London vs Sydney vs Toronto vs New York City (apartment, homes)
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Architecture : London People/Diversity : NYC Food : NYC Nightlife : NYC, though I love the nightlife in England outside of London more Standard/Quality of Living : Toronto probably, basing this on cost Economy : NYC Politics : Toronto Climate and Environment : Sydney, though I hate the heat. I prefer London's here, but no one I know does Education : Up to high school, not NYC. College I think it's a 4 way tie Entertainment (museums, theaters, music scene, dance) : NYC Infrastructure and Transportation : Toronto? Maybe Sydney Surroundings : Sydney Fashion : Go to a different country for this... Literary/Cinematic/Televisual impact and exports : NYC
London does very well in terms of educational institutions and culture -
Quote:
Originally Posted by BBC
Culture capital
For students in London there is a higher concentration of world-class institutions than in any other city, including Imperial College, University College London, the London School of Economics and King's College.
Students also have access to the cultural life of museums, theatres, cinemas and restaurants.
As for the weather London is a pretty dry city (despite its ridiculous stereotype), it gets less rain per year than Paris, Rome, New York and Istanbul, it gets mild winters and pleasantly warm Summers, not as 'nice' as Sydney for sure but certainly better than Toronto and New York. As for your 600 mile comment, thats more than the whole length of England! Within 600 miles of London there is (not including English cities):-
Edinburgh
Paris
Brussels
Amsterdam
Nantes
Frankfurt
Hamburg
Antwertp
Dortmund
Zurich
Bern
Cologne
etc etc
London is less than 600 miles from Netherlands, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark. its less than 700 miles from Italy, Czech Rebublic, Austria, Poland, Norway & Sweden.
Basically what you and Shirleyeve say about London is equivalent to me assuming that Sydney was nothing but 'outback' desert scrub and that Toronto is just situated in a 'frozen' wasteland!! Both of which would be very poor assumptions on my behalf.
New York gets more downpours in the summer than London. I think whenever British people try to make the subversive claim that the UK/London don't get as much rain as certain areas of the US, they have to realize that most areas of the UK are definitely more overcast and drizzly.
In terms architecture London with it's long history and UN World Heritage sites usually wins.
LOL, I think he's talking about his opinion. World Heritage sites are somewhat arbitrary, and long history doesn't itself make the architecture more impressive
Certainly London has some older pieces of architecture, and certainly beautiful pieces of architecture, but I'd put them on about the same level as far as architecture goes, and I could see why people would give the edge to New York in that sense. It's architecture is huge and monumental and it has a unique vernacular of skyscrapers in all sorts of art deco and neo gothic styles. It still has tons of it's own unique architectural history, even if the city isn't as old as London, or some other western European cities - it's still decently old.
History does not itself make impressive architecture, just saying. In most cases, you have to point out when buildings in London are of a certain age - it's often not incredibly evident.
Last edited by geriatricfairy; 05-26-2020 at 06:54 AM..
Education:
1) London 2) Sydney 3) Toronto 4) New York
Not too sure on this one either. New York has Columbia University but London has the London School of Economics, University of London, UCL, Imperial College which are among the best in the world. Aside from universities, public school in the USA is really lacking these days - Australia, Canada and the UK seem to fund education better.
I'm confused by this. Who are you to say that public school in the USA "is really lacking these days" - no it isnt.
There are arbitrary measurements like the PISA test, which attempt to index global public education systems, but they don't prove American public schools to be lacking, and Australia, Canada, and the UK don't "fund education better".
Yes, "the USA sucks at everything" - Massachusetts public schools rank among Finland and South Korea. I think you'd expect to get a better secondary education in Massachusetts than, say, Queensland or Alberta.
There are way more public schools in the much more populous and racially stratified US, and the outliers vary more from the median/average, which affects the US's average score on a lot of those broad averages common to certain QOL measurements, like "quality of education" - even so, it's never ranked particularly poorly.
Last edited by geriatricfairy; 05-26-2020 at 07:03 AM..
London has 2000+ years of architecture! From Roman buildings to the shard! New York a couple of hundred years only!
Oy vey - you again.
This doesn't make it's architecture certifiably more impressive. NYC has architectural pieces dating back to the 1600s, so a few, either way, London's roman architecture is hardly visible.
