PowerPoint Template

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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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Global Network Connectivity Rankings US, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America Cities Global Network Connectivity Rankings US, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America Cities 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 Adapted Taylor Lang 2005, and GAWC Connectivity Data
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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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The 4 C's Ranking The 4 C's Ranking
  New York, NY   Chicago, IL   San Francisco, 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
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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