Please pick FIVE of your favorite North American skylines.
There have been various favorite top ten and top 5 north american skyline threads, but never in a poll, hopefully we can get lots of votes for this, as the more votes, the more accurate the poll>
Friday, April 27, 2007
Cities you wish never built skyscrapers
I often find myself when visiting a great city wishing that I could have frozen time 50 years ago and kept a city in a pristine form. Such cities are Istanbul and Paris. I hate how modernization has, in some places, totally destroyed the character of the cities, and I especially hate the views towers have ruined. Does anyone share a similar feeling for some cities?>
On the streets of Tokyo
IMO Japanese girls are not the most beautiful, but they sure know how to dress.....
my faovurite
my second favourite
>
my faovurite
my second favourite
>
New York - Denial of Stadium Fnding Puts 2012 Olympic Bid at Risk
New York's Olympic Hopes Fade in One Day
By SARA KUGLER, Associated Press
June 7, 2005
NEW YORK - In a matter of hours, New York City slipped from being a worthy contender for hosting the 2012 Summer Olympics to a long shot, contemplating a forfeit.
A state panel denied an essential chunk of funding for a proposed $2 billion stadium on Manhattan's West Side — the centerpiece of the city's bid to host the Olympics. Rules dictate the city cannot change its proposal, which the International Olympic Committee is considering along with bids from Paris, London, Madrid and Moscow. The
IOC will choose a host city on July 6.
"We have let America down," Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a stadium proponent, said Tuesday. "The (U.S. Olympic Committee) selected us, New York, to represent the country. Other American cities wanted to have the privilege of competing at the world level."
One day earlier, New York officials were boasting about the Big Apple's strong chance in the showdown to host the games. The IOC issued a report Monday morning evaluating each bid, giving Paris, London, Madrid and New York positive ratings.
But by midafternoon, when lawmakers on the state Public Authorities Control Board indicated they would not approve $300 million in stadium funding, a clearly disappointed Bloomberg acknowledged New York's fading hopes and said it was unlikely New York would be selected without an Olympic stadium guaranteed.
When asked Monday if he would request that the USOC yank New York from consideration for the IOC's decision next month in Singapore, Bloomberg said he would discuss the matter with USOC leaders.
USOC spokesman Darryl Seibel said officials are studying how to proceed.
Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, founder of the NYC2012 bid committee, said the stadium defeat was "deeply disappointing, especially because it comes on the day when the International Olympic Committee verified the strength of New York's bid."
While NYC2012 can request to take New York out of the running, the USOC has final say on whether to pull out. It is considered an unlikely move, in part because quitting could devastate U.S. chances at hosting future Olympics for many years.
The sports complex also would have served as a home for the New York Jets, and the team's president said the setback wasn't the final chapter in the team's quest to build in Manhattan.
"Four years of hard work and planning will not be washed away in a single day," Jay Cross said.
The powerful three-member state board — which comprises representatives for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Gov. George Pataki and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno — shot down the funding in a vote late Monday afternoon. The board's actions must be unanimous, and only Pataki's representative voted yes.
Pataki had long supported the proposal for the stadium. Until Monday's vote, Bruno and Silver said they had serious concerns but indicated they could be swayed.
In recent weeks, the mayor courted Silver with various economic development projects in his lower Manhattan district, trying to convince him that the area devastated by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks would not be neglected in favor of the stadium.
"Am I to sell out the community I have fought for?" Silver said Monday.
Bloomberg said Silver mistakenly assumed the two Manhattan neighborhoods, about 3 miles apart, could not be developed simultaneously.
The stadium plan has spurred fierce debate from the beginning.
Supporters say it will create jobs, stimulate economic activity and revive a long-ignored swath of Manhattan's far West Side. Opponents — including the owner of nearby Madison Square Garden — question the use of any public money for the project, as well as the potential environmental and infrastructure problems that come with a large sports complex.
Bruno said he was willing to let the state board approve the stadium funding if the IOC approved New York's Olympic bid. He offered that as an amendment at the PACB meeting, but the motion failed to gain a second.>
By SARA KUGLER, Associated Press
June 7, 2005
NEW YORK - In a matter of hours, New York City slipped from being a worthy contender for hosting the 2012 Summer Olympics to a long shot, contemplating a forfeit.
