How can we build an accurate tier system for the top cities? (living in, prices)
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In terms of culture, LA lacks famous architecture. But it can be said that NY lacks important architecture. The only architecturally significant building in NYC is Wright's Guggenheim building. (please don't mention Chysler or Empire State Building which are landmarks, but not important works) Both Chicago AND LA surpass NYC in terms of important works by significant architects. Wright, Neutra, Koenig, Schindler, Eames, Greene, Van der Rohe can be split between both those cities in terms of their most significant works. The same simply cannot be said of NYC which is still waiting for a significantly building by a significant architect.
I also disagree that LA excels at few things. It excels at most artistic mediums and creative industries, such as music, tv, film, contemporary art. It also has some exceptional museums, even if NY's are more exceptional. In other words, weakness in museum attendance is far from an argument against LA's cultural life.
And then it excels at international trade, manufacturing, higher education, and aerospace.
This is why I'm not convinced by your argument, because that's more than a few.
There are things that LA lacks, but it's rather silly and biased to frame the discussion using criteria drawn from NY's strengths.
Very well put. People undermining LA architecture sell it incredibly short and do so with almost no information about the field. Though I must say that NY does have other architecturally significant/influential buildings than just the Guggenheim (the Seagram for sure).
Denver is not ahead of Minneapolis. I know because I've lived in both cities. The fact that Minneapolis is larger in terms of population, has a higher GDP, and several more Fortune 500 companies places it well ahead of the Denver area. Furthermore, Denver should not be placed ahead of the Detroit area. I'd say these three are in the same tier, with Denver placing below Minneapolis and Detroit. Other than those to glaring mistakes, your lists decent.
I think the tiers would look more like this:
Tier 1: New York
Tier 2: Chicago, Los Angeles
Tier 3: Washington D.C., San Francisco (including Oakland), Houston, Philadelphia, Boston
Tier 4: Dallas, Miami, Atlanta
Tier 5: Seattle, Detroit, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Denver, San Jose, San Diego, Pittsburgh, St. Louis
Tier 6: New Orleans, Las Vegas, Portland, Cleveland, Baltimore, Kansas City, Charlotte
Tier 7: Orlando, San Antonio, Nashville, Indianapolis, Austin, Milwaukee, Salt Lake City, Hartford, Cincinnati, Tampa, Sacramento, Memphis
Tier 8: Riverside, Columbus, Virginia Beach, Providence, Jacksonville, Louisville, Richmond, Oklahoma City, Buffalo, Raleigh, Birmingham
Speaking of mistakes - two not to. Sorry, but I had to correct myself.
The criteria should include but is not limited to:
Size
Cultural Influence/Power
Economy/Finance
Political Influence/Power
Tourism
Industries
Name recognition/Notoriety
isn't cultural influence and name recognition the same thing. Tourism can also go underneath that umbrella too.
In terms of size they will have to be ranked by MSA cause that is how just about any resource puts out data. So city limits, UA, CSA and especially DMA would be out.
how would you rank economy? Would it be pure Metropolitan area product? Would it be average income? Personal income? Health of industries? Balanced industries???
culture is so hard to rank. There is little consensus. People have a general
idea of what cities should be there but disagree fiercely on how they should rank.
You forgot education. That is a big one. But also lots of problems there. Some rank areas based on a number of undergrads ranked on the top tier of Usnews, failing to realize that there is so much out there other than undergrad.
one list that I saw ranked likelihood of a terrorist attack. Or rather the trauma, whether sentimental or economic that may result should something or some area be attacked.
isn't cultural influence and name recognition the same thing. Tourism can also go underneath that umbrella too.
In terms of size they will have to be ranked by MSA cause that is how just about any resource puts out data. So city limits, UA, CSA and especially DMA would be out.
how would you rank economy? Would it be pure Metropolitan area product? Would it be average income? Personal income? Health of industries? Balanced industries???
culture is so hard to rank. There is little consensus. People have a general
idea of what cities should be there but disagree fiercely on how they should rank.
You forgot education. That is a big one. But also lots of problems there. Some rank areas based on a number of undergrads ranked on the top tier of Usnews, failing to realize that there is so much out there other than undergrad.
one list that I saw ranked likelihood of a terrorist attack. Or rather the trauma, whether sentimental or economic that may result should something or some area be attacked.
All of them feed on one another, but there are key differences.
