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LOL. This is so off the mark. You barely know anything about NYC little less Paris.
The entire ile-de-France, as Fitzrovian stated, is dominated by about 5 or 6 square miles of the City of Paris. It's where more than 20 percent of all employment in the region exists. This is comparable to the approximately 20 percent figure for employment in the New York region south of 59th Street.
Paris CBD 1,025,000 5,109,107 20.1% 1990
Paris La Defence 140,000 5,109,107 2.7% 2000
New York South of 59 St.+++ 1,967,000 9,357,218 21.0% 1990
Los Angeles Freeway Loop+ 310,321 6,813,757 4.6% 1990
Los Angeles Long Beach CBD 34,620 6,813,757 0.5% 1990
Los Angeles Los Angeles CBD Core 167,297 6,813,757 2.5% 1990
As you can see from the above data, La Defense is really more akin to a Tyson's Corner, VA on steroids. It's common for Americans to visit Paris, view La Defense from atop L'arc de Triomphe, and assume that that's the main central business district. That's understandable given that there's not really a whole lot of differentiation between residential and commercial structures in Paris. When Americans see skyscrapers, we automatically think "Downtown!" But the area around the Champs and Place de la Concorde is where the bulk of the employment is in the region.
If your job transferred you to Paris, you'd have a 20 percent likelihood of working within a 1.5 mile radius of the Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, the Royal Palace, the Eiffel Tower, Le Champs Elysee, Trocadero, Place de La Concorde, etc. All of those attractions can be visited very easily on foot, especially around this time of year (which is the best time to go, imo). So yeah, pretty much all of the action in Paris is found within a very small area. The city is about 2,000 years old, and since commuting by 14-lane superhighways was not much of an option for guys like Robespierre and Danton, the city had to be compact.
So in sum, it's rather clear that a very small area of Paris serves as the epicenter of a much larger region.
Yeah, pretty much. Actually London, Paris and NYC have a very similar urban structure. Zone 1 in London is about the same size as Manhattan south of 96th street, and also has 3 hubs - the City, the West End/Westminster and West London - somewhat analogous to the Financial District, Midtown and Uptown (curiously, if you turn Central London's map 90 degrees clockwise, its structure looks strikingly similar to Manhattan with the City/Financial Distict at the bottom, the West End/Midtown in the middle, and a large park surrounded by affluent neighborhoods at the top).
Paris has a larger area of very high density than either London or New York but, as you rightly pointed out, its tourist zone is actually pretty small - probably the smallest of the three.
Tokyo is the most different. It carries its density much much farther and its core (the Yamanote Loop) is more spiky with about 10 smaller hubs of astonishing intensity surrounded by lower (but still high) density residential areas.
I still feel though that the similarities among all four are far greater than any differences (especially as compared to a completely different animal of a city like LA). What they all have in common is a very dominant, dense urban core that serves as the commercial, cultural and entertainment epicenter of a vast urban area. Outside of the core the density begins to gradually drop off in concentric circles until you finally hit SFH suburban areas.
The idea that NYC is different from London and Paris but LA shares any kinds of similarities with Tokyo is actually quite funny.
Let me put it this way Angelenos there are only two places that can compare to Downtown and those are the Loop and Midtown on size, scale, and surrounding. Stop ridiculously arguing whether it's significant or not, stop arguing if there's anything worth seeing there or not, and most of all stop talking about it like you have an authority on it.
Let me put it this way Angelenos there are only two places that can compare to Downtown and those are the Loop and Midtown on size, scale, and surrounding. Stop ridiculously arguing whether it's significant or not, stop arguing if there's anything worth seeing there or not, and most of all stop talking about it like you have an authority on it.
You don't. California has no CBD on that level.
... I don't think anyone said that. I mean, I agree with ya'll.
Agreed. This is the one debate where even Chicago is brushed to the side and considered an after thought.
You don't see that very often on city-data.
This is actually quite true. We here in Chicago actually believe this is true in real life. We let NY and LA bicker about whatever and we just go about our business and be the best Chicago we can be lol.
Let me put it this way Angelenos there are only two places that can compare to Downtown and those are the Loop and Midtown on size, scale, and surrounding. Stop ridiculously arguing whether it's significant or not, stop arguing if there's anything worth seeing there or not, and most of all stop talking about it like you have an authority on it.
You don't. California has no CBD on that level.
Uh oh, the transplants are getting testy...
Look, if you want to believe that DT/Lower Manhattan has the same pull on the public conscious as midtown, that's your lie to live. I couldnt care less about CBDs anyway, your insults will fall on deaf ears. Hurl them at Chicano--he actually wants L.A. to be monocentric like Manhattan, not I. You have one guy listing Williamsburg as a "place of interest" in a weak attempt to sell NYC as "more than just Manhattan" (reminds me of the poster who, when pressed to name tourist attractions in Queens, put Citi field at #1. The stadium where the Mets play. Hilarious.). Then we have you catching feelings because we don't accept Lower Manhattan as Midtown's equal. Bajan's prehistoric statistics clearly show that midtown holds a higher percentage of jobs than lower manhattan/DT Brooklyn/DT Newark COMBINED. I never said the place sucked, sheesh.
Last edited by RaymondChandlerLives; 08-26-2012 at 03:52 PM..
Why? Because Bay Arean's the authority on what's considered significant or insignificant?
What a joke.
It's obvious most of you Californians have never been to NYC before, at least the ones repeatedly dismissing everything not in Midtown. Especially the ones acting like Downtown Manhattan is a joke like Downtown LA. Lower Manhattan is structurally the most urban place in all of North America. The original post of NYC, obviously given its age it has limits on how large it can be. It's the most condensed place in all of the US and it's the historic heart of NYC where the declaration was read at Battery Park City/Bowling Green thus officially ending the revolution, where Washington was inaugurated as the FIRST president of the US, where New York became the first capital of the country, and where freedom was heard around the world. I'm not even going to get into wall street because if I do, it will make your downtown look even more insignificant by comparison.
The people that visit Times Square the the people like you, marveled by the big city and it overwhelms you. That tiny area consumes your time, handicapping you from seeing the rest of this gigantic city. Keep it that way, we could do with less obnoxious tourists that know nothing of this fine city in the areas we live, work, and play.
I am pretty sure Bay Arean was being sarcastic. If he wasn't he needs to seek immediate psychiatric evaluation.
We've exhausted this lifelong debate. Let's just get back to the topic without involving the OP, he's entitled to the same opinions we all are. Haters need to grow up. Back to big city feeling, how would you folks rank the 5 cities from the biggest feeling city to smallest for NYC, LA, DC, Chicago, and San Francisco?
This thread could also use more San Francisco, hard to imagine a thread with almost 600 posts, and partially about San Francisco could only have 79 posts about the city.
San Francisco is my dream city, I choose to live right outside the city and go in at a whim, I love the short "trip" into the city. I love everything about the city, if I wasn't living in the bay, it would be LA or San Diego or Sacramento and that's as far as I could live in the US. After that Hong Kong, Paris, Mexico City, Shanghai, Madrid, Buenos Aires, and Sydney are the only cities that attract me enough to be on my "live without hesitation" list. When I think of big cities in the US the only 4 cities that come to mind are NYC, LA, Chicago, and San Francisco.
Appreciate the perspective and you make a good point, but 20+ year old stats? Surely you can do better than that...
I couldn't find any better (newer) stats myself.
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