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Old 10-18-2009, 04:04 AM
 
15 posts, read 16,260 times
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I think that cities should be classified by "livability".Of course, such a classification can be extremely subjective:Personally, what I like in a city are the following points:1. Walkable - a city where you can walk and depend on public transportation2. Safety3. Scenic, with nice buildings, museums.

 
Old 10-18-2009, 04:53 AM
 
13,498 posts, read 18,138,198 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lovely95 View Post
So I'm sitting here reading through all these city vs. city threads and how much of these "my city is better because of this and this..." yeah, yeah, yeah. This happens all the time. So I'm questioned, do other countries (maybe countries such as Brazil, China, Mexico, Australia, etc, with diversity in cities) do this as much as we do? If no or yes, what are some examples? I am wondering if we Americans are really sort of cocky of if it is all pretty normal.
I live outside the U.S. and have done a moderate amount of traveling, plus regularly participating in or at least surfing through forums that are not U.S.centric. Based on this, I come up with a yes and no answer.

City rivalries exist outside the U.S., and are often rooted in centuries of tradition (as has been mentioned about Italian cities, for example.) But for the most part I think outside the U.S. city rivalries are focused heavily on sports, and less obsessively on the cities themselves.

My experience in Europe has been that many people are often confident in and satisfied with their home cities. Chest-thumping about it would be absurd...except for sports.

My own opinion is that because American cities are quite young, and most Americans have such shallow roots no matter where they live that city pride becomes a big deal. It is reassuring, perhaps even necessary for many people, to believe that they are part of the "biggest" or "best" in a country where stability and meaning are so transient and feelings of aimlessness seem pervasive.
 
Old 10-18-2009, 07:49 AM
 
Location: Boston, MA
14,466 posts, read 11,245,012 times
Reputation: 8982
[quote=kevxu;11237899]
Quote:
City rivalries exist outside the U.S., and are often rooted in centuries of tradition (as has been mentioned about Italian cities, for example.) But for the most part I think outside the U.S. city rivalries are focused heavily on sports, and less obsessively on the cities themselves.
That's the same here. The difference being that people don't die in the US due to being the fan of one sports team over another.

Quote:
My experience in Europe has been that many people are often confident in and satisfied with their home cities. Chest-thumping about it would be absurd...except for sports.
There is a city v. city forum on City Data which is simply an exercise in good natured ribbing and regional pride. In real life there are people who think their city is a great place to live, that's about it.

Quote:
My own opinion is that because American cities are quite young, and most Americans have such shallow roots no matter where they live that city pride becomes a big deal.
You are way off base here. Ethnic pride is how people compensate for any perceived shallow roots in the US. People like to say that they are Irish or Italian or German, etc..

Quote:
It is reassuring, perhaps even necessary for many people, to believe that they are part of the "biggest" or "best" in a country where stability and meaning are so transient and feelings of aimlessness seem pervasive.
How so? I see a nation that is very purposeful. What are you seeing that the rest of us are not?
 
Old 10-18-2009, 08:05 AM
 
Location: Sandpoint, Idaho
3,007 posts, read 6,271,661 times
Reputation: 3310
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lovely95 View Post
So I'm sitting here reading through all these city vs. city threads and how much of these "my city is better because of this and this..." yeah, yeah, yeah. This happens all the time. So I'm questioned, do other countries (maybe countries such as Brazil, China, Mexico, Australia, etc, with diversity in cities) do this as much as we do? If no or yes, what are some examples? I am wondering if we Americans are really sort of cocky of if it is all pretty normal.
The US has 308+ million people, third largest behind China (1.33b) and India (1.17b). Its economy is 3x larger than #2. Its institutions and firms are considered among the most dynamic, innovative and sound.

Its history is short. It remains one of the newer countries and cultures in the world.

It is by far the most pluralistic and multicultural.

It is a Federal Republic with considerable states' rights and autonomous decision making.

It is what it is, warts and all.

There is no point in comparing. One can compare stats but not countries on such a subjective question.

I see Americans as exceedingly humble. In fact too humble and too apologetic.

S.
 
