What’s the largest city you’ve visited

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Obadno

So is your measure of a "Mega City" Density? because there are small cities in Europe and Asia that feel much larger than comparable cities in North America due to density

But in terms of a city as a population and economic region I would still put San Francisco as a "mega city" for its population, economic impact and cultural impact. At least its right on the edge in the respect I dont know why 10 million is seen as the dividing line but in my mind thats what I was counting.

It's not just density. SF is obviously very dense, and L.A. doesn't get very dense in any single place. I've been to dense cities in Europe that have more pedestrian activity than L.A. but still feel much smaller (Amsterdam, for example).

[softee]

Biggest city I've visited is NYC... or London? They're pretty close right now. NYC wins by Metro so I guess I'll go with that.

Toronto is the biggest city I've lived in.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by softee

I'll open that can of worms. The GTA is currently at 7 million. The GTHA (includes Hamilton) is currently 7.5 million. The area of the GTA is 2,751 sq. mi. and the GTHA is 3,183 sq. mi.

The urbanized portion of the GTHA is 6.7 million in 888 sq. mi.

The data I saw was from 2016 so it grew quite a bit since then and both Toronto and Houston are now roughly about the same size with Toronto growing considerably faster.

[RumbleFish]

Originally Posted by SFBruin

Largest Metro Area: Tokyo
Largest City Proper: Shanghai
City that felt the largest: New York

I find this hard to believe

[Sigaven]

Largest I've visited: NYC.
Largest lived in: Paris

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by JManc

Not because it feels bigger or is more urban.

I disagree. San Antonio reminds me of Houston in the 70s...one big suburb in search of a city. If you took away Fort Worth and it's surrounding population, the Dallas-Plano-Irving Metropolitan Division still has approx. twice the population as San Antonio's MSA.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by softee

I'll open that can of worms. The GTA is currently at 7 million. The GTHA (includes Hamilton) is currently 7.5 million. The area of the GTA is 2,751 sq. mi. and the GTHA is 3,183 sq. mi.

The urbanized portion of the GTHA is 6.7 million in 888 sq. mi.

It doesn't really matter. I've lived in both. Toronto is "bigger." Period.

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by RumbleFish

I find this hard to believe

I agree, the biggest city in terms of the way it felt to me was Tokyo.

It had the extreme density of new York but sprawled horizon to Horizon like LA

Basically the LA basin with Brooklyn Density throughout, it was intense.

Beijing and Hong Kong didn't come close and neither does New York because NYC feels like it ends but Tokyo does not.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by RumbleFish

I find this hard to believe

I'm not sure I'd agree, but I can see where he's coming from. It really depends on how one experiences each city.

You really get a sense of Tokyo's scale when you're seeing its endless urbanity pass by from the window of a high speed train, but there are few specific areas where that same feeling is palpable. It has some extreme points of activity (Shibuya Crossing > Times Square), but they drop off pretty quickly. Given its size, it can be quite orderly and serene.

Tokyo's vastness is expressed more in its sheer number of such areas than it is in the feeling of overbearing urbanity in any one of them. There's no particular area that has the same level of concentrated urbanity as Manhattan does - few places in the world do have such a high level of built density over such a large area.

We also all have our own biases that inform how we perceive things like the feeling of "bigness" of a place as well. Like for me, chunky old brick buildings = city. And New York has a lot of those. It wouldn't feel as big as it does if all those old tenements were replaced by towers in the park of equivalent density, for example. And for some, unfamiliarity or foreignness can make a place feel impenetrable and large. For others, it's the presence of things like skyscrapers or infrastructure. For some its density, while for others its endless sprawl that does it. There are many features of cities that convey a different sense of scale to different people.

[Gresto]

Largest city I've visited is NYC, but I haven't been back since 2003. I remember being struck by the misspelling of the "Millenium" building across from Ground Zero.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by Gresto

I remember being struck by the misspelling of the "Millenium" building across from Ground Zero.

That's very strange. The hotel website spells it correctly, but photos definitely show it with only one "N."

[JManc]

Originally Posted by bilbao58

I disagree. San Antonio reminds me of Houston in the 70s...one big suburb in search of a city. If you took away Fort Worth and it's surrounding population, the Dallas-Plano-Irving Metropolitan Division still has approx. twice the population as San Antonio's MSA.

Dallas is bigger because it has more people. Without Fort Worth/ Tarrant County. That was my point.