Cultural influence like San Jose has with social media and tech, doesn't necessarily mean San Jose is immediately on their minds even if Twitter facilitated a revolution in Egypt or Apple revolutionizes how we communicate.
Cultural influence shouldn't be grouped with tourism because cultural influence is not the same thing as culture. Cultural influence affects how we lives, so because trucker caps were popularized to the rest of the world by Brooklyn hipsters, doesn't mean it increases tourism to Brooklyn. What you're thinking of is high culture (museums/architectures/events) which is more related to tourism, but aren't necessarily culturally influential.
And economy would encompass all that you mentioned.
Denver is not ahead of Minneapolis. I know because I've lived in both cities. The fact that Minneapolis is larger in terms of population, has a higher GDP, and several more Fortune 500 companies places it well ahead of the Denver area. Furthermore, Denver should not be placed ahead of the Detroit area. I'd say these three are in the same tier, with Denver placing below Minneapolis and Detroit. Other than those to glaring mistakes, your lists decent.
I think the tiers would look more like this:
Tier 1: New York
Tier 2: Chicago, Los Angeles
Tier 3: Washington D.C., San Francisco (including Oakland), Houston, Philadelphia, Boston
Tier 4: Dallas, Miami, Atlanta
Tier 5: Seattle, Detroit, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Denver, San Jose, San Diego, Pittsburgh, St. Louis
Tier 6: New Orleans, Las Vegas, Portland, Cleveland, Baltimore, Kansas City, Charlotte
Tier 7: Orlando, San Antonio, Nashville, Indianapolis, Austin, Milwaukee, Salt Lake City, Hartford, Cincinnati, Tampa, Sacramento, Memphis
Tier 8: Riverside, Columbus, Virginia Beach, Providence, Jacksonville, Louisville, Richmond, Oklahoma City, Buffalo, Raleigh, Birmingham
I've lived in both as well. Though I agree Minneapolis is in the same tier as Denver. However, I did not notice anything that put Denver far below Minneapolis at all, and considering Denver is about 800k smaller, I think that says something. When I visited Detroit, I felt it should be in a higher tier than both.
I've lived in both as well. Though I agree Minneapolis is in the same tier as Denver. However, I did not notice anything that put Denver far below Minneapolis at all, and considering Denver is about 800k smaller, I think that says something. When I visited Detroit, I felt it should be in a higher tier than both.
Well, for starters, as of 2011, the Minneapolis area had 19 Fortune 500 companies and is home to the country's largest private company Cargill; Denver had 9. The Minneapolis area is also well ahead of Denver in regards to GDP (MPLS - $199.6B, Den - $157.6B). The MPLS area ranks above Denver in the agricultural, finance, and biomedical industries. Heck, the MPLS-STPL area alone accounts for over 20 percent of national output in the biomedical devices industry. The MPLS area is also ahead of the Denver area in terms of exports.
I also agree that Detroit could and probably should be ranked higher.
That's an illogical statement. That's like saying if it weren't for The Golden Gate Bridge, beautiful architecture and good food, SF would be nothing. Or if it weren't for finance and media, NYC would be nothing. Provenance inextricably links why an industry florishes in that region, and vice versa.
I was comparing LA to NYC and I stand by what I said. LA is unmistakingly third rate compared to NYC in every single way. Comparing LA to NYC is the same as comparing NYS to CA, illogical and stupid. Just look at their GDP, LA is half of NYC and its closer to D.C. than it is to NYC.
Sorry that it has to be our country's second city, I know it must be a real chore for LA to try and be presentable but thank goodness that CA had a golden egg in its basket with SF. Even without finance and media NYC is still very powerful. You can't do it like we do, when LA gets to our level for tech, tourism, banking, branding, etc then I would have "some" respect for LA's offerings
Another aspect for all the criteria is the ranking on growth etc.
For all these criteria there could be sub segments beyond quantitative data
Growth
Stable
Mature
Declining
etc
Not sure how would all work but they factor in
For example DFW, Houston and Philly are roughly similar today on GDP yet Houston and DFW are growing faster so just a point in time doesnt articulate all
In the same vein on cultural identity and amentity etc some places are more established while others are still developing these aspects so even with a prticular metric there are aspects of their trajectory so to speak that also play in
To me in some ways is why comparing a place like Boston to DFW is difficult in many ways and may require different segments of the tiers if that makes sense
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