Time Out lists the 'world's best' cities for 2021

[ocman]

Originally Posted by yuriandrade

1. San Francisco
2. Amsterdam
3. Manchester
4. Copenhagen
5. New York
6. Montreal
7. Prague
8. Tel Aviv
9. Porto
10. Tokyo
12. Los Angeles
13. Chicago
14. London
15. Barcelona
16. Melbourne
17. Sydney
18. Shanghai
19. Madrid
20. Mexico City
21. Hong Kong
22. Lisbon
23. Boston
24. Milan
25. Singapore
26. Miami
27. Dubai
28. Beijing
29. Paris
30. Budapest
31. Abu Dhabi
32. São Paulo
33. Johannesburg
34. Rome
35. Moscow
36. Buenos Aires
37. Istanbul
38. Bangkok


And the full list: https://www.timeout.com/things-to-do...s-in-the-world

In general, I break down this ranking in terms of who they appeal to in much the same way I would break down Yelp stars rankings for restaurants, but in quadrants.

4 stars is for tourists
3 stars is for travellers
2 stars for passing through
1 stars for Otto Warmbier types

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by yuriandrade

It's just entertainment, but I like their lists, for both cities and neighbourhoods. I used their "coolest lists" a lot in Germany last year and discovered very interesting districts there.

1. San Francisco
2. Amsterdam
3. Manchester
4. Copenhagen
5. New York
6. Montreal
7. Prague
8. Tel Aviv
9. Porto
10. Tokyo
12. Los Angeles
13. Chicago
14. London
15. Barcelona
16. Melbourne
17. Sydney
18. Shanghai
19. Madrid
20. Mexico City
21. Hong Kong
22. Lisbon
23. Boston
24. Milan
25. Singapore
26. Miami
27. Dubai
28. Beijing
29. Paris
30. Budapest
31. Abu Dhabi
32. São Paulo
33. Johannesburg
34. Rome
35. Moscow
36. Buenos Aires
37. Istanbul
38. Bangkok

The CNN link: https://edition.cnn.com/travel/artic...021/index.html

The original source: https://www.timeout.com/about/latest...st-city-090821

And the full list: https://www.timeout.com/things-to-do...s-in-the-world

Surprised Berlin isn't on the list, and no Las Vegas?? Rome at the bottom, and Manchester at the top? Come on! Seems bogus.

[Segun]

Somebody should provide competition for magazines like this. It seems to keep people in a visiting a 'comfortable and white setting' mindset. Keeps the market limited in scope. While it speaks to the demographic it speaks to, I think in the future publications that think more outside the box will outdo these in success and credibility. The World's best man yeah. Let's get it!

[Pedestrian]

And my jaw dropped. I mean I love my city but it has problems. BIG PROBLEMS. World's best? No way (IMHO of course).

"Time Out surveyed city residents from across the world to put together its 2021 round-up of the world's best urban hubs."

Is it 'cause we're more liberal than liberal and so is CNN? Seriously, how come?

1. San Francisco
2. Amsterdam, Netherlands
3. Manchester, UK
4. Copenhagen, Denmark
5. New York
6. Montreal, Canada
7. Prague, Czech Republic
8. Tel Aviv, Israel
9. Porto, Portugal
10.Tokyo, Japan
https://www.cnn.com/travel/gallery/t...tos/index.html

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

Montreal is #6 but Toronto doesn't even make the cut? What?

It's really just a list of cities TimeOut wants to write about. A city they have as #1 might not make the list the following year simply because they covered that city last year. It has next to no bearing on what's on offer. The purpose is to gain readers. They might have Cairo #1 next year simply because someone at TimeOut decided they'd like to go there.

[ue]

As if San Francisco and Amsterdam don't have enough tourists.

[Pedestrian]

Oops. Missed the existing thread. Guess the mods can merge them.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

And my jaw dropped. I mean I love my city but it has problems. BIG PROBLEMS. World's best? No way (IMHO of course).

"Time Out surveyed city residents from across the world to put together its 2021 round-up of the world's best urban hubs."

Is it 'cause we're more liberal than liberal and so is CNN? Seriously, how come?

1. San Francisco
2. Amsterdam, Netherlands
3. Manchester, UK
4. Copenhagen, Denmark
5. New York
6. Montreal, Canada
7. Prague, Czech Republic
8. Tel Aviv, Israel
9. Porto, Portugal
10.Tokyo, Japan
https://www.cnn.com/travel/gallery/t...tos/index.html

CNN stopped being CNN a long time ago

Anyhow, we all know that these lists are BS and fleeting. Time Out labeled Chicago the “worlds best” city only a few years ago and now it’s like number 12. Obviously a useless list

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Segun

Somebody should provide competition for magazines like this. It seems to keep people in a visiting a 'comfortable and white setting' mindset. Keeps the market limited in scope. While it speaks to the demographic it speaks to, I think in the future publications that think more outside the box will outdo these in success and credibility. The World's best man yeah. Let's get it!

What’s “white” and “comfortable” about Tokyo, Shanghai, Mexico City, Singapore, Hong Kong, Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Abu Dhabi, Sao Paola, and Bangkok?

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

And my jaw dropped. I mean I love my city but it has problems. BIG PROBLEMS. World's best? No way (IMHO of course).

"Time Out surveyed city residents from across the world to put together its 2021 round-up of the world's best urban hubs."