Old 10-18-2009, 08:19 AM
 
871 posts, read 1,627,245 times
Reputation: 451
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sandpointian View Post
The US has 308+ million people, third largest behind China (1.33b) and India (1.17b). Its economy is 3x larger than #2. Its institutions and firms are considered among the most dynamic, innovative and sound.

Its history is short. It remains one of the newer countries and cultures in the world.

It is by far the most pluralistic and multicultural.

It is a Federal Republic with considerable states' rights and autonomous decision making.

It is what it is, warts and all.

There is no point in comparing. One can compare stats but not countries on such a subjective question.

I see Americans as exceedingly humble. In fact too humble and too apologetic.

S.
if you had mentioned those who work at nasa who represent america, it wouldn't be so laughable.

america is not the most multicultural even though it has many immigrants. some areas are but they are pockets like shanghai is a pocket of china or hong kong. it is not indicative of the heartland of americana. unless you mean multicultural in regard to various european traditions and holidays, then yes. but overall, it is not multicultural in the sense of what people assume. it's multicultural how china has different asian ethnicities with a concentration of westerners in larger cities.
 
Old 10-18-2009, 09:00 AM
 
Location: Boston, MA
14,466 posts, read 11,245,012 times
Reputation: 8982
Quote:
Originally Posted by rory00 View Post
if you had mentioned those who work at nasa who represent america, it wouldn't be so laughable.

america is not the most multicultural even though it has many immigrants. some areas are but they are pockets like shanghai is a pocket of china or hong kong. it is not indicative of the heartland of americana. unless you mean multicultural in regard to various european traditions and holidays, then yes. but overall, it is not multicultural in the sense of what people assume. it's multicultural how china has different asian ethnicities with a concentration of westerners in larger cities.
The US currently has an immigrant population of 13%.
China's immigrant population is .05%.
 
Old 10-18-2009, 09:13 AM
 
Location: Somewhere in the universe
2,155 posts, read 4,571,271 times
Reputation: 1465
Quote:
Originally Posted by kevxu View Post
I live outside the U.S. and have done a moderate amount of traveling, plus regularly participating in or at least surfing through forums that are not U.S.centric. Based on this, I come up with a yes and no answer.

City rivalries exist outside the U.S., and are often rooted in centuries of tradition (as has been mentioned about Italian cities, for example.) But for the most part I think outside the U.S. city rivalries are focused heavily on sports, and less obsessively on the cities themselves.

My experience in Europe has been that many people are often confident in and satisfied with their home cities. Chest-thumping about it would be absurd...except for sports.

My own opinion is that because American cities are quite young, and most Americans have such shallow roots no matter where they live that city pride becomes a big deal. It is reassuring, perhaps even necessary for many people, to believe that they are part of the "biggest" or "best" in a country where stability and meaning are so transient and feelings of aimlessness seem pervasive.
Well were I live actually has a lot of history for an American city, but it doesn't seem like most American's care unless you have some sort of store or shopping center. So is it that more American's care about those things and not the real qualities of cities? Because American's are pretty insane over sports, but is it that in other countries, they actually look for different qualities in a city than American's do?
 
Old 10-18-2009, 09:32 AM
 
Location: Boston, MA
14,466 posts, read 11,245,012 times
Reputation: 8982
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lovely95 View Post
Well were I live actually has a lot of history for an American city, but it doesn't seem like most American's care unless you have some sort of store or shopping center. So is it that more American's care about those things and not the real qualities of cities? Because American's are pretty insane over sports, but is it that in other countries, they actually look for different qualities in a city than American's do?
Like what?
 
Old 10-18-2009, 11:11 AM
 
Location: Somewhere in the universe
2,155 posts, read 4,571,271 times
Reputation: 1465
Well that's what I'm wondering.
 
Old 10-18-2009, 06:57 PM
 
895 posts, read 2,362,817 times
Reputation: 366
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Joshua View Post
The US currently has an immigrant population of 13%.
China's immigrant population is .05%.
Thats immigrants. China has hundreds of language and ethnic groups inside but most are born and raised in China.

Same thing with India. India is without question probably the most diverse country in the world, but I bet the immigrant population is also tiny.
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