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Take Japan. While Japan offers a lot for tourists, its cities tend to be extremely homogenous in built form. Osaka, Tokyo, Fukuoka, Sapporo, Nagoya, etc. all look visually similar. Even Kyoto, the most unique of Japan's cities, is largely homogenous in its majority residential areas.
Now think of the U.S. A city like Boston will never be visually mistaken for a Miami or a Chicago or a San Francisco or a Las Vegas. In fact, the U.S.'s major cities have extreme architectural and visual diversity.
Atlanta, Dallas, Houston have a similar modernist Sunbelt sprawl look.
Boston and Philadelphia are colonial
New York is unique for its extreme density and its vast swathe of 20th century gems.
Washington is neo-classical
Chicago is architecturally avant-garde with a blend of quirky modernism and some pre-war gems.
Las Vegas is vast sprawl with a bright neon corridor.
San Francisco's hills and Queen Anne architecture are unmistakable
Miami's Art Deco and tropical look are unique in America
New Orleans's French Quarter and Caribbean look are unique
Then there are smaller cities: Honolulu, Santa Fe, Savannah, Charleston, etc.
The U.S. has a varied urban typology. Nobody should ever mistake Miami for San Francisco, New York for Washington, Las Vegas for Boston, Philadelphia for Seattle or San Antonio for Chicago.
What countries have a diverse urban pairing beyond the U.S.?
For some major countries, my thoughts:
Australia: Homogenous
Brazil: Homogenous
Canada: Homogenous
China: Moderate diversity
France: Moderate diversity
Germany: Homogenous
India: High diversity
Italy: High diversity
Israel: High diversity
Japan: Homogenous
Mexico: Homogenous
Russia: Homogenous
South Korea: Homogenous
Spain: High diversity
Turkey: Moderate diversity
United Kingdom: Homogenous
Vietnam: Moderate diversity
Homogenous: Most major cities in the country look extremely similar. Telling one city apart from another is difficult.
Per capita, a country like Slovenia would do very well. It has mountain towns, baroque towns, Mediterranean towns with orange roofs, industrial towns. Lots of diversity for its size.
The same for Belgium.
Of course, Spain is to me the European winner: Gaudist Barcelona, Gothic Santiago de Compostela, modernist Bilbao, beaux arts Madrid, Roman Merida, Moorish Granada, imperial Seville, etc. Lots of diversity.
So what country has the most unique urban architectural pairings to you?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by manitopiaaa
Canada: Homogenous
For Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary, I would agree the building style is similar and fairly homogenous (obviously with variable settings and sizes), But I don't think anyone would mistake Montreal or Ottawa with any of those cities. There isn't any major city in Canada that really looks like Montreal, skyline, rowhomes, churches, really all its architectural elements are not found elsewhere in Canada. Like Santa Fe and Charleston in the US, there are also smaller standouts in Canada architecturally such as Victoria, BC, Quebec City, and St. John's NL.
Last edited by Champ le monstre du lac; 03-08-2020 at 06:28 AM..
For Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary, I would agree the building style is similar and fairly homogenous (obviously with variable settings and sizes), But I don't think anyone would mistake Montreal or Ottawa with any of those cities. There isn't any major city in Canada that really looks like Montreal, skyline, rowhomes, churches, really all its architectural elements are not found elsewhere in Canada. Like Santa Fe and Charleston in the US, there are also smaller standouts in Canada architecturally such as Victoria, BC, Quebec City, and St. John's NL.
That's true. Saint John's, Quebec City, Victoria are pretty unique in North America. Quebec City for its French form, Victoria for its British form and Saint John's for the pastels.
On the whole though, Canada's biggest cities (Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg) all look similar. Even Montreal has a very North American vernacular (though some residential areas are visually striking).
Ottawa to me felt very much like other Canadian cities. Parliament Hill and Chateau Frontenac make it discernible, but most of the city looks no different than any other Canadian city.
For a smaller country, Germany has really diverse looking cities and architecture. The first major cities that remained continually inhabited are from the Roman Empire days and the long period of time where what is now Germany were different polities and in fairly different topographies and allied to different countries, religions and industries meant there was a fair bit of variation in vernacular architecture. The two World Wars also meant some parts of some places were demolished and either rebuilt, though often with substantial differences from the past, or created wholly different and the Cold War division for decades under very different economic and social systems and during rather large population boom years means that even fairly recent developments can vary quite a bit.
That's true. Saint John's, Quebec City, Victoria are pretty unique in North America. Quebec City for its French form, Victoria for its British form and Saint John's for the pastels.
On the whole though, Canada's biggest cities (Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg) all look similar. Even Montreal has a very North American vernacular (though some residential areas are visually striking).
Ottawa to me felt very much like other Canadian cities. Parliament Hill and Chateau Frontenac make it discernible, but most of the city looks no different than any other Canadian city.
I think you meant Château Laurier. The Frontenac is the focal point of Quebec City's old town.
But I'd totally agree that Ottawa isn't that different from the "mainline" Canadian cities you mentioned, outside of the parliamentary precinct - which is only a half-dozen blocks really.
You have Cold, Rainy; Bogota, Pasto and Tunja with an Andean colonial style historical core, dark brick facades elsewhere and a traditional tweed style dress mixed with Andean ruanas...
You have the Tropical colonial cities of the Caribbean; Cartagena of Indies and Santa Marta with a classic but colourful Spanish Caribbean style and coastal high-rises.
You have the mixed modernist and Republican architecture of the Coffee Region cities + quaint republican-style town feel and nearby coffee farms/villages; Pereira, Manizales and Armenia...
You also have the more generic large-city styles of modernist lighter coloured brick mid-rises with little to nearly no historical core but good infrastructure and amenities such as Medellin, Bucaramanga, Barranquilla and to some extent Cali.
You also have the Andalucian-style white-washed cities of the Colombian bayou in the lower Magdalena-Cauca river Valleys such as Valledupar, Monteria and Sincelejo
You also have the more generic mid-sized cities of the low-lying Andean foothills in the country interior Valledupar, Neiva and Ibague.
There are also outliers like the jungle towns of Quibdo and Leticia with very basic amenities or the Andean white-washed city of Popayan or the English Caribbean style architecture of Old Town, Providence and Spratt Bight, San Andres.
Those brick row houses in Bogota are pretty cool and not common in Latam, at least that I know of.
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