A state panel denied an essential chunk of funding for a proposed $2 billion stadium on Manhattan's West Side — the centerpiece of the city's bid to host the Olympics. Rules dictate the city cannot change its proposal, which the International Olympic Committee is considering along with bids from Paris, London, Madrid and Moscow. The
IOC will choose a host city on July 6.
"We have let America down," Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a stadium proponent, said Tuesday. "The (U.S. Olympic Committee) selected us, New York, to represent the country. Other American cities wanted to have the privilege of competing at the world level."
One day earlier, New York officials were boasting about the Big Apple's strong chance in the showdown to host the games. The IOC issued a report Monday morning evaluating each bid, giving Paris, London, Madrid and New York positive ratings.
But by midafternoon, when lawmakers on the state Public Authorities Control Board indicated they would not approve $300 million in stadium funding, a clearly disappointed Bloomberg acknowledged New York's fading hopes and said it was unlikely New York would be selected without an Olympic stadium guaranteed.
When asked Monday if he would request that the USOC yank New York from consideration for the IOC's decision next month in Singapore, Bloomberg said he would discuss the matter with USOC leaders.
USOC spokesman Darryl Seibel said officials are studying how to proceed.
Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, founder of the NYC2012 bid committee, said the stadium defeat was "deeply disappointing, especially because it comes on the day when the International Olympic Committee verified the strength of New York's bid."
While NYC2012 can request to take New York out of the running, the USOC has final say on whether to pull out. It is considered an unlikely move, in part because quitting could devastate U.S. chances at hosting future Olympics for many years.
The sports complex also would have served as a home for the New York Jets, and the team's president said the setback wasn't the final chapter in the team's quest to build in Manhattan.
"Four years of hard work and planning will not be washed away in a single day," Jay Cross said.
The powerful three-member state board — which comprises representatives for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Gov. George Pataki and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno — shot down the funding in a vote late Monday afternoon. The board's actions must be unanimous, and only Pataki's representative voted yes.
Pataki had long supported the proposal for the stadium. Until Monday's vote, Bruno and Silver said they had serious concerns but indicated they could be swayed.
In recent weeks, the mayor courted Silver with various economic development projects in his lower Manhattan district, trying to convince him that the area devastated by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks would not be neglected in favor of the stadium.
"Am I to sell out the community I have fought for?" Silver said Monday.
Bloomberg said Silver mistakenly assumed the two Manhattan neighborhoods, about 3 miles apart, could not be developed simultaneously.
The stadium plan has spurred fierce debate from the beginning.
Supporters say it will create jobs, stimulate economic activity and revive a long-ignored swath of Manhattan's far West Side. Opponents — including the owner of nearby Madison Square Garden — question the use of any public money for the project, as well as the potential environmental and infrastructure problems that come with a large sports complex.
Bruno said he was willing to let the state board approve the stadium funding if the IOC approved New York's Olympic bid. He offered that as an amendment at the PACB meeting, but the motion failed to gain a second.>
...and what about Norwegian cities?
A country at the edge of Europe... but a beautiful one!
For I am not from there I can participate as well, so I will start:
Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, Stavanger, Gailo, Mo-Y-Rama, Alta, Fauske, Bodo, Vadso, Vardo, Narvik, A, Skiboten, Svolvear, Tromso, Lillehammer, Lakselv, Alesund, Christiansund, Kautokeino, Karasjok, Hammerfest, Hoenigsvag, Sortland, Kirkenes, Tana bru... ooh, more than I though!!>
For I am not from there I can participate as well, so I will start:
Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, Stavanger, Gailo, Mo-Y-Rama, Alta, Fauske, Bodo, Vadso, Vardo, Narvik, A, Skiboten, Svolvear, Tromso, Lillehammer, Lakselv, Alesund, Christiansund, Kautokeino, Karasjok, Hammerfest, Hoenigsvag, Sortland, Kirkenes, Tana bru... ooh, more than I though!!>
How many polish cities can You name?
