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Wow this is a tough one as I adore both cities. They are two of my favorite cities in the world. I guess if I had to choose I’d choose Boston simply because I used to live there and am much more familiar with it than Vancouver. Would love to experience living in Vancouver though. Such a gorgeous city with so much culture and beauty.
Providence is on the same general scale as Ottawa and Winnipeg. Comparing it to a place like Kelowna is an insult to the city, imo.
**A better New England equivalent for Kelowna may be Bangor?
I've been to Kelowna - it is not as urban or vibrant as Providence is but it is way above Bangor, Maine. Bordering Downtown Kelowna you've got relatively urban districts with mid-rises and further out (a decent distance from the city center) you've even got the Landmark District which has some office high-rises. Bangor Maine has 30K people and a nice, small and quaint downtown area - it's not on the same level as Kelowna.
I've been to Kelowna - it is not as urban or vibrant as Providence is but it is way above Bangor, Maine. Bordering Downtown Kelowna you've got relatively urban districts with mid-rises and further out (a decent distance from the city center) you've even got the Landmark District which has some office high-rises. Bangor Maine has 30K people and a nice, small and quaint downtown area - it's not on the same level as Kelowna.
Can you think of a good New England equivalent, then? I’d offer Portland, but Downtown Portland is much more built up than anywhere in Kelowna that I’ve seen hopping around on streetview.
It has some Stamford vibes, but I think that’s just because of the newness of most of the buildings. Even then, Downtown Stamford is bigger still.
Edit: it’s worth pointing out that a 30k New England city is waay different than a 30k western city. But that mistake is what caused this debate in the first place, since another poster thought Kelowna and PVD were similarly sized because they have similar populations.
Last edited by Boston Shudra; 11-18-2020 at 12:23 PM..
Interesting compare. I voted Boston since I do think it's a more well-rounded city. I've been to Vancouver once as a tourist, and did quite like it.
Without looking at statistics, Boston feels like a slightly larger city, albeit maybe a bit more spread out than Vancouver (i.e. including Cambridge/Somerville/etc.) Vancouver is indeed beautiful, frankly Boston can't compete there. I also thought the food I had in Vancouver was great, but coming from TX at the time we mostly focused on Asian cuisine since that was in abundance (some of the best sushi I've ever had was in Vancouver).
Despite Vancouver being on paper much more diverse, Boston still feels more international to me. I have no idea if that's statistically true or not. The diversity in Vancouver was mostly Asian (not implying all of Asia is the same of course), but Boston is more of a mix. Certainly the combination of geography of Boston being the bookend of the heavily-populated NE corridor, as well as the heavy presence of big education, biotech & VC it feels like there are more people from different parts of the world working & going to school there. I also found Vancouver's nightlife a bit underwhelming, even compared to Boston (although I weight that much lower than other people apparently - as long as I can find a friendly pub I'm typically good, and I have easily found those almost everywhere I've looked).
Might give climate to Vancouver even though it's gloomier.
Overall, both nice cities and could live in either one.
Can you think of a good New England equivalent, then? I’d offer Portland, but Downtown Portland is much more built up than anywhere in Kelowna that I’ve seen hopping around on streetview.
It has some Stamford vibes, but I think that’s just because of the newness of most of the buildings. Even then, Downtown Stamford is bigger still.
Yeah, its Downtown doesn't really hold up to Downtown Portland. I can definitely see the Stamford similarities but it is smaller and less urban, no doubt.
It's really different model for a city - it has its traditional downtown which is pretty good, but not as charming as most New England downtowns, to be honest. Whereas most New England towns tend to be much more low-rise and less modern than Kelowna is outside of the Downtown. I really can't think of a comparable.
Last edited by Vincent_Adultman; 11-18-2020 at 01:02 PM..
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