Sydney, naturally.
I’ve spent time in both New York and London and would say London is the greater city, for all the reasons given above. It’s certainly the first one that came to mind for me, per the OP.
That said, I’m a bit surprised that we’re two pages in and nobody’s voted for Rome.
Agreed. New York is a city that knows how to promote the hell out of itself, and New Yorkers aren’t exactly shy about professing their love either. Not that there’s anything cynical about it - it just is. Plus there’s the fact that these boards are mostly populated by Americans…
As others have said, a lot, actually. And bear in mind that while New York may have technically been founded in the 1600s, it scarcely qualified as a city for much of that time. As late as 1800, New York had a population of less than 80,000. In the same time period, London had over a million.
Not that history and population size are the be all and end all - but it’s another mark in London’s favor.
Don’t agree at all, I think London is as near its prime as it has ever been.
Budapest
London
York Pennsylvania. Oh wait. You said greatest, not worst.
I think the trouble started when a bunch of people got underwater on their mortgages.
- NY
- NY
- NY
I live in Montreal, a very nice city, but NY is where I would live if I could get decent health care. I never saw that attraction of London. Paris and Tokyo are extraordinary, albeit in different ways. I loved Zurich for various reasons.
NYC. However, personally I’d prefer to live in London (if I had the money and wanted to move out of the USA).
First comes to mind = where I live, New York.
But I haven’t lived in London yet. And I really really want to. I’ll feel massively deprived if I don’t.
(Not saying I won’t conclude that NYC is the greatest city in the world after doing so, but I want to check it out)
(Also Tokyo. And Mexico City)
Honestly? The first city that came to mind is New York City. Would never want to live there, it’s not my favorite city in the world, but it’s definitely the first city I think of when I hear the phrase “Greatest City in the World”.
Lived there for nearly six years. It was great, but I’m a bit surprised it comes to mind as “greatest city in the world,” no knock on Budapest or Hungary. Just surprised others find it as compelling.
New York is what I think of first, but it isn’t the greatest city in the world IMO.
Probably Dubai, as it truly is “great”. Nothing short of a marvel.
The thing about New York is how *inclusive *it is. With London, Paris or Tokyo you have to spend decades there until you’re considered a “local”, but with New York, assimilation takes weeks, if that. It doesn’t matter where you came from, you don’t even have to speak the language, so long as you’ve put down your first months rent, your last months rent and your deposit, you’re a New Yorker.
New Yorkers look down on tourists and loathe people from New Jersey, but are remarkably tolerant of new residents - in fact, they tend to assume that most New Yorkers come from somewhere else, and don’t have a problem with that. Can you say the same about London?
Actually, you’ve just describe London to a ‘t’. More than 25% of London residents are foreign born - so that doesn’t even include people who are the children of immigrants or migrants from other parts of the UK (like me). I don’t often meet someone actually born in London.
To be honest, this is one respect where I find New York and London very very similar - its shifting workforce/cultural make-up. I find them both very similar in other respects as well (culture, creativity/the arts, business types, pace). London and NYC are much more like each other than London is to the UK, or NYC to the US. I’ve visited NYC many many times (my ex lived there) and think I could easily slot in and feel at home. I couldn’t say the same of moving to any other foreign city, or even a few British cities!
New York, even though I live in London. I just think that if you were asked to think of an image, say for a computer icon or poster, that instantly communicated the idea of “city”, your first instinct would be for something that looked more like Manhattan than Westminster.
Las Vegas (because somebody has to say Las Vegas)
My vote goes to London. My favorite city in the world.
You’re right. The Royal Society is only 350 years old, having been founded only a few years before New Amsterdam was renamed.
Dubai is an illusion built on slave labor, and many think it’s headed for a crash, literally just a few years after arriving as a major city. I wouldn’t call it great in any but the worst senses of the term.
Agreed re: Dubai. It is a facade with little depth. The big fancy malls could be plopped down anywhere in the western world and not be out of place. And other than shopping, I’m not sure what else there is to do there that doesn’t take more than a day or two.