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I find that cities with high levels of unemployment and poverty to be more vibrant. Something about having a job and having to get up early keeps people off the streets.
People who are less satisfied in life (due to standard of living, politics, other forms of strife) are also more likely to remedy their dissatisfaction by carousing, dancing, drinking, etc., while people with a higher level of satisfaction are more apt to behave complacently and spend quieter time in their homes or in the country.
Also, colder cities tend to have less activity in the winter months but often have festivals in the summer. After a winter of being cooped-up indoors, even sedate people need to stretch their legs annd do some binge-drinking. ;-)
ABQConvict
What is so "vibrant" about seeing homeless and poor people?
ABQConvict, if it was true Detroit would be one of most vibrant city in USA, it is nowhere the case.
I agree that cities with strong working class (at least in the center) tend to be more vibrant than very bourgeois cities but there are limit and other factors.
I know many Brazilians here in Boston who would never move back. I wonder how many Americans have moved there. I'm thinking very few.
The Brazilians who move to Boston MUST be pretty hard up. Wealth may be a little harder to come by in Brazil but once you get to the middle class it is pretty good living to me. Even the Brazilians (and that's most of them) who are relatively poor seem much more content with their lives than the average American. I seldom meet an American (at least in California) who is not a stressed out, pessimistic wreck.
And I am only speaking from the experience of a Northern Californian. Maybe because the state is falling apart people are stressed and depressed. The Brazilian people on the whole seem to be much more optimistic than your average American. I prefer the city of Salvador over Rio. The slow pace of life and "happiness" of the people are a welcome change whenever I visit friends who have since relocated there and never plan to return to California
I have to agree. I've lived in Hyderabad, India for 6 months and I am currently in Cairo, Egypt. I have been in Cairo for about 3 1/2 years now. India is just so much more colorful and full of life. Though things shut down at 11 pm I have to say that the food is so much more delicious than in the states and so much cheaper. The cost of living is also so much cheaper and better than the states. A 3 bedroom apt for 300$ a month.
Cairo is also the same. Even though this is a conservative country I feel more free here. The cops are not everywhere waiting to give u a ticket for going a couple of miles over the speed limit. The food is also so much cheaper and tastes better. Cairo really is a city that never sleeps. There is always something going on. Always parties to go to and people to meet and hang out with. Cinemas and restaurants stay open so late here so if you are a late riser then there is always something to do here. People here are also a lot more expressive than in the states and love to chat up foreigners. They love talking politics and religion which are taboo issues in the states and they are quite gracious about it. The thing that i don't like is the pollution that can be intolerable.
Some people say that asian citites are way too crowded. Well, if you don't like being crowded, then why don't you sell your penthouse and get some farm and be a cowboy or something like that. The point of city living is being in a crowded and sometimes unsanitary neighborhood. I've been to Boston, New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and DC, and only new York has deccent night life. I've also been to Suzhou, Tokyo, Beijing, and Shanghai. Beijing might not have a decent skyline, but there is a decent nightlife. The worlds second largest mall is there, and the biggest is also in China. Shanghai has an very large skyline with three or four buildings taller that the empire state building and one or two that are taller that the willis tower or the twin towers. In the US, the buildings are usually more concrete and less glass which make them less glittering. Of course some people like it more in the middle. I mean no offence to the Americans who like their cities
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Cairo, Egypt & Hyderabad, India VS USA
