What country has the most unique city architectural pairings? (best city, theatres)
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I drove once from Miami to NYC and I couldn't even tell when I had crossed state lines.
EVERYTHING LOOKS THE SAME!
You're telling me you couldn't tell the difference between Latin Miami, Tropical Deco Miami Beach, highrise modernist Aventura, Italian Renaissance Palm Beach, Spanish colonial Saint Augustine, moss-covered Antebellum Savannah, Victorian Charleston, neo-classical Washington, brownstone Baltimore, British colonial Philadelphia and Art Deco New York?
That entire stretch is full of cities that all look different from each other. How sad you missed out.
Not quite. Diversity becomes more apparent with age, because you've got a larger pool of civilizations to choose from. Countries like the US and Australia are legacies of the British Empire. They also have the disadvantage of not having much left over of their native heritage, relatively speaking. Mexico, on the other hand, has a ton of architecture from the pre-Colombian era, with a number of Aztec, Mayan... sites found around.
What you say about Europeans feeling superior about their culture has some merit to it, but it's also due to them taking more proactive measures to protect their legacy, despite having some of it destroyed by war as well.
Just so you know, I'm not in the least bit anti-American. If you go over my posts, you'll find that I'm one of the most pro-US people on this site.
There are distinct developmental histories that make the architectural differences between the US and Australia quite stark. The US had multiple architectural influences, most notably from France and Spain, who colonized the US as well...
The US developed the skyscraper, and incubated a bunch of different architectural revival movements, in regular buildings and in skyscraper form, as well as modern architecture of all sorts.
Aztec and Mayan sites are artifacts more than they in any way significantly capture the architecture of Mexico. The US has old Kivas, Adobes, and Pueblos from ancient times (some even built into cliff sides) that are mirrored in the way a lot of buildings in the southwest are constructed. The US even has a few examples of European medieval architecture in the Spanish Missions around San Antonio. So that just isn't correct.
Aztec archeological sites play no role in the contemporary development of Mexican cities, they're literally just stand-alone pyramids in the middle of a forest. And that isn't what we're discussing on this forum.
I don't consider Italy to have a diverse array of varied architecture and cities just because some of them have roman ruins by them. And in many European countries, that's all the Roman history amounts to. It's often hardly visible. Europe isn't much different in that respect from the US and North America.
And the US and Australia being legacies of empires has very little if anything to do with how each country has cultivated it's cities since. Even before the US was a country, architectural influences from France, Britain, the Netherlands, and Spain were informing the development of American urban landscapes.
And I don't think Anti-Americanism isn't at play across a lot of these forums. Notice how it was the US that got attacked the most when people dared to say it was more architecturally diverse than some countries. And of course, the arguments to the contrary are always melodramatic and extreme..."the US is the ugliest country in the world - it has highways and parking lots". Yea...sure.
The narrative always seems to be "the US is worse in every way than everywhere else, especially in the developed world." And it's not hard to see that such sentiments are driven by feelings of resentment, and by a form of cultural protectionism. Or by the perception that America wins at a lot, so "I must oppose it at every turn".
Last edited by bellatrixwand; 05-05-2020 at 09:07 PM..
You're telling me you couldn't tell the difference between Latin Miami, Tropical Deco Miami Beach, highrise modernist Aventura, Italian Renaissance Palm Beach, Spanish colonial Saint Augustine, moss-covered Antebellum Savannah, Victorian Charleston, neo-classical Washington, brownstone Baltimore, British colonial Philadelphia and Art Deco New York?
That entire stretch is full of cities that all look different from each other. How sad you missed out.
He hops around to different threads to denigrate the US for this or that. I wouldn't listen to him.
There are so many giant differences between architectural and urban development to see driving from Miami to NYC. "Everything looked the same", my ass.
There are distinct developmental histories that make the architectural differences between the US and Australia quite stark. The US had multiple architectural influences, most notably from France and Spain, who colonized the US as well...
