DC again. Thanks L’Enfant. Meanwhile, Canberra was designed by an American lol. It’s a very car centre city. I really dislike those roundabouts, it’s not walkable at all. What’s the point of having two “hearts”. Ottawa has a nice layout.
People/diversity. DC by far for diversity. But I noticed people there were kinda grumpy and society seemed a bit segregated. Canberra is safer and there’s a high student population. My fave for this was Ottawa, really nice people and welcoming to visitors. French and English living together.
Nightlife/music/scene: again, easy, DC the best. Canberra; the worst. In winter Canberra is a depressing city. Never go there between June and September
Infrastructure and transportation. DC has two airports and they were fine. One of them is easily accessible, I can’t remember if both of them are. But one of them was easy to get to. Good metro system. Canberra is the worst I would say, as I said before it’s a car centred city, it takes a long time to get by train, so most people take a bus from Sydney. There’s a light rail project going on in Canberra, with a first stage just opened, although it has a very short in length. I went to Ottawa by bus was montreal and train and it was easy. Ottawa also opened recently a light rail system.
Standard of QL? Maybe Canberra. High salaries and equal society, moderate weather all year around, great parks nearby, beaches, mountains. ANU is regarded as the best university in Australia along Melbourne and Sydney. Great schools, highways. A few years there was article from the OECD indicating that Canberra was the best city in the world to live.
Standard of QL? Maybe Canberra. High salaries and equal society, moderate weather all year around, great parks nearby, beaches, mountains. ANU is regarded as the best university in Australia along Melbourne and Sydney. Great schools, highways. A few years there was article from the OECD indicating that Canberra was the best city in the world to live.
Whenever you get ‘official’ rankings, you can expect to find fairly dull cities near the top, because functionality and good governance take precedence over dynamism.
Interesting! Wellington should be in this group too. But anyway, Canberra must be one of the dullest cities on earth! DC is probably has the most beautiful buildings in the USA, I loved the layout of the city, after all it was designed by a French. Ottawa is miserable in winter but the Capitol Hill is pretty any time of the year.
Best food? I’d say DC but in both Ottawa and Canberra you can find anything
Suburbs/environs? Maybe Canberra. It’s well located between the stunning beaches, the snow mountains and Sydney is only 2-3 hours away. 2nd is for Ottawa, it’s truly a bilingual city, so unique. I remember visiting a McDonald and every worker spoke both french and english.
Climate? Canberra is milder and drier than both DC and Ottawa. But I’d choose DC because it varies, with hot summers and snowy winters.
Architecture? DC by far. Amazing buildings, monuments. The White House and the capitol are both iconic and beautiful. Canberra is horrible, it seems like a city from the Soviet era; wide avenues, lots of roundabouts, many brutalist buildings. The Parliament House, yeah it’s cool but nothing amazing. It’s such a pointless city. It’s sterile. War memorial is cool but yet again, nothing amazing.
Layout? DC again. Thanks L’Enfant. Meanwhile, Canberra was designed by an American lol. It’s a very car centre city. I really dislike those roundabouts, it’s not walkable at all. What’s the point of having two “hearts”. Ottawa has a nice layout.
People/diversity. DC by far for diversity. But I noticed people there were kinda grumpy and society seemed a bit segregated. Canberra is safer and there’s a high student population. My fave for this was Ottawa, really nice people and welcoming to visitors. French and English living together.
Nightlife/music/scene: again, easy, DC the best. Canberra; the worst. In winter Canberra is a depressing city. Never go there between June and September
Infrastructure and transportation. DC has two airports and they were fine. One of them is easily accessible, I can’t remember if both of them are. But one of them was easy to get to. Good metro system. Canberra is the worst I would say, as I said before it’s a car centred city, it takes a long time to get by train, so most people take a bus from Sydney. There’s a light rail project going on in Canberra, with a first stage just opened, although it has a very short in length. I went to Ottawa by bus was montreal and train and it was easy. Ottawa also opened recently a light rail system.
Standard of QL? Maybe Canberra. High salaries and equal society, moderate weather all year around, great parks nearby, beaches, mountains. ANU is regarded as the best university in Australia along Melbourne and Sydney. Great schools, highways. A few years there was article from the OECD indicating that Canberra was the best city in the world to live.
I would say DC beats Ottawa for suburbs and environs. It has much nicer suburbs, and is at the southern end of the northeast megalopolis extending from Boston through NYC. It's also closer to some more impressive nature: Shenandoah National Park and the Blue Ridge Mountains, plus, the Atlantic. Virginia has some great vineyards bordering D.C. I also wouldn't call D.C. "segregated" at all; I'm pretty sure it's plurality black.
