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I think the obvious choices are the ones like New York City, Hong Kong, Paris, etc.
Not to be a fan boy again, but...Istanbul, again. There is a pretty big foreign born population from a number of places, but I bet most of you didn't know that Istanbul was the 10th most visited city in the *world* in 2010. 3rd most in Europe behind London and Paris. More than Rome, Milan, Madrid, Barcelona, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Amsterdam, Berlin, etc etc. It's a lot more diverse place than many people think.
Maybe top 20, there's more international cities out there, but in this regard it doesn't get enough respect.
Oh, I understand that. I actually don't think having a large array of immigrant communities is necessarily a good thing (or a bad thing). However, by what was rec'd by the OP, it's definitely a factor to be put into consideration and as such, cities such as Osaka, Seoul, and Tokyo don't weigh in strongly there. If there was a lot less about ethnic diversity and just how modern or influential or plugged into the global economy a city is, Tokyo, Seoul and maybe Osaka should make the top 10.
The thing with Osaka is that it's such a vast metropolis. It's huge, one of the worlds de facto largest cities with an oversized economy to boot.
I think the place gets unfairly overlooked because it plays second wheel to Greater Tokyo.
Japan in general meets all my requirements of "international". I finally read the OP's post and while he did emphasize on the linguistic & cosmopolitan/diversity features of a city I think he did a pretty thorough job of including other things as well.
Osaka like Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore, Bay Area (California), New York, London, Hong Kong, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, Moscow, Toronto, Berlin, Sao Paulo, Mumbai, Mexico City, Shanghai, & Paris attracts talented & educated people. It's possibly one of the most innovative cities on the entire planet. It's technology so far ahead of the rest of the world (as are Tokyo & Seoul) with such modern infrastructure, road systems, train system, & so on. Some powerful business capabilities with a world class standard on crime & poverty- in extension prosperity.
Osaka has an economy nearly as large as that of Paris. It's definitely in the business discussion with a resume like that. However if multiculturalism & linguistic diaspora were the only things we were talking about then no doubt Seoul, Tokyo, & Osaka would make their exits and Los Angles, Toronto, Chicago, or the Bay Area would make their entrances into it.
I felt sort of weird not putting Los Angeles, Toronto, & Chicago in the top 10 initially- all of which on all accounts register but then thought of an international standard of how I view cities and they just barely fell short.
Last edited by Trafalgar Law; 01-05-2013 at 11:12 PM..
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Don't confuse 'diversity' as in people of different races or whatever for being international. Chicago might have whites, blacks, latinos, asians, but they're much more likely to be culturally American than other cities. Chicago also doesn't feel very connected to the rest of the world.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kyh
I have no idea why some of you put Tokyo on the top 10 list. It's no doubt an alpha global city, but it's not even international by any standards - the Japanese character just pops up in your face everywhere you turn! Shanghai and any Chinese cities should not be on the list either, except Hong Kong.
DC is still very much American to many outsiders. Not sure about being 'Latin American' would make Miami high on the list - as I thought being international simply means being multicultural without a bias towards any other culture other than its own. An international city would need to have a substantial population of cultures and languages from all major continents in the world. The only American cities that qualify my list are New York and Los Angeles, and probably Chicago trailing behind.
Singapore and Hong Kong are international in outlook, but both cities are still Chinese at its core. And they have substantially less communities from the Americas (esp Latin America) and Africa - both are not particularly visible (I don't remember seeing any at all on my visits to Singapore). And Western expats to these two cities mainly hail from UK (due to the British colonial roots) and other Commonwealth countries (Aus especially), and very much less from other parts of Europe.
Any top ten list should definitely include New York, London, and Paris - they have communities hailing from all continents and are equally visible on the streets and not being hidden in ghettos or lost in the human sea.
I went to DC and NY and by no means did DC feel anywhere near as global as NY. Most tourists seemed to be American, while I saw many international tourists in NY.
Singapore isn't as Chinese as you think. Demographics can give a misleading picture too. Many of the 'ethnic Chinese' are very different to actual Chinese in China, they have a distinct Singaporean culture which is unique. Singapore is very different to Hong Kong, it's not as generically Chinese, and is pretty Southeast Asia in feel (aside from being so modern), with a strong Indian influence. The name Singapura indeed comes via Malay from a Sanskrit word. The last few visits to Singapore I've noticed more and more Westerners/Europeans.
Don't confuse 'diversity' as in people of different races or whatever for being international. Chicago might have whites, blacks, latinos, asians, but they're much more likely to be culturally American than other cities. Chicago also doesn't feel very connected to the rest of the world.
Have you ever been to Chicago? Because this is where I'm from and I'll tell you this is not true. If you have been to Chicago and the only place you were was the Loop or River North, then you have absolutely no basis of your opinion.
Go to Albany Park and get back to me, or go to Devon Avenue area.
Don't confuse 'diversity' as in people of different races or whatever for being international. Chicago might have whites, blacks, latinos, asians, but they're much more likely to be culturally American than other cities. Chicago also doesn't feel very connected to the rest of the world.
Chicago compared to what? It's easily more culturally diverse (not just racially/ethnically) and has a larger born population by numbers or percentages than most of the world and is regional/national/international headquarters for a lot of international corporations.
Here's a collection of indices on foreign-born population:
This is before you take into account the massive second and sometimes third generation migrants who still retain aspects of the old culture or the fairly significant internal diversity within the US (the southwest, Puerto Rico, northeasterners, african-american cultures from all parts, the upper midwest, etc.). I understand the easy argument for why LA, NYC, Paris or London in comparison to Chicago, but it's a much harder comparison in regards to other cities.
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