Top 10 Most International Cities in the World (crime, neighbourhood)
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I have no idea why some of you put Tokyo on the top 10 list. It's no doubt an alpha global city, but it's not even international by any standards - the Japanese character just pops up in your face everywhere you turn! Shanghai and any Chinese cities should not be on the list either, except Hong Kong.
DC is still very much American to many outsiders. Not sure about being 'Latin American' would make Miami high on the list - as I thought being international simply means being multicultural without a bias towards any other culture other than its own. An international city would need to have a substantial population of cultures and languages from all major continents in the world. The only American cities that qualify my list are New York and Los Angeles, and probably Chicago trailing behind.
Singapore and Hong Kong are international in outlook, but both cities are still Chinese at its core. And they have substantially less communities from the Americas (esp Latin America) and Africa - both are not particularly visible (I don't remember seeing any at all on my visits to Singapore). And Western expats to these two cities mainly hail from UK (due to the British colonial roots) and other Commonwealth countries (Aus especially), and very much less from other parts of Europe.
Any top ten list should definitely include New York, London, and Paris - they have communities hailing from all continents and are equally visible on the streets and not being hidden in ghettos or lost in the human sea.
This is what comes of the OP not clearly or SUCCINCTLY defining what he means by ' international '.. everyone just arguing from their own personal definitions.
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?
You may be right Shwinky, you say its a blatant frontrunner but you havent really given anything to prove this other than your 'heresay'?
1. New York
2. London
3. Tokyo
4. Paris
5. Hong Kong
6. Osaka
7. Singapore
8. Seoul
9. Moscow
10. Shanghai & Mumbai
I would say those 11 before adding in the next American city, if it ever gets around to that.
I guess it depends on how you weight the factors the OP asked to be considered, but for a lot of the ethnic and linguistic diversity stuff and for some of the international colleges and corporate headquarters, those are definitely more in favor of cities like Los Angeles, the Bay Area and maybe Chicago than for some of the cities you listed.
Here are some obligatory wikipedia links that give some rough ideas (keep in mind that the vast majority of Hong Kong's foreign born population are people from the linguistically and culturally similar/same Guangdong region of China): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign...rn_Populations
Global 2000 is a bit of a pain in the ass to compile for each metro area, so I'm lazy and just presenting the list. http://www.forbes.com/global2000/list/
I guess I should post AWRU, Times and QS rankings for higher education but that's not by metros either.
Last edited by OyCrumbler; 01-03-2013 at 12:35 PM..
I guess it depends on how you weight the factors the OP asked to be considered, but for a lot of the ethnic and linguistic diversity stuff and for some of the international colleges and corporate headquarters, those are definitely more in favor of some American cities like Los Angeles, the Bay Area and maybe Chicago than for some of the cities you listed.
Yeahh I bet but I usually don't look at other world cities with the same standards I have for the cities within the United States. By the way if we do the region of the world influence on cosmopolitanism/multiculturalism then Chicago & Bay Area are peers. Bay Area loses to Chicago in Africa, Middle East, North America, & Europe. They're tied in South America. Bay Area takes over Oceania & Asia. I created a thread on it a while back but too lazy to pull it up now. However worth noting Asia is 4/7 of the worlds population though (but that's including much of the Middle East). Washington is easily in the conversation as well, believe it or not it schools Bay Area & Chicagoland on Latin America (all of it besides Mexico) & Africa, as well has strong connections to Asia, the Middle East, & Europe. Sort of devoid on Oceania though.
For example, I expect every major city in the United States to be cosmopolitan- it's the right, progressive, embodiment of "melting pot" America. Realistically the only place in the top 11 largest U.S. metropolitans that falls short on that front is Philadelphia, which for America isn't so bad at all with the other 10 heavily represented from around the globe (Latin America & Southern/Eastern Europe in Miami's case).
I do not hold those standards for say Osaka, Seoul, & Tokyo- not with their vast superiority of technology, business, finance, education, living standard. I consider those international qualities that progressive cities should have, linguistics & multiculturalism/cosmopolitanism is fantastic but realistically it's like looking at GDP as the sole indicator of relevance for a place. It tells a lot- but not everything.
By the way, I had no idea what we were supposed to measure cities on. I didn't read the OP, this thread seemed sort of lengthy so I answered to the best of my understanding.
Yeahh I bet but I usually don't look at other world cities with the same standards I have for the cities within the United States. By the way if we do the region of the world influence on cosmopolitanism/multiculturalism then Chicago & Bay Area are peers. Bay Area loses to Chicago in Africa, Middle East, North America, & Europe. They're tied in South America. Bay Area takes over Oceania & Asia. I created a thread on it a while back but too lazy to pull it up now. However worth noting Asia is 4/7 of the worlds population though (but that's including much of the Middle East).
For example, I expect every major city in the United States to be cosmopolitan- it's the right, progressive, embodiment of "melting pot" America. Realistically the only place in the top 11 largest U.S. metropolitans that falls short on that front is Philadelphia, which for America isn't so bad at all with the other 10 heavily represented from around the globe (Latin America & Southern/Eastern Europe in Miami's case).
I do not hold those standards for say Osaka, Seoul, & Tokyo- not with their vast superiority of technology, business, finance, education, living standard. I consider those international qualities that progressive cities should have, linguistics & multiculturalism/cosmopolitanism is fantastic but realistically it's like looking at GDP as the sole indicator of relevance for a place. It tells a lot- but not everything.
Oh, I understand that. I actually don't think having a large array of immigrant communities is necessarily a good thing (or a bad thing). However, by what was rec'd by the OP, it's definitely a factor to be put into consideration and as such, cities such as Osaka, Seoul, and Tokyo don't weigh in strongly there. If there was a lot less about ethnic diversity and just how modern or influential or plugged into the global economy a city is, Tokyo, Seoul and maybe Osaka should make the top 10.
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.
São Paulo used to be much more international during the middle of the 60s than now. Currently it's undoubtly one of the most important business centres of the world, but the vast majority of the population are born in Brazil and speaks only portuguese. It may be part of the top 30 of the global cities, but not of the top 10.
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