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Boston is rather similar to British cities, it does not possess a grid pattern, and has narrow streets, but it still feels distinct from any British city. Typical building height is taller than your average British city and again the architectural style is different from British cities.
You picked a major road downtown for Chicago, which would be lined with taller buildings. The streets tend to be wide and more airy feel than northeastern cities. This might be a bit closer:
Chicago also rarely attaches its buildings in its residential neighborhoods. What about New York City? It was mentioned British cities have been used as a stand in for New York City.
Sure, there are lots of differences too between US and UK cities, but the question was where in Europe the cities are the more similar to the US, and that is surely in the UK, which obviously doesn't mean at all that they are completly alike in both countries. But there are common features of all Anglo countries, which includes Canadians, Australian cities, which are not found (or at meast not in the same extend) outside in the rest of Europe.
Well, Manchester, Liverpool, do not seem much different to birmingham. From my point of view it has a flair that reminded me the American cities, architectures, colors, layout, et.. even if being also lots of differences, there are a "family" feel between US and UK.
Showing skyline images from far away proves nothing - you don't actually get a feel of what a city is truly like from such images, as all you see is modern or brutalist architecture, since the older buildings are usually on a smaller scale. Remember, British cities both a) experienced heavy bombing during WW2, and b) suffered at the hands of post-war planners who demolished more buildings, meaning a almsot entirely historic downtown core, such as the French example you posted, don't exist, away from the smaller cities.
I don't associated terraced housing with American cities, either. I always thought it was fairly commonplace in most other European cities, to have historic, dense 'row' houses. Or is most inner-city housing in other European cities mostly bland apartment blocks?
Quote:
Originally Posted by french user
yes, but Chicago is also much bigger than Manchester, not really a fair comparision.
To me, most of the city in London fell not that different to any American downtown, without obviouly being the same, but comparativly to most of Europe it does.
That isn't a typical London street scene, though. The layout of London is completely different to the vast majority of American cities. You can tell it's old world - the street layout is just bizarre and all over the place. Plus, the City of London is a small area of mostly modern buildings, the West End is mostly historic architecture that has more in common with Paris than Manhattan IMO.
I'd agree that British cities are more like American cities than any other cities in Europe, but not they're not that similar.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nei
What about New York City? It was mentioned British cities have been used as a stand in for New York City.
Yes, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow I believe - they do have areas that are similar to New York or Chicago i.e tall towering 'warehouse' type buildings, especially Liverpool which was massively influenced by cities like New York, because it was a city that looked out to sea and to the wider world as opposed to inwards, but overall they are definitely very different, albeit with a few similarities.
Those street scenes you posted - while some perhaps could pass as a British city, it's still extremely evident that they aren't at all - there are so many differences, and I think they outweigh any similarities. This scene in particular is nothing at all like a British city, except for that old white building with the golden/bronze domes, and perhaps that reddish building near that church, which could pass for a building in Glasgow (but nowhere else).
Last edited by dunno what to put here; 07-02-2013 at 05:00 AM..
Location: Near Tours, France about 47°10'N 0°25'E
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dunno what to put here
Yes, but I think you are exaggerating the connection.
Being from outside of Anglo cultures makes easier to spot at the common points than when you are from the inside I think. I guess that you, as a British person, you might notice more differences with other Anglo countries than I would do...
That isn't a typical London street scene, though. The layout of London is completely different to the vast majority of American cities. You can tell it's old world - the street layout is just bizarre and all over the place. Plus, the City of London is a small area of mostly modern buildings, the West End is mostly historic architecture that has more in common with Paris than Manhattan IMO.
Few towns and cities here in New England are laid out with any plan, either. London is obviously older than Manhattan, but still, Manhattan is older than some assume: it's not Chicago. I'm curious what the age of a typical West End building is. 18th or 19th century? Further out, the age difference between New York City and London isn't huge. For example, this Brooklyn neighborhood is probably a bit older than Hampstead, or the same:
The age of the buildings might not be different but the style of building in London and New York are very different regardless of what era they were built in. There is something quite distinctive about American architecture. Not just the architecture style, either, but street furniture, pavements, traffic lights, post boxes - all look completely different to a typical British city. There is simply no mistaking an American city for a British one, even small, leafy towns in Connecticut.
Quote:
Originally Posted by french user
Being from outside of Anglo cultures makes easier to spot at the common points than when you are from the inside I think. I guess that you, as a British person, you might notice more differences with other Anglo countries than I would do...
And I think living in an 'Anglo' country counts for more than that.
Belgium is like a giant US Suburb with some city center in between ...
Seriously, I lived there all my life and people take their car for anything, lots a them comute more than 100km to go to work and it is the country in Europe where people use most their car.
Like in the US, city centers are where the poor live and rich live in big houses.
I think both dunno what to put here and french user is having a point here. I did a quick street view tour in Birmingham, and despite there's some big giveaways, there's also strikingly many similarities.
I landed somewhere here: http://goo.gl/maps/YnI9G
Seriously, this particular street could pass here for an American city.
I found this building very interesting: http://goo.gl/maps/3x6qJ
It could been have been built in any US city. But what french user is probably trying to say is that could not be in a French city. You certainly don't see those kind of buildings here.
Like my pictures from my city, it's difficult to place it in either the UK or US.
I've heard that "looks a bit like Germany or Poland", despite there's some obvious giveaways here as well. Like wooden buildings.
You don't have to be a wizard to figure out where in the world this is:
Of course they're cherrypicked, but it's possible to find some overlap if you try hard enough. One thing that I think is distinctly American for center cities is more of a mix of architectural styles, especially building height.
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which is logical since the US is a former British colony.
