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Windsor Ontario feels big for it's size, but only because of Detroit. People not familiar with the city, are usually shocked that such a modest city, could sport such an impressive skyline.
Places like Hong Kong and Singapore seem very busy relative to their size even more so than a city like NYC due to their population density. A lot of medium sized cities in Europe feel relatively busy as well, whereas their generally suburban American and Australian counterparts often give the impression of a large country town.
10-01-2012, 09:52 AM
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Originally Posted by portlanderinOC
Portland and Seattle feel big for their population, in fact so do most Northwest cities. Tacoma has a pretty impressive skyline for one.
Vancouver and Seattle feel bigger than their population size, but that is not really true for Portland.
Portland definitely has a difference in appearance and character from Vancouver/Seattle, mostly because it overall has lower density, more houses/less large buildings, and not much of a skyline compared to those 2 cities. The mentality with the people in Vancouver/Seattle vs. Portland also shows the difference.
Portland overall does not seem bigger or smaller relative to population size.
Outside of Vancouver and Seattle, most other cities in the Pacific Northwest seem to fit their population size. The other exception is Bellevue which appears a bit bigger.
10-01-2012, 10:28 AM
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Originally Posted by Trimac20
Washington DC also isn't an 'ordinary' city, being the seat of government of the United States. I felt the downtown was pretty spread out, as there are no really tall buildings, although no less urban than cities with a lot of skyscrapers. DC no doubt probably feels more urban overall than Atlanta or Houston with their glittering towers. I thought it had a pretty cool vibe, it was more bustling than I thought, I'd rate it similar to Boston in downtown activity/vibrancy. For history buffs etc there's a ton to see in terms of museums and other places that you don't find in other cities.
NYC is amazing, I've yet to visit the rest but would like to. I liked Boston, DC, LA and New Orleans. Nashville and Austin were ok. Chicago has a pretty cool looking skyline though.
I think each Australian and presumably Canadian city has it's own character. I mean I think all of our cities are quality and don't feel too generic, they're changing really fast too. You don't see the decay like you see in the States because we're a growing economy. I don't know about laid back. Like I said it's the only city I've been pushed on the elevator and drivers are pretty impatient. The traffic is as bad as I've seen anywhere in the world, and it's not uncommon for people to drive over 2 hours to work. I think few American cities beat Sydney, actually. Aside from the likes of NYC and Chicago it's more cities with cool architecture like Boston, Philly, SF, NOLA.
Yeah Perth ain't too bad, it's changing a lot though, some massive developments all around the city. I hope to move to Melbourne soon, it's still one of my favourite cities.
I agree with most of what you say about Washington DC. However, I feel very mixed about Washington DC’s vibe. I enjoy that it has a very middle class yuppie vibe, but too much about politics. I find politics overrated and repetitive in the USA lately so DC is not really a place to be for me. Washington DC also feels a bit rigid, tense, pretentious, and not easygoing and fun loving enough.
There is at least 5 cities in the USA (Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, New York City, Chicago) that are clearly better than Washington DC for plenty of categories.
The best cities in the USA for me are Seattle and Portland. Also true for New York City and Chicago but I feel a bit more mixed about them compared to the other 2 cities.
For Canada, I already know Montreal and Vancouver are the best places for me there and better than Toronto for that. For Australia, Melbourne and Sydney.
There is plenty of amazing cities all over the world, not just NYC. New York City is certainly overrated in plenty of ways, and still has some flaws/weaknesses, especially for long term day to day life. Although, there is plenty I enjoy about it too.
I lived in both Seattle, and New York City in my lifetime so far. I definitely want to live in more places and find that intellectually stimulating, fun, and inspiring to experience living in more places.
After 5 years I probably am going to move somewhere new, but maybe even as soon as 2 years.
I agree with what you said about Australia and Canada. There is plenty to enjoy about Australia and Canada. Those 2 countries have quite close connections with each other and has a surprising amount of similarities. There also appears to be a lot of people that move between those 2 countries.
Good luck on your move to Melbourne! However, that is good you realize Perth is not that bad and still has some nice qualities about it. You probably just need a change of scenery and experience more of Australia.
Maastricht in the Netherlands has a population of 120,000 but its just as busy and vibrant as a city with half a million people. Population density is very high and lots of people commute there from neighboring countries.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Originally Posted by ragnarkar
Feel big for their size:
San Francisco
Las Vegas
Vancouver
Denver
Reno
Zurich
Amsterdam
Macau
Feel small for their size:
San Jose
Los Angeles
Detroit
Phoenix
Indianapolis
Funny the official/technical city centre of Las Vegas, not the strip which isn't even in the City of Las Vegas, it has one of the poorest of any city I've ever seen. It's deserted and feels more fit for a city of 50,000 than Vegas' size.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,076,059 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by
I agree with most of what you say about Washington DC. However, I feel very mixed about Washington DC’s vibe. I enjoy that it has a very middle class yuppie vibe, but too much about politics. I find politics overrated and repetitive in the USA lately so DC is not really a place to be for me. Washington DC also feels a bit rigid, tense, pretentious, and not easygoing and fun loving enough.
There is at least 5 cities in the USA (Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, New York City, Chicago) that are clearly better than Washington DC for plenty of categories.
The best cities in the USA for me are Seattle and Portland. Also true for New York City and Chicago but I feel a bit more mixed about them compared to the other 2 cities.
For Canada, I already know Montreal and Vancouver are the best places for me there and better than Toronto for that. For Australia, Melbourne and Sydney.
There is plenty of amazing cities all over the world, not just NYC. New York City is certainly overrated in plenty of ways, and still has some flaws/weaknesses, especially for long term day to day life. Although, there is plenty I enjoy about it too.
I lived in both Seattle, and New York City in my lifetime so far. I definitely want to live in more places and find that intellectually stimulating, fun, and inspiring to experience living in more places.
After 5 years I probably am going to move somewhere new, but maybe even as soon as 2 years.
I agree with what you said about Australia and Canada. There is plenty to enjoy about Australia and Canada. Those 2 countries have quite close connections with each other and has a surprising amount of similarities. There also appears to be a lot of people that move between those 2 countries.
Good luck on your move to Melbourne! However, that is good you realize Perth is not that bad and still has some nice qualities about it. You probably just need a change of scenery and experience more of Australia.
Portland seems to be an 'in' city at the moment, as does Melbourne. I like this promo video of Portland:
My friend lives there and he likes it, although he wants to move to Canada.
I agree NYC isn't the perfect city. I still think it's amazing, but I think I got caught up in how 'famous' it was. It felt like being in a movie or something. In terms of big city buzz it's not alone.
I might still go for a working holiday in Canada next year. Ideally I'd spend 6 months in BC, in Vancouver or one of the ski resorts, and 6 months somewhere in the Maritime provinces, maybe Halifax. Have you been to the Maritimes?
I've lived in Perth my whole life so am really keen for a change. Who knows, I might be in Canada this time next year.
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