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1. London
2. New York
3. Paris
4. Sao Paulo
5. Dubai
6. Amsterdam
7. Toronto
8. Shangai
9. Hong Kong
10. Los Angeles
I've picked them up according to my definition of International: A International City is a place where you have more chances to face foreign people and culture. It's also a city prepared to receive them, offering its services and solutions im more than just one language. No place in the world surpasses London. You can find people from any country there. Right after it, we have New York city, World's financial capital, a huge monster when it comes to multiculturalism but, since 9/11, foreigners' entrance process have become a lot harder. Paris is also a world reference for people willing to study or make business.
All cities I mentioned above have ways to welcome those people. Sao Paulo has a secular deficiency of infrastructure, laws and education to understand and assimilate that we have to respect people from all over the world( I live in Sao Paulo, I know what I'm talking about). However, you can find here large descendents' generations from many countries such as Italy, Germany, Japan, Ukraine, Lebanon, Swiss, Russia, Egypt and elsewhere...It's true that we have the largest Japanese and Italian communities out of that countries. I guess it allows me to include Sao Paulo on that list.
Dubai is the brand new fashion. It has potential to become as much important as London, but not for now. The other ones I'm not so sure about. Perhaps they may be changed for other cities.
I mostly agree your list. What I think makes all the difference to London and ranks it higher than NY is something that at first might seem like a detail: its geographical position.
London is within the EU, therefore it's easy for other Europeans to move there. Besides, it's halfway between Asia and the Americas and it's much closer to Africa and the Middle East.
P.S. I would definitely put LA in 4th place though, it's much more international than Sao Paulo.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ricardobrazil
10 most "International" cities are:
1. London
2. New York
3. Paris
4. Sao Paulo
5. Dubai
6. Amsterdam
7. Toronto
8. Shangai
9. Hong Kong
10. Los Angeles
I've picked them up according to my definition of International: A International City is a place where you have more chances to face foreign people and culture. It's also a city prepared to receive them, offering its services and solutions im more than just one language. No place in the world surpasses London. You can find people from any country there. Right after it, we have New York city, World's financial capital, a huge monster when it comes to multiculturalism but, since 9/11, foreigners' entrance process have become a lot harder. Paris is also a world reference for people willing to study or make business.
All cities I mentioned above have ways to welcome those people. Sao Paulo has a secular deficiency of infrastructure, laws and education to understand and assimilate that we have to respect people from all over the world( I live in Sao Paulo, I know what I'm talking about). However, you can find here large descendents' generations from many countries such as Italy, Germany, Japan, Ukraine, Lebanon, Swiss, Russia, Egypt and elsewhere...It's true that we have the largest Japanese and Italian communities out of that countries. I guess it allows me to include Sao Paulo on that list.
Dubai is the brand new fashion. It has potential to become as much important as London, but not for now. The other ones I'm not so sure about. Perhaps they may be changed for other cities.
On a subjective level, what do you feel are the 10 most 'international feeling' cities in the world? Some criteria to consider:
No. of international passenger arrivals AND diversity of the visitor's country of origin
How many visitors you see in the CBD as a percentage of residents/workers
How many ethnic type restaurants you see in the CBD
How many ethnic enclaves are found OUTSIDE the CBD and inner suburbs
How well connected the city is to the wider region and the world
The percentage of total residents born in another country
The ethnic and linguistic diversity of the city's inhabitants
How many major international corporations/organisations are headquartered in the city
How many international conventions/colleges.etc are found in the city
Include MAJOR world cities with a population of at least 1 million in the metropolitan area.
My ranking:
1. London
2. Singapore
3. New York
4. Dubai
5. Toronto
6. Sydney
7. Melbourne
8. Auckland
9. San Francisco
10. Montreal
You failed to mention Vancouver which aound 30% of the people are Chinese, a higher percentage of Chinese live there compared to Sydney as at least 18% of Sydney population is Asian. In addition an further 5% of Vancouver population is Phillipino.
I think SF is more international in a real sense than DC, and Miami too. Sure, DC has the political clout, but the Bay Area (which is more what i talk about when I mention SF. So I should mention SF/SJ/Bay area) has the IT, which arguably have had an even bigger impact on the world. Also, SF itself seems far more global while DC still feels very American so I'll go SF as more global than DC or Chicago.
SF Bay Area should be on everyone's list.
This is where Google (largest search engine), Apple (largest in consumer computing and richest of all companies), Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter (responsible for Arab Spring), Oracle and Cisco, gaming companies like EA and Znyga, Ebay, HP, Intel (semiconductors in all computers), Salesforce (cloud computing), Adobe, etc.
And you got Pixar (best in computer animated movies) and Lucas Films (inventor of Star Wars).
Then you have biotechnology borned here in Genentech (world's most successful in large molecules) and a leading hub for biotech/pharmceuticals .
You have three of the best universities in the world in UCSF, UC Berkeley, and Stanford.
Then you have the region leading in green tech with the most funding in the world.
Then you got one of the world's most diverse population (an example, largest Chinatown in the country) from all walks of life including gays and lesbians and leads in the is country's cultural activism (i.e. humanitarian rights).
Last edited by ubringliten; 06-11-2012 at 10:56 AM..
in a real sense no. When you say 'international i get a vague sense you mean a lot of foreign immigrants, a lot of media hype, and a strong economy. To me all that spells is that the city is famous, diverse, and rich.
An international city is a city where a lot of businessmen, politicians, bankers, diplomats live, jet to and between and decide actions that effect the rest of the world. Decisions are made in dc/nyc that effect if there will be a war, if the global economy contracts or not, etc. Nothing of that importance gets decided in SF/bay area or LA or Chi. Nor are these places on the short list of places the politicos fly to and between. No where NEAR DC and NYC. That DC feels very american is not important to this discussion, it doesn't have the immigrant diversity of SF (especially within the city, the suburbs are actually more diverse) but its impact is far more international than SF/Bay.
As to MIA, everything I said about NYC/DC applies to MIA except substitute the world for latin america. you actually need to know spanish (in addition to english) to climb the corporate ladder in MIA. Hell, you'll probably get farther in MIA knowing JUST spanish than JUST english. No other us city can claim that.
And there are plenty of other cities that export globally influential products. Atlanta exports CNN/Coca Cola. Detroit: automobiles. Seattle: Amazon and Microsoft.
Sorry, but a larger percentage of what goes on in Washington is domestic issues moreso than international. Most world issues are handled at the UN which is in New York.
A good indicater of how international a city is how many foreign flag airlines serve that city from all corners of the globe. San Francisco has more foreign airlines serving it from every region on earth except Africa. It also has a larger number of foreign carriers than DC. San Francisco is the big dog for finance on the West Coast. Silicon Valley has an even greater effect on the world than Washington politics.
San Francisco has an abundance of foreign consolates, also one of the largest ports in the US (Port Of Oakland). The Bay Area is more diverse than DC and as far as culture, SF blows DC away. A strong argument can be made for San Francisco being ranked 2nd or 3rd in the US in international notoriety, and DC is either 4th or 5th with Chicago in the mix.
My list:
New York
London
Paris
Tokyo
Hong Kong
Los Angeles
Sydney
San Francisco
Toronto
Mumbai
New york is easily #1. As you go around the web you see all people bashing new york but its similar to people saying "lebron sucks". They're just bashing NYC because it is the blatant frontrunner. NYC is by far the most international when you break it down. The most cultured, so many different urban environments, the United Nations is there. How can you say its not the most international?
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