As for Houston and Toronto, it goes down to which is the bigger of the two and seeing as US and Canada calculate (thanks MonkeyRonin) their metro populations differently, I guess it depends on whose metric. *crams worms back in can*

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by JManc

Dallas is bigger because it has more people. Without Fort Worth/ Tarrant County. That was my point.

I misread your earlier post.

ETA: I'm accustomed to people in San Antonio who like to argue about city proper numbers because, well, because it makes them feel bigger than Dallas.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by bilbao58

I misread your earlier post.

ETA: I'm accustomed to people in San Antonio who like to argue about city proper numbers because, well, because it makes them feel bigger than Dallas.

Houston does that with the '4th largest city' crap. We're further down on the pecking order but chamber of commerce runs with it.

[Gresto]

Originally Posted by bilbao58

That's very strange. The hotel website spells it correctly, but photos definitely show it with only one "N."

One would think it has been remedied by now. I didn't know it was still misspelled to this day. Can't cost that much to add the extra "N" and move the letters around.

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

I'm not sure I'd agree, but I can see where he's coming from. It really depends on how one experiences each city.

You really get a sense of Tokyo's scale when you're seeing its endless urbanity pass by from the window of a high speed train, but there are few specific areas where that same feeling is palpable. It has some extreme points of activity (Shibuya Crossing > Times Square), but they drop off pretty quickly. Given its size, it can be quite orderly and serene.

Tokyo's vastness is expressed more in its sheer number of such areas than it is in the feeling of overbearing urbanity in any one of them. There's no particular area that has the same level of concentrated urbanity as Manhattan does - few places in the world do have such a high level of built density over such a large area.

We also all have our own biases that inform how we perceive things like the feeling of "bigness" of a place as well. Like for me, chunky old brick buildings = city. And New York has a lot of those. It wouldn't feel as big as it does if all those old tenements were replaced by towers in the park of equivalent density, for example. And for some, unfamiliarity or foreignness can make a place feel impenetrable and large. For others, it's the presence of things like skyscrapers or infrastructure. For some its density, while for others its endless sprawl that does it. There are many features of cities that convey a different sense of scale to different people.

Excellent post! We do experience cities differently. I mean, sure, if someone said Little Rock felt bigger than NYC, we could objectively be like...NO. I could see someone thinking NYC felt bigger based on some aspects(some you mentioned) that I don't weigh as high...

[Gedung Tinngi]

Jakarta - 10.8 million in city proper.
Jakarta Metro - 32.4 million people.

Jakarta City density = 37,460 per square mile

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by JManc

Houston does that with the '4th largest city' crap. We're further down on the pecking order but chamber of commerce runs with it.

Not really. The only MSA larger than Houston that isn’t one of the top 3 is DFW. And, of course, D isn’t so big without FW. Houston’s MSA is number 5, after DFW, but since neither Dallas nor Fort Worth are larger than Houston themselves, I think it’s fair to call Houston #4.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/...eas-in-the-us/

In fact, it just occurred to me that Houston proper is larger than Dallas proper and Fort Worth proper combined.
When Houston proper surpasses Chicago proper, THAT’S going to be when it IS crap. I’m not looking forward to it...I know I’m going to find it embarrassing. I mean, Chicago is CHICAGO.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by bilbao58

Not really. The only MSA larger than Houston that isn’t one of the top 3 is DFW. And, of course, D isn’t so big without FW. Houston’s MSA is number 5, after DFW, but since neither Dallas nor Fort Worth are larger than Houston themselves, I think it’s fair to call Houston #4.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/...eas-in-the-us/

In fact, it just occurred to me that Houston proper is larger than Dallas proper and Fort Worth proper combined.
When Houston proper surpasses Chicago proper, THAT’S going to be when it IS crap. I’m not looking forward to it...I know I’m going to find it embarrassing. I mean, Chicago is CHICAGO.

When Houston proper passes Chicago proper, Houston metro has also likely surpassed Chicago metro... so I wouldn’t call it crap at that point.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Obadno

I agree, the biggest city in terms of the way it felt to me was Tokyo.

It had the extreme density of new York but sprawled horizon to Horizon like LA

Basically the LA basin with Brooklyn Density throughout, it was intense.

Beijing and Hong Kong didn't come close and neither does New York because NYC feels like it ends but Tokyo does not.

Tokyo is bigger, but as a person who lives in NYC I can say that Tokyo's maximum density does not match New York's. People who don't live in hyper-dense cities may not be able to tell the difference, but I certainly can.