2 rules:
1. No looking to previous answers, atlas etc.
2. Polakom dziękujemy
>
1. No looking to previous answers, atlas etc.
2. Polakom dziękujemy
>
How many Indian cities can you name?
well? since these threads are the flavour of the season and all that
i am guessing an average of 3-5 for most people>
i am guessing an average of 3-5 for most people>
How many Turkish cities can you name?
Türk üyeler bu başlığa sakın mesaj yazmayın.
Turkish members, don't write any message in this thread!
Eeee?>
Turkish members, don't write any message in this thread!
Eeee?>
Cities: are they hurt by "suburban influence" being dirty words?
Cities: are they hurt by "suburban influence" being dirty words?
I've noted (as I am sure have many of you) that those most passionate about an urban city fabric have the most disdain for anything that smacks of suburbia.
Is such thinking warranted or even desirable? I think not.
People in cities don't often realize that today's suburbia is often very urban and very city like and that it has been able to develop worthwhile and attractive commercial and residential developments that can be fully compatible with cities when replicated there.
I find a lot of the dislike that cities have about cars to be absurd. They were not invented by suburbanites and, as a technological advancement, they were going to be an integral part of cities whether some people didn't want them to be, or not.
A lot of the way people in cities criticize suburbs is based on snobery and the desire to think that sububranites just don't get it, that city life is the ultimate, and that suburbia has no ideas to offer (despite the fact that, for them, city life is far less gritty and far more sanitized than when cities were truly "real"). I find that absurd. Just as Britain's former colonies in America greatly influence Great Britain today, why would anyone think that suburbia wouldn't influence the very cities that spawned it? And why would urbanities think embracing concepts of architecture from suburbia isn't part of the continual change and development of histories on their march through history? Why is it that "sububan style development" automatically becomes buzz words for something totally undesirable, regardless of how it is developed?
American cities were not frozen in time in the 1950's when the real push to suburbia began. It is totally unrealistic, and frankly condesending, to think that suburbs can't influence cities or that suburbs may actually have some answers to metropolitan living that cities can learn from.>
I've noted (as I am sure have many of you) that those most passionate about an urban city fabric have the most disdain for anything that smacks of suburbia.
Is such thinking warranted or even desirable? I think not.
People in cities don't often realize that today's suburbia is often very urban and very city like and that it has been able to develop worthwhile and attractive commercial and residential developments that can be fully compatible with cities when replicated there.
I find a lot of the dislike that cities have about cars to be absurd. They were not invented by suburbanites and, as a technological advancement, they were going to be an integral part of cities whether some people didn't want them to be, or not.
A lot of the way people in cities criticize suburbs is based on snobery and the desire to think that sububranites just don't get it, that city life is the ultimate, and that suburbia has no ideas to offer (despite the fact that, for them, city life is far less gritty and far more sanitized than when cities were truly "real"). I find that absurd. Just as Britain's former colonies in America greatly influence Great Britain today, why would anyone think that suburbia wouldn't influence the very cities that spawned it? And why would urbanities think embracing concepts of architecture from suburbia isn't part of the continual change and development of histories on their march through history? Why is it that "sububan style development" automatically becomes buzz words for something totally undesirable, regardless of how it is developed?
American cities were not frozen in time in the 1950's when the real push to suburbia began. It is totally unrealistic, and frankly condesending, to think that suburbs can't influence cities or that suburbs may actually have some answers to metropolitan living that cities can learn from.>
Gas prices around the world
Think you pay a lot for gas? Perhaps you'd prefer to live in Venezuela.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – Gasoline prices in the United States, which have recently hit record highs, are actually much lower than in many countries. Drivers in some European cities, like Amsterdam and Oslo, are paying nearly 3 times more than those in the U.S.
The main factor in price disparities between countries is government policy, according to AirInc, a company that tracks the cost of living in various places around the world. Many European nations tax gasoline heavily, with taxes making up as much as 75 percent of the cost of a gallon of gasoline, said a spokesperson for AirInc.
In a few Latin America and Middle-East nations, such as Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, oil is produced by a government-owned company and local gasoline prices are kept low as a benefit to the nation's citizens, he said. All prices updated March, 2005.
