# Most famous/well known cities?



## motion (Oct 13, 2009)

i normally dont comment much, but sorry i had to say this

stupid because the only truly recognizable cities are new york, sydney, london, paris, rome and washington and Hollywood, LA. Sorry we could get politically correct and just like all cities with a big ego, but the truth is they are the only recognizable ones. sorry had to say it.


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## guille_89uy (Jan 14, 2008)

And Venice and Las Vegas, c'mon... Dubai as well.


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## Botswana (Aug 29, 2009)

Berlin is very recognizable. The Brandenburg Gate is really famous, especially since Reagan and JFK both gave important speeches there. There's also the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, TV Tower, Reichstag, Museum Island, Alexanderplatz etc...

I'd argue it's the most famous city in Europe behind London, Paris and Rome.


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## Evan (Jul 8, 2004)

I'd definitely put Chicago near the top. Sears Tower (Willis, whatever), Hancock and Marina City are widely known.


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## Clery (Dec 5, 2010)

Obviously some Americans in here truely over-estimate the notoriety of their cities in Asia or Africa.

The really famous US cities are NYC, LA and maybe Washington. Chicago and San Francisco are not even close.

I agree with Botswana. Many people under-estimate the notoriety of both Berlin and Moscow. And then comes Asian cities: Beijing, Tokyo, Bombay(Mumbai), Mecca.


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## motion (Oct 13, 2009)

Clery said:


> Obviously some Americans in here truely over-estimate the notoriety of their cities in Asia or Africa.
> 
> The really famous US cities are NYC, LA and maybe Washington. Chicago and San Francisco are not even close.
> 
> I agree with Botswana. Many people under-estimate the notoriety of both Berlin and Moscow. And then comes Asian cities: Beijing, Tokyo, Bombay(Mumbai), Mecca.


I have to totally agree! I lived in America half my life and Americans would be shocked to know that other than NY and washington nothing is that recognizable not even LA.


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## Dimethyltryptamine (Aug 22, 2009)

what in Tokyo, Mumbai and Mecca is synonymous with the city? Something that the entire world would recognise at first glance and know exactly where it's located?


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## Evan (Jul 8, 2004)

For Tokyo, it would have to be Tokyo Tower and the Docomo building with the cool clock on it. For Mumbai and Mecca, I can't think of a single thing.


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## mvictory (Jul 27, 2009)

Only cities in the world that are truly universally recognisable are.
Paris, London, NYC, Rome and Sydney (or do I overestimate the importance significance of the opera house because I am Australian)

don't underestimate the ignorance of many people towards geography or architecture. Remember everyone on this forum has an interest in these fields which is not shared by everyone.


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## Evan (Jul 8, 2004)

No, I think Sydney definitely belongs near the top. The opera house is a very unique building, and I find it hard to believe there are too many people in the world that wouldn't immediately recognize it, and its location. It's the same for the Harbour Bridge. Unless you live under a rock, nothing but Sydney would come to mind.


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## Clery (Dec 5, 2010)

Evan said:


> For Tokyo, it would have to be Tokyo Tower and the Docomo building with the cool clock on it. For Mumbai and Mecca, I can't think of a single thing.


For Mecca, that would of course be the Great Mosquee. Islam is very influential in populous continents such as Africa and Asia.

As for Mumbai, I would say it's the most famous for Bollywood, which might not be very popular in Western countries but clearly is in the whole rest of the world. Never forget that nearly the whole world has access to TV nowadays. It's the main source of information.

Though I agree both cities are at the limit.


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## Wunderknabe (Jun 29, 2010)

mvictory said:


> Sydney (or do I overestimate the importance significance of the opera house because I am Australian)


Yes.

Of course its famous, but Sydney without the Opera house wouldn't be very recognisable I think. 

However, its there, so be happy  :nuts:




motion said:


> i normally dont comment much, but sorry i had to say this
> 
> stupid because the only truly recognizable cities are new york, sydney, london, paris, rome and washington and Hollywood, LA. Sorry we could get politically correct and just like all cities with a big ego, but the truth is they are the only recognizable ones. sorry had to say it.


Well, I don't think a great majority of people know Hollywood is a part of LA. 
Besides that Hollywood itself got just the Hollywood-sign, alright.

