Which of these 4 places can challenge Los Angeles the most? Chicago-Toronto-San Francisco-Washington D.C. (development, food)

[qworldorder]

Originally Posted by AMWChicago

I agree. The reason Chicago is a Global Superpower (Yes, yes it is, I'm not making this up. Look up most influential cities in the world. Chicago is in the top 10) is how it acts as a capital for a 1/3 of the US. Los Angeles and San Fran have to compete, same goes for cities in the Northeast like DC, Boston, and Philadelphia (New York is obviously a no brainer for being a "Global Capital", so they have relatively no competition in the Northeast. Bottom line, I believe Chicago is the most influential city in the United States as a whole. Hence why it is so important to the global economy, because it dictates one of the world's largest national economies. Yes the end all be all is New York, but New York doesn't focus exclusively domestically, they impact international economies directly. Chicago's trade floors, futures, and options run the backbone of the US economy's recourses...What was the question on the thread again?...Well what ever it was I just wanted to make my point. Chicago plays a pivotal role in the US economy which in turn impacts the Global one.

You contradict yourself. Either "Chicago is the most influential city in the United States" (lol) or NYC is the "end all be all." Not both.

[RadicalAtheist]

Outside of a few politicians maybe, I just don't see Chicago influencing anything really (I'm using 'influence' in the most general/rudimentary way). Could be because I don't live in the third of the country that sees Chicago as its capital or whatever?

[steeps]

Seems people always jump to extremes.... Chicago still is the heart, center of the Midwest. Its Commodity, Futures exchanges have it as second to NYC with these. They just deal with different aspects of it. As far as influence. The Media centered on the Coast, mainly NYC and LA. These are the cities we constantly see pictures of on Backgrounds of News programming to Nighttime Variety shows. They are our Largest Cites. The Business, Banking and other movers and Shakers of the Nation. Surly know Chicago's contributions.

[L.A.-Mex]

Originally Posted by Calisonn

Whoever sent me that rep thx, yes I do feel more important repping the Bay, LA is old news, time for angelenos to gracefully bow out of the 2nd city discussion and be more concerned about being challenged for 3rd place by the likes of Houston and/or DFW.

A city of 800,000 people compared to a city of 4,000,000 telling it to back down of its 2nd city position LMAO. Or better yet an area of 7,000,000 people telling an area of 19,000,000 to step down = hilarious.

But really SF isn't as influential as LA is, and won't be. LA is the number one manufacturing center in the US, has the largest port in the Western Hemisphere, dominates the entertainment industry and music industry, is a fashion capital of the world (5th actually), and to put the cherry on top techies are starting to prefer LA over the Silicon Valley...

[qworldorder]

Originally Posted by RadicalAtheist

Outside of a few politicians maybe, I just don't see Chicago influencing anything really (I'm using 'influence' in the most general/rudimentary way). Could be because I don't live in the third of the country that sees Chicago as its capital or whatever?

The President is a Chicagoan. Let's not put the nail in the coffin, yet. Politics/entertainment is one important area of influence that Chicago still excels out (Oprah, Kanye, etc.).

[216facts]

D.C. because it has the most readily accessible hardware and management to execute the "police action."

[Trafalgar Law]

Originally Posted by mooguy

Curious..............what the hell do L.A. and NY have to do with this conversation?

Los Angeles is the central focus of this thread. Actually, if we're being literal, this entire thread focuses (and should continue to focus on) the cities of Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto, Washington D.C., and San Francisco as well as their surrounding environs of Southland, Chicagoland, Golden Horseshoe, the National Capital Region Metroplex, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

[Kobe25]

Los Angeles has no competition besides New york today & if going by L.A county as a whole it's even surpassed Ny 5 boroughs......Los Angeles is just too big & populated for any other city besides Nyc to compete.....

It's a national geographic episode on how New york & Los Angeles are the only mega cities in the United States & are apart of the 16 mega cities of the world.

So a better question is what cities can compete for the 3rd place like Chicago vs D.c vs San Francisco

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by Kobe25

Los Angeles is just too big & populated for any other city besides Nyc to compete.....

Hey cool guy, this thread isnt about population or size.

Originally Posted by OP

You can use city, MSA/CMA, CSA/Golden Horshoe, U.N. UA, so on. Compare them on which one is the closest to matching Los Angeles on an overall basis in as many facets as possible for cities to compare themselves with another city.

So things like diplomatic power and image, corporate power, influential leaders (can be political or private industry related), innovations, Nanotech, Biotech, General Medicine, college and university level, financial activities, tech industry, energy industry, influence upon governments of all levels (city -> county/borough -> state -> nationally), trade (shipping and trade), logistics and manufacturing, global connectives, brand creation and exportation and importation and infusion, real-estate market valuation, foreign investment and allure, tourism, media (of any kind), so on and so forth. You're free to add any additional categories, I'll leave that to others to do.

In addition to those aspects also compare them on city type of aspects in regards to the type of construction (and boom, if applies), office space expansion, food innovations, music innovations, festival-parade-event innovations and headliners, infill of residential, infrastructure at all levels (roads, rail transportation, others).

Once done with that then compare them on environments, as to what sort of people migrate to these places and which ones are closest to matching Los Angeles' vast diversity and diaspora of people. In this regard you can look to things like racial and ethnic diversity, languages that have influence over an area, social connections with overseas places, how hospitable an environment is for people of all backgrounds (this includes LGBT as well).

Other than that, if you want to you can compare them on what their popular image is like, what sort of nightlife each one has and which one comes closest to matching Los Angeles there, so on. You can compare them on architecture, shopping, urban environments, touristy amenities, general population amenities, climate, topography, wine countries, suburbs here but more emphasis to all the points ahead of this.

It's pretty amazing how SF already beats LA in many, if not most of these categories.

Diversity being one of them:
http://www.s4.brown.edu/us2010/Data/...rt08292012.pdf


http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/285...ersemetros.jpg


http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/2...ersecities.jpg

In fact,
12 of the 25 most diverse cities are in Northern CA
1 Suisun City, CA
2 Vallejo, CA
3 Rodeo, CA
4 Florin, CA
5 Oakland, CA
8 Fairview, CA
9 Fairfield, CA
13 Sacramento, CA
18 Pinole, CA
21 Fruitridge-Pocket, CA
22 San Leandro, CA
25 Elk Grove, CA

It's a national geographic episode on how New york & Los Angeles are the only mega cities in the United States & are apart of the 16 mega cities of the world.

Does this mean that Los Angeles is the only megacity in the world that is dominated in finance, technology, energy and losing ground in media to a nearby region with 10 million fewer people?

I wonder...

So a better question is what cities can compete for the 3rd place like Chicago vs D.c vs San Francisco

Well, Chicago frequently beats LA in many rankings, DC has singlehandedly taken LA's aerospace industry and SF resoundingly trumps LA in prominence in most key economic industries and is the west coast destination of choice for grads from the top schools in the country, and so forth.

They all seem like very worthy competitors vs LA.

[DistrictDirt]

^ Doth protest too much, methinks