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WHAT MAKES A GREAT CITY GREAT? PUTTING AMERICA IN
A GLOBAL CONTEXT
Hank Savitch School of Urban Public
Affairs University of Louisville
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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
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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

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HISTORICAL 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

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Greatness

• Amplitude, majesty, intensity, prominence
• Inner ability to generate unique strength and
  attributes
• Outer ability to project uniqueness

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• Four Cs of Urban Greatness

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Concurrency

• 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

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Cosmopolitanism

• 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

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Concentration

• Centeredness through density and clustering
  (Jacobs, Porter)
• Radial Concentric City
• Monocentric and conical spatial form of
• -- Athens Agora
• -- Romes Coliseum
• -- Venices Ports
• -- Paris Golden Triangle

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Charisma

• Unique and magnetic appeal
• The character of a city that signals immediate
  recognition
• Logos
• -- Jerusalems Old City
• -- Athens Parthenon
• -- Venices Canals
• -- Paris Eiffel Tower

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Application 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

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Four 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)
• -- Boschkins K cluster of seven variable (New
  York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and San
  Francisco)

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The 4Cs in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and
San Francisco
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Concurrency

• NYCs financial power in a global and
  transnational era
• LAs film and television presence in an age of
  media
• SFs banks, insurance and visual character in a
  time of tourism
• Chicagos niche position as the second city
  with a little bit of everything

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Cosmopolitanism

• 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

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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)

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Charisma

• NYC first city to visit, move to or make a career
  (The Big Apple)
• LAs celebrities, its de-centered, outdoor life
  style (Sunny LA)
• SFs 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).

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Conclusions

• 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