Post on 29-Mar-2015
Hank SavitchSchool of Urban & Public AffairsUniversity of Louisville
WHAT MAKES A GREAT CITY GREAT? PUTTING AMERICA IN A
GLOBAL CONTEXT
London is not a pleasant place; it is not an agreeable place, or a cheerful place or easy or exempt from reproach. It is only magnificent. -- Henry James
GREATNESS DOES NOT EQUAL COMFORT
GREATNESS DOES NOT EQUAL COMFORT
• Parisian new towns vis-a-vis Paris
• New York Suburbs vis-a-vis New York City
• Tampa, Phoenix, Salt Lake City are comfortable, pleasant places but not great
HISTORICAL VIEWHISTORICAL VIEW
• Jerusalem & Rome: Religion and Politics 6th to First Centuries, CE
• Athens & Alexandria: Intellectual (Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Ptolemy) 6th to First Centuries, CE (respectively)
• Venice & Amsterdam: Seaport Trading, 13th and 17th Century (respectively)
• Florence and Paris: Art 14th to 16th and 19th (respectively)
• New York and Hong Kong: Commerce (20th and 21st centuries)
• LA (Hollywood), Seattle & Bangalore: Creativity, Innovation
GreatnessGreatness
• Amplitude, majesty, intensity, prominence
• Inner ability to generate unique strength and attributes
• Outer ability to project uniqueness
Four Cs of Urban Greatness
ConcurrencyConcurrency
• Encompass the dominant values, drives and temper (zeitgeist) of the times
– Jerusalem: Birth of 3 religions in religious era
– Athens: Philosophy in a time of searching
– Florence: Art, Birth of Renaissance
– London: Economic prowess re industrial revolution
– Seattle: Microsoft and digital age
CosmopolitanismCosmopolitanism
• Gateway to a larger world through trade, culture, immigration, other appeals
• Ethnic diversity and multi culturalism -- Athens focal point of Greek City States-- Rome center of a Mediterranean
empire-- Venice opening to the Orient-- London foreign business and
immigration
ConcentrationConcentration
• Centeredness through density and clustering (Jacobs, Porter)
• Radial Concentric City
• Monocentric and conical spatial form of -- Athens’ Agora
-- Rome’s Coliseum-- Venice’s Ports-- Paris’ Golden Triangle
CharismaCharisma
• Unique and magnetic appeal
• The character of a city that signals immediate recognition
• Logos-- Jerusalem’s Old City-- Athens’ Parthenon-- Venice’s Canals-- Paris’ Eiffel Tower
Application to American CitiesApplication to American Cities
• Revising the definition of “greatness”-- Cities still belong to nations-- Nations are limited in number of
great cities-- Cities still project national economies
• National level “great cities” as regional cores
-- Scaled down yet still outstanding-- Possessing concurrency,
cosmopolitanism, concentration and charisma
Four CitiesFour Cities
• New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco
• Basis of Selection -- Taylor and Laing, highest GNC scores
(New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco)
-- Boschkin’s “K” cluster of seven variable (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and San Francisco)
Global Network Connectivity Rankings: US, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America Cities
United States Asia Europe
New York, NY - 2 Hong Kong (SAR), China - 3 London, UK - 1
Chicago, IL - 7 Tokyo, Japan - 5 Paris, France - 4
Los Angeles, CA - 9 Singapore, Singapore - 6 Milan, Italy - 8
San Francisco, CA - 17 Taipei, Republic of China - 20 Madrid, Spain - 11
Middle East Africa Latin America
Manama, Bahrain - 90 Johannesburg, South Africa - 43 Sao Paulo, Brazil - 16
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia - 91 Cairo, Egypt - 59 Mexico City, Mexico - 18
Tel Aviv, Israel - 92 Cape Town, South Africa - 95 Buenos Aries, Argentina - 23
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - 96 Nairobi, Kenya - 100 Santiago, Chile - 57
Adapted: Taylor & Lang 2005, and GAWC Connectivity Data
The 4Cs in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles
and San Francisco
ConcurrencyConcurrency
• NYC’s financial power in a global and transnational era
• LA’s film and television presence in an age of media
• SF’s banks, insurance and visual character in a time of tourism
• Chicago’s niche position as the “second city” with a little bit of everything
CosmopolitanismCosmopolitanism
• NYC as the immigrant/multi cultural city as both un American and typically American
• LA as the Western gateway for Asians and Latin Americans
• SF as the great tourist attraction combined with its being the “gay capital” of America
• Chicago, again the “second city”; niche position with a little bit of everything
Concentration Concentration
• NYC with two central business districts (mid town and lower Manhattan); highest central city density in the country
• Chicago mid level skyline
• SF smaller and lower and skyline; compact CBD and waterfront
• LA is the outlier as a low density and poly nucleated (“LA School” claim to “post modernism”)
CharismaCharisma
• NYC first city to visit, move to or make a career (“The Big Apple”)
• LA’s celebrities, its de-centered, outdoor life style (“Sunny LA”)
• SF’s urbane beauty, charm and nostalgia coupled to left leaning politics and social tolerance (“City on the Bay”)
• Chicago history (gangsters, stockyards, machine politics, sports teams) coupled to a current combination of amenities (“The Windy City”).
The 4 C's Ranking
New York,
NY Chicago,
IL
San Francis
co, CA
Los Angeles
, CA
Concurrency
GMP (US $Billion) 1,210.2
1/25 506.1
3/25 298.3 8/25 697.9 2/25
Employment Total 3,712,931
1/25
1,249,185
3/25 405,303
11/25 1,782,153 2/25
Cosmopolitanism
Immigrants 3,038,139
1/25 599,802
3/25 270,357 9/25 1,507,032 2/25
Foreign Tourist 7,646,000
1/25
1,147,000
8/25 2,270,000 4/25 2,652,000 2/25
Concentration
Central City Density (Sq Mile) 26,403
1/25 12,750
3/25 16,634 2/25 7,877 8/25
Size of Downtown (Sq Miles) 7.82
1/25 3.36
2/25 2.34 6/25 1.25
11/25
Charisma
Google Hits (millions) 1,100
1/25 447
2/25 315 5/25 361 4/25
Top 10 Most Desirable Cities 21% 3/10 13% 5/10 13% 5/10 40% 1/10
ConclusionsConclusions
• Not all cities can be Great Cities-- need “4C” requisites-- it is enough to be a “good city”-- cities still attempt copy cat, superficial
efforts (convention centers, sports stadia, invented museums)
• Niche positioning possible-- meeting “4C” requisites (structural
issue)-- skillful development strategy (agency
issue)-- Chicago
• City Greatness is dynamic-- conditions change and so do cities-- shifted greatness in ancient, medieval
and modern cities-- future shifts to Beijing, Mumbai and
Sydney