For LA itself I guess 95% of the people couldn't name one single famous building. Well, I could barely say there is one big US-Bank-Skyscraper. But I'm not really sure about that - and as mvictory said, as a member of this forum (and someone who has a great interest in architecture) I probably know more about LA than the average person.

Sorry, but LA ist absolutly insignificant other than by its name.


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## Clery (Dec 5, 2010)

Los Angeles is vastly known worldwide thanks to its movie industry. It's true that people can't recognize any building of the city, but they know its streets bordered with palm trees because they've seen them on TV.

As for Sydney, it is to me less known than Moscow, Beijing or Berlin. It's extremely known in the Western world, but far less beyond that. Even in Europe, I'm not sure 90% of people could recognize the Sydney Opera House from a picture. On the other side, they could associate a picture of St Basil's cathedral to Moscow, a picture of the Brandenburg gate with Berlin, or a picture of the Forbidden City with Beijing (even if they don't necessarily know the names of those buildings).


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## Remolino (Nov 7, 2008)

The following everyone knows is connected with India. But I am not sure they might easily know the City of Agra. And architecturally speaking most of the so called architectural landmarks that so far have been mentioned here do not come close to the Taj Mahal which is a true work of art.


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

*These are very West-centric lists being put up, as others are inferring.* A billion or two each of Africans/ Chinese/ Indians / Muslims may well be able to point out say the Eiffel tower in Paris, Statue of Liberty in NYC or Big Ben in London, but would be flummoxed with coming up with one or two more 'icons' in those cities, let alone others. To them the Great Wall, Taj Mahal, Pyramids, Mecca Mosque etc would be tops, and still be able to list 'lesser known' ones such as the Summer Palace, Red Fort, Medina Mosque, Sphinx etc. Likewise, like us Westerners they would be under the impression their (known) world would be regarded just as highly outside it, when it isn't.

Basically it boils down to people the world over are just not as clued up as on an internet forum dedicated to this kind of stuff. They each tend to limit their spectrum to about a billion fellows. 

I would agree though that Paris, NYC and London would be vying at the top, but in terms of numbers I would add Beijing, Delhi, Mecca also as they are the 'centre of the universe' to well over a billion a piece (and much more so than the combined Western populations) - 2 billion muslims pray to Mecca each day (and with high profiles for Dubai and Cairo), 2 billion East Asians likewise are heavily influenced (politically, and with pop culture) by Tokyo and Beijing, 1.5 billion South Asians Mumbai and Delhi. These people do not go round thinking about London, NYC or Paris each day.


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## Botswana (Aug 29, 2009)

Mumbai, Delhi and Mecca are not famous except by their name. Show anyone in the world a picture of Delhi and I doubt they would be able to figure out where it is. And Mecca, well, most people can't even go there, and even most Muslims don't know what it looks like. 

But there are some Asian cities that are recognizable around the world. I can't think of any African ones except for Cairo and maybe Cape Town. None of them have any real landmarks or exert a powerful enough influence over the globe except Cairo. 

As for Asia:

- Kuala Lumpur (Petronas Towers)
- Singapore (Harbor, Lion Statue)
- Tokyo (Tokyo Tower, Shinjuku Area)
- Beijing (Forbidden Palace)
- Shanghai (Oriental Pearl Tower, The Bund)
- Jerusalem (Dome of Rock)
- Istanbul (Hagia Sofia)
- Dubai (Burj Khalifa)
- Hong Kong (Bank of China Tower)


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## flyinfishjoe (Mar 20, 2010)

^^
Mecca, really?










That is by far more recognizable than most of the Western landmarks that have been mentioned so far. By the way, for Bombay it would probably be the Gateway of India and for Delhi the Qutb Minar. And trust me, here in Asia not many people would immediately recognize the Reichstag or Christ the Redeemer.


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## ukiyo (Aug 5, 2008)

Evan said:


> For Tokyo, it would have to be Tokyo Tower and the Docomo building with the cool clock on it. For Mumbai and Mecca, I can't think of a single thing.


I would think it would be Shibuya. Especially after Tokyo Drift. 

I don't know about other places but my american friends instantly recognize Shibuya but have no idea about Tokyo Tower or anything else. Once skytree is lit up I think that will be the next icon since it's the tallest tower in the world.