Nation City Price in USD Regular/Gallon
Netherlands Amsterdam $6.48
Norway Oslo $6.27
Italy Milan $5.96
Denmark Copenhagen $5.93
Belgium Brussels $5.91
Sweden Stockholm $5.80
United Kingdom London $5.79
Germany Frankfurt $5.57
France Paris $5.54
Portugal Lisbon $5.35
Hungary Budapest $4.94
Luxembourg $4.82
Croatia Zagreb $4.81
Ireland Dublin $4.78
Switzerland Geneva $4.74
Spain Madrid $4.55
Japan Tokyo $4.24
Czech Republic Prague $4.19
Romania Bucharest $4.09
Andorra $4.08
Estonia Tallinn $3.62
Bulgaria Sofia $3.52
Brazil Brasilia $3.12
Cuba Havana $3.03
Taiwan Taipei $2.84
Lebanon Beirut $2.63
South Africa Johannesburg $2.62
Nicaragua Managua $2.61
Panama Panama City $2.19
Russia Moscow $2.10
Puerto Rico San Juan $1.74
Saudi Arabia Riyadh $0.91
Kuwait Kuwait City $0.78
Egypt Cairo $0.65
Nigeria Lagos $0.38
Venezuela Caracas $0.12
Source: air-inc.com
http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lis...bal_gasprices/>
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – Gasoline prices in the United States, which have recently hit record highs, are actually much lower than in many countries. Drivers in some European cities, like Amsterdam and Oslo, are paying nearly 3 times more than those in the U.S.
The main factor in price disparities between countries is government policy, according to AirInc, a company that tracks the cost of living in various places around the world. Many European nations tax gasoline heavily, with taxes making up as much as 75 percent of the cost of a gallon of gasoline, said a spokesperson for AirInc.
In a few Latin America and Middle-East nations, such as Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, oil is produced by a government-owned company and local gasoline prices are kept low as a benefit to the nation's citizens, he said. All prices updated March, 2005.
Nation City Price in USD Regular/Gallon
Netherlands Amsterdam $6.48
Norway Oslo $6.27
Italy Milan $5.96
Denmark Copenhagen $5.93
Belgium Brussels $5.91
Sweden Stockholm $5.80
United Kingdom London $5.79
Germany Frankfurt $5.57
France Paris $5.54
Portugal Lisbon $5.35
Hungary Budapest $4.94
Luxembourg $4.82
Croatia Zagreb $4.81
Ireland Dublin $4.78
Switzerland Geneva $4.74
Spain Madrid $4.55
Japan Tokyo $4.24
Czech Republic Prague $4.19
Romania Bucharest $4.09
Andorra $4.08
Estonia Tallinn $3.62
Bulgaria Sofia $3.52
Brazil Brasilia $3.12
Cuba Havana $3.03
Taiwan Taipei $2.84
Lebanon Beirut $2.63
South Africa Johannesburg $2.62
Nicaragua Managua $2.61
Panama Panama City $2.19
Russia Moscow $2.10
Puerto Rico San Juan $1.74
Saudi Arabia Riyadh $0.91
Kuwait Kuwait City $0.78
Egypt Cairo $0.65
Nigeria Lagos $0.38
Venezuela Caracas $0.12
Source: air-inc.com
http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lis...bal_gasprices/>
Graffiti vs. unmarked/clean in your cities
What do you prefer in your city, or favorite cities....Do you like encountering handstyles, burners and blockbusters?..but thats just one type of graffiti I mean you can put a statement on a wall, make an unauthorized graphic design project and such...Or do you prefer that structures in your city/town/metro be unmarked and pristine?
Me I Love a bit of both, sometimes I'm all for a huge blockbuster with some crappy handstyles...when at other times I like seeing things unmarked with a feeling that they're new (whether the structure is new or old), but as an artist my heart always sides w/ the graff
so what do you prefer?>
Me I Love a bit of both, sometimes I'm all for a huge blockbuster with some crappy handstyles...when at other times I like seeing things unmarked with a feeling that they're new (whether the structure is new or old), but as an artist my heart always sides w/ the graff
so what do you prefer?>
Suburbs on steroids
Which former suburban communities have put themselves in positions of promenence due to their aggressive self promotion (or maybe sheer luck)? I'm talking about suburbs on steroids, that have within their boundaries significant attractions that makes the name of their communities known far beyond their own region?