The US developed the skyscraper, and incubated a bunch of different architectural revival movements, in regular buildings and in skyscraper form, as well as modern architecture of all sorts.
Aztec and Mayan sites are artifacts more than they in any way significantly capture the architecture of Mexico. The US has old Kivas, Adobes, and Pueblos from ancient times (some even built into cliff sides) that are mirrored in the way a lot of buildings in the southwest are constructed, so that just isn't correct.
Aztec archeological sites play no role in the contemporary development of Mexican cities, they're literally just stand-alone pyramids in the middle of a forest. And that isn't what we're discussing on this forum.
I don't consider Italy to have a diverse array of varied architecture and cities just because some of them have roman ruins by them. And in many European countries, that's all the Roman history amounts to. It's often hardly visible. Europe isn't much different in that respect from the US.
And the US and Australia being legacies of empires has very little if anything to do with how each country has cultivated it's cities since. Even before the US was a country, architectural influences from France, Britain, the Netherlands, and Spain were informing the development of American urban landscapes.
And I don't think Anti-Americanism isn't at play across a lot of these forums. Notice how it was the US that got attacked the most when people dared to say it was more architecturally diverse than some countries. And of course, the arguments to the contrary are always melodramatic and extreme..."the US is the ugliest country in the world - it has highways and parking lots". Yea...sure.
The narrative always seems to be "the US is worse in every way than everywhere else, especially in the developed world." And it's not hard to see that such sentiments are driven by feelings of resentment, and by a form of cultural protectionism. Or by the perception that America wins at a lot, so "I must oppose it at every turn".
I don't disagree with that. The US has become a punching bag to due to it's influence. It's what makes it an easy target. A lot of foreigners suffer from an inferiority complex vis-a-vis the US, and it shows in their attitude, even if they don't wish to admit it. I'm Canadian, I know about that all too well.
The problem is that there are too many people who just want to boost their own country for the sake of argument, so you get people denigrating other nations and their contributions to try and make a point.
European cities have thousands of years worth of architectural diversity!! New world cities a couple of hundred at best! Yet we are supposed to think that it's New world cities that are unique! Rubbish!
This is European ignorance and arrogance at it's most classic.
You're telling me you couldn't tell the difference between Latin Miami, Tropical Deco Miami Beach, highrise modernist Aventura, Italian Renaissance Palm Beach, Spanish colonial Saint Augustine, moss-covered Antebellum Savannah, Victorian Charleston, neo-classical Washington, brownstone Baltimore, British colonial Philadelphia and Art Deco New York?
That entire stretch is full of cities that all look different from each other. How sad you missed out.
Considering it's a drive, the change is gradual, no you can't.
This is European ignorance and arrogance at it's most classic.
Age has little to do with it.
Of course age has everything to do with It! European cities (and yes that includes English ones too) have thousands of years worth of building styles! Does the 'new world' have Roman viaducts? Norman castles? The 'dreamy spires' of Oxford? A cathedral or medievel buildings as old as Canterbury's? No it has a 2 or 3 hundred years worth of buildings at best.
And the US and Australia being legacies of empires has very little if anything to do with how each country has cultivated it's cities since. Even before the US was a country, architectural influences from France, Britain, the Netherlands, and Spain were informing the development of American urban landscapes.
So what? A lot of this "Spanish" style architecture is just Spanish Revival architecture, or Spanish Colonial, or Spanish Mission which can be found in Australia. Furthermore, French architecture, from a contemporary perspective, is Art Deco...Australia has an abundance of that too.
I understand Australians have little dog syndrome, but you don't have to overstate so much. Talk about an exaggeration..
And Americans have their heads rammed up their arses. If you dislodge it, you might see the world sees you as a laughing stock.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bellatrixwand
the "big bad superpower USA" whining that they (rightfully) "win at everything, whaaa".
But you're not winning. Look at how your country is dealing with a pandemic. You're crumbling on the daily.
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