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## Botswana (Aug 29, 2009)

flyinfishjoe said:


> ^^
> Mecca, really?
> 
> 
> ...


No way. Mecca looks like any other Arabic city. Anyone who's not a Muslim, which is about 85% of the globe, would not really find it to be famous. If Mecca was a more open city and more people could visit, I'm sure it would be more well known.


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## roballan (Aug 23, 2009)

For me:

NYC (Statue of Liberty, Empire State, Chrysler Building, Central Park)
Paris (the Eiffel Tower, the Arch of Triumph, des Champs Elysées)
London (Westminister Palace)
Agra (the Taj Majal)
Dubai (Burj Khalifa, Burj Al Arab)
Sydney (The Opera)
Cancun (Sping Break capital of the world)
Berlin (Brandenburg Gate)
Rome (the Coliseum, the Trevi Fountain,
Mexico City (the Independence Column/Angel, the Cathedral, Aztec Ruins)


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## Омич (Jun 16, 2011)

1)Dubai
2)Hong Kong
3)NYC
4)Omsk
5)Paris
6)Moscow
7)London
8)Sydney


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## rY17 (Jun 22, 2009)

For me its:

NYC (of course  )
Rome (The Colosseum)
Paris (Eiffel Tower)
Sydney (Sydney Opera House)
London (Big Ben,Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square ,the Gherkin! and many more  ) 
Tokyo (it's easy to recognize Tokyo because of its density  and now there is the Tokyo Sky Tree )
Moscow (Kremlin, St. Basil's Cathedral )
HK (its skyline)
Shanghai (Pearl Tower, Jin Mao Tower, SWFC)
Kuala Lumpur (Petronas Towers)
Athens (Acropolis)
Beijing (Forbidden City)
Pyongyang (Ryugyong Hotel )
Rio de Janeiro (Christ the Redeemer)
Dubai (Burj Khalifa)


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## roballan (Aug 23, 2009)

weird, being the 10th most touristic country in the world, nobody has mentioned any mexican city...


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## Luli Pop (Jun 14, 2010)

I think most people can identity only a few cities with strong and unique landmarks without confusion:

Paris
Rome
London
New York
Moscow
Venice
Florence
Athens
Cairo
Jerusalem
Istambul
Beijing
Hong Kong
Brussels
Amsterdam


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## party_animals (Feb 2, 2010)

Tiaren said:


> Really...?
> 
> *Brandenburg Gate:*
> 
> ...


no....


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## weava (Sep 8, 2007)

From an american viewpoint:
Washington DC
NYC
Paris
London
Rome


honorable mention: Moscow, Dubai, Seattle(space needle), Chicago, St Louis(the arch), Orlando (Disneys castle and Epcots sphere), las Vegas, Sydney, Beijing, Florence, San Francisco.

While famous cities, I don't think that Berlin, Tokyo, or Hong Kong have famous buildings or monuments that an average american could point out.


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## motion (Oct 13, 2009)

Wunderknabe said:


> Yes.
> 
> Of course its famous, but Sydney without the Opera house wouldn't be very recognisable I think.
> 
> ...


Thats why i said HOLLYWOOD, LA. People have no idea what LA looks like unless they have been there. Nobody knows hollywood is even in LA in australia unless they have been. People think Hollywood is an actual state or city they have no idea it is in LA. BUT having said that HOLLYWOOD is still part of LA so that makes LA famous.


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## Botswana (Aug 29, 2009)

Omsk? :nuts:


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## Омич (Jun 16, 2011)

Botswana said:


> Omsk? :nuts:


everybody loves omsk


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## rY17 (Jun 22, 2009)

what is an omsk? :laugh:


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## redbaron_012 (Sep 19, 2004)

In today's world with media, Internet and instant news the whole world is in your face yet to roll a very select list.....like many others I see here. It's always been ( In no particular order ) London, Paris, Rome, New York ........maybe I just got sucked in by a fashion advertisement but you think of these first.....then.....


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## Amanda Griffin (Jun 21, 2011)

omg!!! so nice!!!


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## Cobucci (Jun 30, 2005)

Isn't it about famous landmarks linked directly with its city?