I'm talking about places like:
Anaheim: Disneyland, Angels
Arlington: 6 Flags, Rangers
Bloomington, MN: Mall of America
Pasadena: Rose Bowl, Cal Tech
Clayton, MO: high rise commercial district that competes with StL
What others transcend their own metro areas and reach national promience?>
I'm talking about places like:
Anaheim: Disneyland, Angels
Arlington: 6 Flags, Rangers
Bloomington, MN: Mall of America
Pasadena: Rose Bowl, Cal Tech
Clayton, MO: high rise commercial district that competes with StL
What others transcend their own metro areas and reach national promience?>
List of Asian countries by GDP (PPP) per capita
Rank Country（region) GDP (PPP) per capita
International dollars
1 Hong Kong SAR (PRC) 30,558
2 Japan 29,906
3 Singapore 26,799
4 Taiwan (Republic of China) 25,983
5 Brunei 24,143
6 South Korea 21,419
7 Macau SAR (PRC) 19,400
8 Malaysia 10,423
9 Thailand 7,901
10 Maldives 7,327
11 People's Republic of China 5,642
12 Philippines 4,561
13 Sri Lanka 3,882
14 Indonesia 3,703
15 Bhutan 3,095
16 India 3,080
17 Vietnam 2,570
18 Pakistan 2,388
19 Cambodia 2,074
20 Laos 1,921
21 Mongolia 1,918
22 Bangladesh 1,875
23 Nepal 1,402
24 North Korea 1,400*
25 Myanmar 1,364>
International dollars
1 Hong Kong SAR (PRC) 30,558
2 Japan 29,906
3 Singapore 26,799
4 Taiwan (Republic of China) 25,983
5 Brunei 24,143
6 South Korea 21,419
7 Macau SAR (PRC) 19,400
8 Malaysia 10,423
9 Thailand 7,901
10 Maldives 7,327
11 People's Republic of China 5,642
12 Philippines 4,561
13 Sri Lanka 3,882
14 Indonesia 3,703
15 Bhutan 3,095
16 India 3,080
17 Vietnam 2,570
18 Pakistan 2,388
19 Cambodia 2,074
20 Laos 1,921
21 Mongolia 1,918
22 Bangladesh 1,875
23 Nepal 1,402
24 North Korea 1,400*
25 Myanmar 1,364>
Split the following cities into these catagories
Houston
St. Louis
NYC
Toronto
Mexico City
Chicago
Los Angeles
San Francisco
Miami
Atlanta
Boston
Dallas
Philadelphia
San Diego
Cleveland
And put them into these catagories
Really impressive- A great
Great
Good
Average
Below average
Needs improvement>
St. Louis
NYC
Toronto
Mexico City
Chicago
Los Angeles
San Francisco
Miami
Atlanta
Boston
Dallas
Philadelphia
San Diego
Cleveland
And put them into these catagories
Really impressive- A great
Great
Good
Average
Below average
Needs improvement>
Your top 5 favorite skylines.
What are your top 5 favorite skylines? I mean your favorite not necessarily the best
Mine
1) Hong Kong
2) New York
3) Los Angeles
4) Chicago
5) Sydney>
Mine
1) Hong Kong
2) New York
3) Los Angeles
4) Chicago
5) Sydney>
Which large cities are the least worrying to get lost in?
Consider safety, public transport system, city layout, English prominence, communication with poeple etc.>
Funny Place names
Feel Free to Add. Please don't make them up.