I wouldn't get too excited about which city comes first or even how they're ranked. There's no real objective way to even definitively rank one above the other. My guess is they have the same 80-90% core cities that get shuffled around every year, and maybe they remove 10% of the old ones and replace it with new cities on the list, to make it seem different.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by homebucket

I wouldn't get too excited about which city comes first or even how they're ranked. There's no real objective way to even definitively rank one above the other. My guess is they have the same 80-90% core cities that get shuffled around every year, and maybe they remove 10% of the old ones and replace it with new cities on the list, to make it seem different.

Pretty much. Time Out's annual list of "coolest neighbourhoods" is actually kind of interesting since it at least shines a spotlight on a number of neighbourhoods that may be lesser known or a bit off the beaten track, but this is basically just a list of random big cities. The purpose of which, of course, is to generate clicks for Time Out. Which - at least if this thread is indication - it sure has!

[Yuri]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

What’s “white” and “comfortable” about Tokyo, Shanghai, Mexico City, Singapore, Hong Kong, Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Abu Dhabi, Sao Paola, and Bangkok?

Buenos Aires is the whitest megacity in the world and it's definitely "confortable". São Paulo is still white majority but I wouldn't call it confortable: busy, work-oriented, rough.

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

Pretty much. Time Out's annual list of "coolest neighbourhoods" is actually kind of interesting since it at least shines a spotlight on a number of neighbourhoods that may be lesser known or a bit off the beaten track, but this is basically just a list of random big cities. The purpose of which, of course, is to generate clicks for Time Out. Which - at least if this thread is indication - it sure has!

Indeed, they're very successful on doing it. Not only me bringing here, but it was featured on CNN and several media outlets here in Brazil.

The cool neighbourhoods are interesting as we learn a lot, but this list has also its uses. For instance, it provides us a chance to talk about those cities.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by yuriandrade

Buenos Aires is the whitest megacity in the world and it's definitely "confortable". São Paulo is still white majority but I wouldn't call it confortable: busy, work-oriented, rough.
.

I think when most people use the colloquial term “white” in the context that Segun did, they aren’t just talking about people who are simply light skinned (Otherwise much of the Middle East, Afghanistan, even Japan, etc would be considered “white”). Typically they are talking about Western European and, particularly, Anglo-Saxon peoples and the nations they founded, colonized, etc along with the cultures imbued.

I know that a lot of Europeans migrated to Brazil many years ago, but I don’t think most people think of Brazil as a “white” country the way they would view Switzerland, for example.

[Yuri]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

I think when most people use the colloquial term “white” in the context that Segun did, they aren’t just talking about people who are simply light skinned (Otherwise much of the Middle East, Afghanistan, even Japan, etc would be considered “white”). Typically they are talking about Western European and, particularly, Anglo-Saxon peoples and the nations they founded, colonized, etc along with the cultures imbued.

I know that a lot of Europeans migrated to Brazil many years ago, but I don’t think most people think of Brazil as a “white” country the way they would view Switzerland, for example.

So it's not really about Western Europe than you're talking about, but Britain plus US. Because culturally Buenos Aires is much more similar to Spain or Italy than US is. Afghanistan is not similar to Spain, but Argentina is.

In any case, the term "White country" is dated. Brazil that you mentioned, for instance, was much whiter in the past than it's now. Same thing is happening to the US and even to Canada. And as we're talking about big metro areas, most of the North American ones barely have white majorities anymore. From the top of my head, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco metro areas no longer have a white majority. Chicago still does, but it's slightly above 50%.

[10023]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

Surprised Berlin isn't on the list, and no Las Vegas?? Rome at the bottom, and Manchester at the top? Come on! Seems bogus.

Of course it’s bogus.

We all know why these lists are published. Every newspaper in the north of England has written an article about Manchester being #3 (“take that, London!”) and that drives page views for TimeOut.

[Crawford]

Manchester, to me, seemed overall less interesting and dynamic than, say, Cincy. Felt depressing.

Granted, I haven't lived there, and haven't visited in nearly 20 years, but I can't see much appeal outside of work or family commitments.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

Surprised Berlin isn't on the list, and no Las Vegas?? Rome at the bottom, and Manchester at the top? Come on! Seems bogus.

Las Vegas should never be on anyone's "best cities" list.

[Yuri]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Manchester, to me, seemed overall less interesting and dynamic than, say, Cincy. Felt depressing.

Granted, I haven't lived there, and haven't visited in nearly 20 years, but I can't see much appeal outside of work or family commitments.

I don’t know either, but Manchester is much bigger and urban than Cincinnati, grows faster and has a more impressive architecture.

[The North One]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

What’s “white” and “comfortable” about Tokyo, Shanghai, Mexico City, Singapore, Hong Kong, Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Abu Dhabi, Sao Paola, and Bangkok?

Those are the typical cities that are thrown in as tokens. Notice how it's almost always well known western cities at the top.

The thing is a city like Hong Kong or Tokyo easily blows away any city that exists in North America, by a lot. We have nothing as impressive here. Yet they're always put in the back just so publishers can be like "see! we're not racist!".

[dc_denizen]

Originally Posted by yuriandrade

I don’t know either, but Manchester is much bigger and urban than Cincinnati, grows faster and has a more impressive architecture.

Cincinnati has amazing architecture

Over-the-Rhine by Travis Estell, on Flickr

Over-the-Rhine by Travis Estell, on Flickr

but I agree, Cincinnati is 1.7 mm ppl vs Manchester at 2.7 mm, and the advantages of being the 3rd or 4th city in a country vs the 20th or 30th mean a lot. a city of a similar size in a smaller country will be much more diversified and prominent.