I won't put it in order, but I think we have few cities with this sort of grant (IMO)

Americas:
*New York*
*Washington, D.C.*
*Rio de Janeiro* (not sure if biased because it's the place where I live, but I think the city is instantly remembered when its landmarks are shown)

Africa:
none

Europe:
*Paris*
*London*
*Athens*
*Rome & Vatican City*
*Moscow*
*Barcelona* (not sure)

Asia & Oceania:
*Beijing*
*Mecca* (not sure)
*Jerusalem* (not sure)
*Tokyo* (not sure)
*Sydney*


Why aren't cities like Cairo, Los Angeles, Cape Town and Berlin listed by me? These surely are very, very famous cities, but I don't think that people immediatelly associate the image of the landmark with the name of the city. For example, when you see the Pyramids, you don't associate it directly with the city of Cairo. Instead of it, you associate it with Ancient Egypt. 

That's just my point of view


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## vallacopito-tranolid (May 26, 2007)

^^Does an average american recognise Sagrada Familia in Barcelona? I've wondered that question thousand of times... if you don't you're losing a great view, no doubt about that!


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## quadi (Mar 3, 2010)

party_animals said:


> no....


Are you really serious? The brandenburger gate is even on your 10, 20 and 50 cents coin!


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## Axelferis (Jan 18, 2008)

In my mind:

1/Paris & NYC
2/ London
3/ Pisa with its tower
4/Roma
5/Sydney
6/Rio


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## Marathaman (Jul 24, 2007)

Mumbai
Delhi
Bangalore
Chennai
Kolkata
Madurai
Trivandrum
Chandigarh
Lucknow
Pune
Ranchi
Bhubaneshwar
Jaipur
Jodhpur
Ahmedabad
Gandhinagar
Nagpur
Nashik
Vizag
Kochi


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## Brum Knows Best (Mar 9, 2007)

London, Paris & NYC are the Most famous After them 3 you have Rome, Milan, Sydney, Moscow and Tokyo. Some of the city that are now easy recognisable due to newer skyline are Dubai, Shanghi, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpure and Singapore


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## Axelferis (Jan 18, 2008)

Not ok with the second part of your staement.

Do ypou believe the common people could distinguish Dubai, Shangai, Hong kong, Kuala Lumpur ??

Only fans of skyscrappers can do the difference


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## Brum Knows Best (Mar 9, 2007)

Well I think citys like Dubai, Shangai, Hong kong, Kuala Lumpur have each got unique building in there skyline and i'm sure or i think people could recognies them


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## Wapper (Feb 24, 2011)

My top ten (and that of most Europeans) would be full of European cities, except for NY and maybe a few other towns. American, Canadian, Australian and some modern asian cities look more or less the same to us. I find it strange that so many people think that Sidney is that famous. I guess a lot of people would recognize the opera house (but on the other hand a lot of Europeans and probably also Africans and Asians would not recognize it). Other buildings in Sidney are totally unknown to us. 

With "guess the city" I know almost every European city, but I have a lot more problems with American, Canadian and Australian towns. There are some that I recognize when I look a little closer, but most of them look just interchangeable and boring (NOI).


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

Botswana, you need to reread my post. And Muslims btw make up nearly 30% of the planet, (by comparison Westerners account for 17%). Likewise East Asians and South Asians.

Just like Westerners, they are restricted in their field/ spectrum - but it still remains the monuments of Delhi, Beijing etc are held high to more people, just like our Western monuments fill the high spots in our Western minds eye.


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

repost:



the spliff fairy said:


> *These are very West-centric lists being put up, as others are inferring.* A billion or two each of Africans/ Chinese/ Indians / Muslims may well be able to point out say the Eiffel tower in Paris, Statue of Liberty in NYC or Big Ben in London, but would be flummoxed with coming up with one or two more 'icons' in those cities, let alone others. To them the Great Wall, Taj Mahal, Pyramids, Mecca Mosque etc would be tops, and still be able to list 'lesser known' ones such as the Summer Palace, Red Fort, Medina Mosque, Sphinx etc. Likewise, like us Westerners they would be under the impression their (known) world would be regarded just as highly outside it, when it isn't.
> 
> Basically it boils down to people the world over are just not as clued up as on an internet forum dedicated to this kind of stuff. They each tend to limit their spectrum to about a billion fellows.
> 
> I would agree though that Paris, NYC and London would be vying at the top, but in terms of numbers I would add Beijing, Delhi, Mecca also as they are the 'centre of the universe' to well over a billion a piece (and much more so than the combined Western populations) - 2 billion muslims pray to Mecca each day (and with high profiles for Dubai and Cairo), 2 billion East Asians likewise are heavily influenced (politically, and with pop culture) by Tokyo and Beijing, 1.5 billion South Asians Mumbai and Delhi. These people do not go round thinking about London, NYC or Paris each day.