LOL, I think he's talking about his opinion. World Heritage sites are somewhat arbitrary, and long history doesn't itself make the architecture more impressive
Certainly London has some older pieces of architecture, and certainly beautiful pieces of architecture, but I'd put them on about the same level as far as architecture goes, and I could see why people would give the edge to New York in that sense. It's architecture is huge and monumental and it has a unique vernacular of skyscrapers in all sorts of art deco and neo gothic vernaculars. It still has tons of it's own unique architectural history, even if the city isn't as old as London, or some other western European cities - it's still decently old.
History does not itself make impressive architecture, just saying. In most cases, you have to point out when buildings in London are of a certain age - it's often not incredibly evident.
Definitely Sydney. Great weather, great size, beautiful place, clean, and the Aussie accent and lifestyles are hard to beat, in my opinion.
Toronto second, Toronto has a lot going for it and will definitely be a major player in the future. Could definitely imagine myself living there.
London, while having never been, so can't speak on it fully, seems like a fantastic place, but the weather puts me off.
New York, while interesting and definitely a world class city, felt like somewhat like a developing country when you leave the major areas of Manhattan (which are really quite clean and well maintained). Rats, garbage everywhere, and some sketchy people being visible pretty much wherever you go. Saw at least one fight or confrontation on the train every day I was there for more than a week. Had a lot of fun, and can see the appeal, but doesn't vibe well with me in terms of living there, particularly regarding the high living costs for what you get in return.
In terms of high living costs for what you get in return, London and Sydney would be much worse than NYC.
In addition, saying New York city feels like a developing country outside of Manhattan does feel like the usually melodramatic anti-americanism. If you've never been to Paris or Rome or the projects just outside of London or Manchester...these places look as bad, if not poorer than most downtrodden parts of American cities, with the difference usually being higher crime in the US (though not all the time).
I think the difference is that Europeans are uncomfortable with the presence of poverty around wealth when they come to the states, whereas Americans more so notice and are unsettled by the comparative lack of visible wealth in Europe - larger portions of Europe, as well as areas fringing London and particularly Paris, felt almost entirely working class/near poverty level compared to back home in Chicago, where you would have some working class suburbs, and then stretches of extremely genteel suburbs with huge houses and a much more visible and high rate of financial consumption/disposable income - which you don't see as much of in Europe, generally. When you do, they're usually in metropolitan centers, and don't usually consist of single family homes, more so row-houses and apartments.
In terms of high living costs for what you get in return, London and Sydney would be much worse than NYC.
In addition, saying New York city feels like a developing country outside of Manhattan does feel like the usually melodramatic anti-americanism. If you've never been to Paris or Rome or the projects just outside of London or Manchester...these places look as bad, if not poorer than most downtrodden parts of American cities, with the difference usually being higher crime in the US (though not all the time).
I think the difference is that Europeans are uncomfortable with the presence of poverty around wealth when they come to the states, whereas Americans more so notice and are unsettled by the comparative lack of visible wealth in Europe - larger portions of Europe, as well as areas fringing London and particularly Paris, felt almost entirely working class/near poverty level compared to back home in Chicago, where you would have some working class suburbs, and then stretches of extremely genteel suburbs with huge houses and a much more visible and high rate of financial consumption/disposable income - which you don't see as much of in Europe, generally. When you do, they're usually in metropolitan centers, and don't usually consist of single family homes, more so row-houses and apartments.
This varies though.
The suburbs of London are among the richest parts of the country!!
The suburbs of London are among the richest parts of the country!!
London has some fanastic suburbs, and many traditionaly poor areas have seen massive gentrification and investment, and new housing schemes in London must include an affrdable element to get planning permission.
London's fringes are surrounded by a greenbelt and a wealthy leafy stockbroker belt in the Home Counties.
There are also some very wealthy Manchester suburbs -such as Hale which is full of massive houses and of course has Cheshire one of the richest counties in the North on it's doorstep.
Furthermore London a city of over 9 million, with 4 million commuters and 20 million foreign visitors has 149 murders last year.
Greater Manchester with a population of 2.8 million had 39 murders in 2019, and Manchester is a thriving student city, and has also seen a lot of investment and change.
Chicago with a population of 2.7 million had 490 murders last year.
Last edited by Brave New World; 05-26-2020 at 08:56 AM..
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