# Why are American city centers so dull compared to cities in other countries?



## Abidrovia (Jan 25, 2009)

For example;

*AMERICAN CITY;*









*EASTERN CITY;*


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## Chicagoago (Dec 2, 2005)

??? You're showing a shot of a skyline compared to a shot of a busy section of a city at ground level.


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## Abidrovia (Jan 25, 2009)

Chicagoago said:


> ??? You're showing a shot of a skyline compared to a shot of a busy section of a city at ground level.



Okay, another example;

AMERICAN CITY;










EASTERN CITY;


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## bleetz (Feb 13, 2009)

It is suburbanisation. Americans don't live in city centres. They only work there.


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## hudkina (Oct 28, 2003)

Because Americans don't necessarily think bright flourescent colors are nice...


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## Chadoh25 (Dec 28, 2007)

Chicagoago said:


> ??? You're showing a shot of a skyline compared to a shot of a busy section of a city at ground level.


I agree! And what do you mean by "dull"? What's your definition of "dull". And yea, showing a skyline and then a busy intersection, or two skylines doesn't clear things up much.


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## bleetz (Feb 13, 2009)

He does have a point. American "downtowns" are mostly empty in the evenings, Asian ones are not.


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## deranged (Jan 22, 2009)

To the OP:

Are you referring to the vibrancy of the CBDs, or their visual aspects?


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## Abidrovia (Jan 25, 2009)

American cities centers are just less colorful and less interesting. Yes, most American cities have nice looking skyscrapers and nice parks but American cities just do not look as amusing


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## salaverryo (Apr 3, 2008)

Chadoh25 said:


> I agree! And what do you mean by "dull"? What's your definition of "dull". And yea, showing a skyline and then a busy intersection, or two skylines doesn't clear things up much.


What he means is that there's no street life. American downtowns are populated by office workers on a 9 to 5 basis, Monday thru Friday. After office hours everybody goes back to the 'burbs & only the bums & the stray cats remain.


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## Ian (Nov 26, 2006)

bleetz said:


> It is suburbanisation. Americans don't live in city centres. They only work there.


^^ Exactly!! ...do people here really think that colour lights are the differences?? :nuts:

In Europe, Latin America and asia the city centers are where most of the people not only work, they live, do the shoppings, go out at night, etc....


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## japanese001 (Mar 17, 2007)

目の瞳の色の違いが関係あると思います。
Because eye colors are different


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## boyerling3 (Jun 1, 2009)

American cities generally cover much more space than other cities which means they don't really have very distinctive "centers". Some places, like Times Square, aren't dull at any time. You've just shown pictures of Asian cities which are very bright and seemingly exotic, but that isn't the American style so it isn't that its dull it just isn't your preference for what you consider "interesting".


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## tpe (Aug 10, 2005)

Yes, why are American City Centers so dull? 

Name each city, if you can...


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## Abidrovia (Jan 25, 2009)

Manhattan/New York City is an exception to the rule.


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## Chadoh25 (Dec 28, 2007)

salaverryo said:


> What he means is that there's no street life. American downtowns are populated by office workers on a 9 to 5 basis, Monday thru Friday. After office hours everybody goes back to I live downtown and I lots of people e 'burbs & only the bums & the stray cats remain.


That statement is plainly false. I live in Downtown Columbus and most of the people I see walking around are far from being bums nor do you see armies of stray cats. It's a good idea to just generalize like that.


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## tpe (Aug 10, 2005)

Abidrovia said:


> Manhattan/New York City is an exception to the rule.


It's not the only one -- but that depends on your definition of dullness.


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## deranged (Jan 22, 2009)

Chadoh25 said:


> That statement is plainly false. I live in Downtown Columbus and most of the people I see walking around are far from being bums nor do you see armies of stray cats. It's a good idea to just generalize like that.


That's not true, Chadoh25. We all know that there are only two types of built environment in the US... 

This:








http://sanfranciscoschtuff.com/2007/10/22/hard-sale-for-the-suburbs/

And this:








http://www.flickr.com/photos/metroblossom/434499075/

*[/sarcasm, of course]*


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## Obscene (Jul 22, 2007)

European cities (for example, same goes for all other continents except North America and Australia) were built up before the car existed.

Theres the answer.


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## Captain Obvious (Sep 13, 2002)

Clearly, when the OP says "dull" he is referring to the absence of bright, colorful neon lights that are so common in Asian cities. He's not really referring to the lack of vibrancy brought about by sprawl. 

The answers:

1) American downtown have sign ordinances. These codes usually limit the character and amount of advertising space on buildings. For example, they would limit the signage to X% of the building's linear width, and they would also limit the total number of signs. 

2) In American culture, neon lights are often considered tacky, "loud", low-class, tasteless, etc. We often view neon lights as something only for Las Vegas, or maybe fast-food restaurants. Many American downtowns have skyscrapers with neon lights, but they are much more subtle than Asian cities. It's usually just a little bit along the top. 

3) American downtowns are much older. There's less reason to retrofit a 1960s - or 1920s - building with modern lighting styles. Again, American culture is also less receptive to colorful lighting in general, but the modern skyscrapers have them in higher proportions than the old buildings. 

Hope this helps. 

Also, for what it's worth, I'm very glad that American cities don't look like Hong Kong at night. I think that's way overboard and not to my taste. Times square is pretty cool, but to have an entire skyline like Hong Kong is just a bit too much.


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## snydermex (Jun 17, 2009)

Obscene said:


> European cities (for example, same goes for all other continents except North America and Australia) were built up before the car existed.
> 
> Theres the answer.


:lol::lol::lol:
And many of the American cities too.

You are comparing American medium cities with large Asian ones, that´s no fare.


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## Major Deegan (Sep 24, 2005)

*An example of a "dull" American downtown*

I've been to many European and Asian cities around the globe. While American urban centers are generally not as dense as their foreign counterparts, this fact alone doesn't necessarily mean that our downtowns have to go completely dead after business hours. So much for stereotypes.


Here is Minneapolis, MN. Population: 380,000. Metro population: 3.5 mln.


by *Rampra*





by *MSPdude*



by *MSPdude*


Dull?


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## Taller Better (Aug 27, 2005)

Why are some threads dull compared to others? Obviously this thread is set up to create fighting.


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