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## Face81 (Aug 24, 2004)

The lists do far have been very biased and one sided!

The WORLD's most recognisable cities are London, New York and Paris. 

A secondary tier would include the likes of Shanghai, Tokyo, Dubai, Las Vegas, Rio, Sydney, Rome, Cairo, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Moscow, Bangkok, Istanbul, Singapore.

A tertiary tier would consist of places like Venice, Barcelona, Chicago, Seattle, Berlin, Kuala Lumpur, Mecca, Vatican City, Mexico City, Beijing, San Francisco, Washington, Mumbai.

Remember, the title of the thread is *well known cities*, NOT cities with world famous buildings....


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## rY17 (Jun 22, 2009)

^^ most of the cities listed here are well known because of their famous buildings


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## FeänorBR (Jan 18, 2008)

For me the world's most recognisable cities are ( that changes a lot depending on the country you are from I guess, and what makes a city so well know are things like Landmarks, landscape and culture)

*1) Paris* (most know, most seen, most visited city in the world, and that's it!)

*2) New York *(because simply no other city in the world appeared more on the media and on movies than NYC. The Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building represent the image of America as a whole as much as it does of NYC.)

*3) London* ( Most of the world was under the British Empire at on time in history, and The city has many world-famous Landmarks)

*4) Rome* (The Imortal city)

*5) Rio de Janeiro* (The most famous tropical city in the world I think, there's no way you can mistaken the city, just look up from anywhere you stand, you'll see the unique shaped mountains, and The Christ looking over the city.)

*6) Tokio* (Tokio Tower, japanese arquitecture, the density, I think it is the most well know Asian city, but I do think the Asian cities tend to extend their recognizability, even more as some famous European cities in the future.)

*7) Dubai* (The world's tallest building says anything?)

*8) Sidney* (Because of the olympic games, the opera house and the bridge, I don't think the city itself, if show to people around the world is very recognazible, and it has no outstanding Landscape other than the bay.)

*9) Shanghai* (The olympic games, the unique buildings, and the importance China has gainned over the last decades)

*10) Cairo* (The Nile, The Piramids, the golden sky, The most well known city in Africa I think.)

*The European cities could easily fill the entire list, but if you take out some Landmarks, they can easily be confounded by people outside of Europe.

*American cities look pretty much the same if take out their landmarks, save only in my view, NYC, San Francisco and Washington DC


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## Dimethyltryptamine (Aug 22, 2009)

roballan said:


> weird, being the 10th most touristic country in the world, nobody has mentioned any mexican city...


it's not about most 'touristic' cities though... it's about internationally recognised architecture that is symbolic to said city.


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## Pennypacker (Mar 23, 2010)

Brum Knows Best said:


> Well I think citys like Dubai, Shangai, Hong kong, Kuala Lumpur have each got unique building in there skyline and i'm sure or i think people could recognies them


Your average person would find it difficult to distinguish between the skylines of those cities, but Hong Kong and Shangai would be far more recognised than the other 2.


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## weava (Sep 8, 2007)

vallacopito-tranolid said:


> ^^Does an average american recognise Sagrada Familia in Barcelona? I've wondered that question thousand of times... if you don't you're losing a great view, no doubt about that!


I knew it was an unfinished Spanish Church when I was in high school, but I never knew it was in Barcelona till I was in my mid 20s so I'm guessing many Americans would recognize it but not necessarily associate it with Barcelona.


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## Berlin. (Oct 14, 2010)

Actually Paris is not the most visited city in the world. It's the second most visited in europe after london, before berlin.


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## Berlin. (Oct 14, 2010)

I would change the question and ask. for which city would you know a famous building or which city is famous for history and culture instead of would you recognize the city if i'd show you a picture of a famous building.


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## dj4life (Oct 22, 2009)

From Sweden it must be Malmö with 'Turning Torso' and sustainable architecture:










Also, Stockholm for its location and preserved architecture.


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