"Segregated" is really a world that people shouldn't throw around lightly.
Last edited by geriatricfairy; 05-25-2020 at 11:48 AM..
I would say DC beats Ottawa for suburbs and environs. It has much nicer suburbs,
All of the big cities of the NE US and often into the Midwest tend to have nicer suburbs than the major Canadian cities across the border.
Those American suburbs tend to be overgrown small towns so they still have quite a bit of character and charm. You have a teeny bit of that in the suburbs of Canadian cities but not nearly as much.
Most of the "suburbs" around Canadian cities tend to be subdivisions planted in the middle of what used to be farmers' fields. It's actually more reminiscent of suburbia in the US Sunbelt, which kinda makes sense because a lot of the suburban growth around Canadian cities and US Sunbelt cities occurred around the same time.
Our experience, as tourists, of Washington DC was partly of terror. Pre internet we had selected a hotel that looked very central to the attractions. We discovered it was in a bad area and we would have to step over sleeping bodies to get to see these attractions, which were wonderful. But I do not think my impressions were very valid and hopefully it may have few scary areas these days.
Ottawa was a city we visited on a later trip and we loved it so much we extended our stay. It was autumn, the weather was lovely, the people lovely but a few days as a tourist does not enable you to judge a city.
Then there is Canberra. Can I say it is not really anyone’s fault it is how it is. It and Darwin have the highest median income in the country because they are both cities of public servants. But Canberra was a designed city, from scratch, and designed by an American who won an award to come up with a plan. It is not anyone’s fault that in those times maybe a hundred years ago, that spaciousness was in vogue and cramped inner cites were still slums around the world. So Canberra is spread out and spacious. One lovely thing is that it is full of deciduous trees which are not natives and are not planted any more because it is not PC. But a place to admire autumn colours.
It is very dull and boring but it is apparently a good place to bring up a family. However it should be noted one of our previous PMs decided against moving his family to the official residence there and stayed in Sydney. So now it seems to be optional for country’s leader to properly live there. Our current PM has been there in isolation, with both their mothers no less. But as soon as school resumed a couple of weeks ago his wife, kids and the mothers have headed back to Sydney, leaving Scomo to enjoy the delights of Canberra in the winter while he tries to navigate the recovery from the virus. So perhaps that sums up Canberra. You live there if you have to and mostly retire to the coast.
Our experience, as tourists, of Washington DC was partly of terror. Pre internet we had selected a hotel that looked very central to the attractions. We discovered it was in a bad area and we would have to step over sleeping bodies to get to see these attractions, which were wonderful. But I do not think my impressions were very valid and hopefully it may have few scary areas these days.
Ottawa was a city we visited on a later trip and we loved it so much we extended our stay. It was autumn, the weather was lovely, the people lovely but a few days as a tourist does not enable you to judge a city.
Then there is Canberra. Can I say it is not really anyone’s fault it is how it is. It and Darwin have the highest median income in the country because they are both cities of public servants. But Canberra was a designed city, from scratch, and designed by an American who won an award to come up with a plan. It is not anyone’s fault that in those times maybe a hundred years ago, that spaciousness was in vogue and cramped inner cites were still slums around the world. So Canberra is spread out and spacious. One lovely thing is that it is full of deciduous trees which are not natives and are not planted any more because it is not PC. But a place to admire autumn colours.
It is very dull and boring but it is apparently a good place to bring up a family. However it should be noted one of our previous PMs decided against moving his family to the official residence there and stayed in Sydney. So now it seems to be optional for country’s leader to properly live there. Our current PM has been there in isolation, with both their mothers no less. But as soon as school resumed a couple of weeks ago his wife, kids and the mothers have headed back to Sydney, leaving Scomo to enjoy the delights of Canberra in the winter while he tries to navigate the recovery from the virus. So perhaps that sums up Canberra. You live there if you have to and mostly retire to the coast.
Yeah, in both Canada and the US the PM or President always lives in the capital with their family. I've never heard of anyone not doing that.
Though it's fairly rare for former Canadian PMs to settle in Ottawa permanently after they leave office. Jean Chrétien I believe is the only recent one who has a residence in Ottawa - a condo downtown. He divides his time between there and a large cottage he has at Lac-des-Piles, north of Shawinigan and Trois-Rivières.
Stephen Harper lives in Calgary now. Paul Martin and Brian Mulroney live in Montreal.
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