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Originally Posted by Razqal
i totally agree. seoul is definitely not in the same league as new york. it's not even in the same league as singapore or hong kong. new york is not just a city with a mass of tall skyscrapers. it's a city that has been carefully planned, structured, organized and designed with bridges, rivers, parks, etc. it's a city that is full of top, high-quality, world-class architecture like empire state, chrysler, woolworth, time warner, bloomberg, hearst, nytimes, grand central terminal, brooklyn bridge, verrazano-narrows bridge, george washington bridge, as well as parks like central park, bronx zoo, brooklyn botanical, queens botanical (world's fair), etc., etc., etc. now, there's some nice, new modern buildings in seoul, but i can't think of one building in seoul that is considered world-class. looking at those pics of seoul, it is just one big mess and not like the more organized urban city of new york.
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New York: organized? Carefully planned? You've got to be kidding me!
Look, I love New York as much as anyone, since I was born and raised there. But there is nothing "carefully planned" about New York; it's only plan was the street plan laid out a couple of centuries ago. Other than that, we've figured out ways to grow around it given that as simple and logical as the plan seems, it was not necessarily for the best (read Jane Jacobs'
The Death and Life of Great American Cities for a little more perspective). But other than that specific plan and parks like Central Park, we've pretty much dumped things here and there. Would you call the FDR Drive a careful plan? Not if you've actually driven on it.
For me, New York is a really messy city that gels together beautifully somehow. There's so many different characters that New York can be. It can be the place of superdense masses of pedestrians (Midtown, Lower Manhattan during the weekdays); alternately, it can be a place of moderate pace, like TriBeca, Soho, or Greenwich Village. The people in the city can seem like the rudest people you've ever met; alternately they can be the nicest strangers if you need help. There are modern skyscrapers, yet there are structures dating to the early 1900's, 1800's 1700's, and even 1600's. And it doesn't even have to be the two ends of polar extremes; there are many different types and nuances of the characters the city around. That's what makes New York THE city for me.
Having said that, I have to agree that from the first picture onward, I did not think New York; I thought generic Asian city that has suddenly modernized. They all look they same, and the only ones that can truly stand out are the ones with recognizable landmarks. Only the greatest designs can stand out as a recognizable landmark for modern buildings and structures; if you have many older buildings which are already landmarks, most of the work needed to stand out is already done. That's why places like United Arab Emirates feel the need to create the world's tallest buildings, artificial islands, and other distinctive design; the cities in that country would not stand out otherwise.