1. Le Tampon, Reunion Island (France)
2 Cork, Ireland
3 Cockweiler, Germany
4 Bangalore, india
5 Lubango, Angola
6 Bangkok, Thailand
7 Santa Claus, Georgia
8 Walla Walla, Australia
9 Stoke-Upon-Trent, England
10 Holywell Row, England
11 Valentine, Nebraska
12 Antwerp, Belgium
13 Brest, Belarus and also France
14 Bangui, Central African Republic(pronounced Bongoo) means fart in Korean
15 Djibouti, Djibouti--pronounced Ji-Booty.
16 Brazzaville, Congo
17 Dili, East Timor
18 Espoo, Finland
19 Singapore>
1. Le Tampon, Reunion Island (France)
2 Cork, Ireland
3 Cockweiler, Germany
4 Bangalore, india
5 Lubango, Angola
6 Bangkok, Thailand
7 Santa Claus, Georgia
8 Walla Walla, Australia
9 Stoke-Upon-Trent, England
10 Holywell Row, England
11 Valentine, Nebraska
12 Antwerp, Belgium
13 Brest, Belarus and also France
14 Bangui, Central African Republic(pronounced Bongoo) means fart in Korean
15 Djibouti, Djibouti--pronounced Ji-Booty.
16 Brazzaville, Congo
17 Dili, East Timor
18 Espoo, Finland
19 Singapore>
Views on America
What do you guys think about America. We are not talking politics here. What do you think about American people and there cities. Do you view us as a show off or an idol to look up to and gather ideas. The American people are very nice and have a great heart when you get to know them. Also the Bush administration is not bad at all. Beleive or not we have made alot of progress more than the bad. Other countries media have talked only about the bad stuff. Well anyway what's your viewpoint of America?>
Loss of the American Highrise
Long-time reader, first time writer...
I've been working on a project for my AP US History class about skyscrapers In it, I'm planning to write about the recent history of the Skyscraper (1990-Present), how the U.S. has not only lost its monopoly but also how Asia has become the center of highrise development, and the factors explaining this loss of development. I plan to also include the prerequisites for returning the US to the proverbial seat of power in the highrise world. I'd appreciate it if we could have a competent and lengthy discussion about this, not only for project ideas (heh), but also because I find this a relevent and worthwhile topic to discuss.
So, to talk about:
-Examples of the buildings, cities, skylines that show how the U.S. has slowed down and how the Orient is broadening its shoulders.
-Factors explaining this shift.
-What America would need in order to have a highrise renaissance.
Your help and discussion is greatly appreciated. Also, if you have any sources you think might be helpful, please post them!
Thanks,
Depressio>
I've been working on a project for my AP US History class about skyscrapers In it, I'm planning to write about the recent history of the Skyscraper (1990-Present), how the U.S. has not only lost its monopoly but also how Asia has become the center of highrise development, and the factors explaining this loss of development. I plan to also include the prerequisites for returning the US to the proverbial seat of power in the highrise world. I'd appreciate it if we could have a competent and lengthy discussion about this, not only for project ideas (heh), but also because I find this a relevent and worthwhile topic to discuss.
So, to talk about:
-Examples of the buildings, cities, skylines that show how the U.S. has slowed down and how the Orient is broadening its shoulders.
-Factors explaining this shift.
-What America would need in order to have a highrise renaissance.
Your help and discussion is greatly appreciated. Also, if you have any sources you think might be helpful, please post them!
Thanks,
Depressio>
Biggest Cities
Hi all, i want to know which cities now are the biggest by population and...
Ir somebody knows maybe could post here top 10 or something
If topic like this allready exist sorry, i didnt know...>
Ir somebody knows maybe could post here top 10 or something
If topic like this allready exist sorry, i didnt know...>
Turin 2006 Winter Olympics
FEATURE - Turin's Alpine residents recall bloody past
By Sophie Hardach
PINEROLO, Italy, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Like the thousands of athletes and visitors streaming to next month's Winter Olympics in the Alps near Turin, Felice Burdino loves the mountains.
Unlike them, he looks at the peaks and valleys with a feeling of sadness as well as pleasure.
As a young man, the 88-year-old Italian fought German occupiers on the slopes where skiers will be battling for gold medals in February.
He saw soldiers burn down parts of the villages that will provide a picturesque backdrop to the Olympic races, and ambushed German troops on the winding roads that connect the venues for the Turin Games.
Despite the horrors of World War Two, he still feels deep affection for the mountains and sometimes retraces the hidden paths he used as a partisan.
"The mountains have always been a great school for me. A school of intelligence, courage, of great friendship. The resistance has given me even more," Burdino told Reuters at his house in Pinerolo, which faces a snowy mountain chain.
"I was enriched by joy, and then I was enriched by pain. And the mountains are still an infinite joy to me."
The area stretching from Turin to the French border that hosts the Olympics from Feb. 10 to 26 was the main battleground for the Italian resistance during the war.
Italian dictator Benito Mussolini had been Adolf Hitler's ally but as the country started to lose the war his successor Pietro Badoglio negotiated an armistice with Allied forces.
When the armistice was announced on Sept. 8, 1943, Germany occupied northern Italy.
BELLA CIAO
There are still many signs of the region's tumultuous past, and even young Italians show pride in the partisan struggle -- most of them know the song of the resistance, 'Bella Ciao'.
Partisans ranged from peasant boys to philosopher and writer Primo Levi, and archive photographs show smiling young men with caps and cardigans who look more like students on a mountain trip than combatants.
Yet the motley crew, supported by Allied forces, eventually succeeded in driving the Germans out of Italy.
"When September 8 came, my brother and I said instinctively, 'Let's go to the mountains'. It wasn't a political decision, it was a decision of conscience," said Burdino, sitting in a study crammed with books.
The Olympic venues are strongly connected to the history of the resistance and its enemies.
Bardonecchia, which will host the snowboarding event, used to be a fascist summer camp. The camp's buildings lay abandoned for decades and have been renovated for the Games.
Sestriere, the Alpine skiing venue, was built as a ski resort in the 1930s by the Agnelli family, founders of Fiat.
Historian Alberto Turinetti di Priero told Reuters that a ski teacher called Maggiorino Marcellin set up a partisan brigade there that eventually took control of the area, then fought bloody battles with German forces.
Former partisan Burdino has spent almost all his life in Pinerolo, where the Olympic curling competition will take place.
"We would go on our bicycles and attack army lorries. It was a hit-and-run strategy, guerrilla tactics," the retired teacher told Reuters.
MUSSOLINI'S FORTS
Only 26 years old when he entered the resistance, Burdino led a group of younger combatants since he had already served in the Italian army and knew the territory well.
One of his first actions was to steal weapons from abandoned fortresses built by Mussolini close to the French border, many of which can still be visited today.
"Later, after I killed a German I would take his weapons. Usually we shot at them from afar so you'd only see that one of them fell and the others carried him away," Burdino said.
He recalled however one time when he shot a German driver at close range, then looked at the dead man with a mixture of pity and shame.
"But I didn't attack Germany. They came to steal from us, they took away our grain, our cattle. We were like a colony," he added, slowly taking off his big glasses and resting his wrinkled face in his hands.
Last year, Burdino published a diary he kept during the war under the title 'Diario Partigiano'.
Despite his experience, he said he liked the Germans -- who are expected to win many of the peaceful battles over scores and timings at the Olympics next month.>
By Sophie Hardach
PINEROLO, Italy, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Like the thousands of athletes and visitors streaming to next month's Winter Olympics in the Alps near Turin, Felice Burdino loves the mountains.
Unlike them, he looks at the peaks and valleys with a feeling of sadness as well as pleasure.
As a young man, the 88-year-old Italian fought German occupiers on the slopes where skiers will be battling for gold medals in February.
He saw soldiers burn down parts of the villages that will provide a picturesque backdrop to the Olympic races, and ambushed German troops on the winding roads that connect the venues for the Turin Games.
Despite the horrors of World War Two, he still feels deep affection for the mountains and sometimes retraces the hidden paths he used as a partisan.
"The mountains have always been a great school for me. A school of intelligence, courage, of great friendship. The resistance has given me even more," Burdino told Reuters at his house in Pinerolo, which faces a snowy mountain chain.
"I was enriched by joy, and then I was enriched by pain. And the mountains are still an infinite joy to me."
The area stretching from Turin to the French border that hosts the Olympics from Feb. 10 to 26 was the main battleground for the Italian resistance during the war.
Italian dictator Benito Mussolini had been Adolf Hitler's ally but as the country started to lose the war his successor Pietro Badoglio negotiated an armistice with Allied forces.
When the armistice was announced on Sept. 8, 1943, Germany occupied northern Italy.
BELLA CIAO
There are still many signs of the region's tumultuous past, and even young Italians show pride in the partisan struggle -- most of them know the song of the resistance, 'Bella Ciao'.
Partisans ranged from peasant boys to philosopher and writer Primo Levi, and archive photographs show smiling young men with caps and cardigans who look more like students on a mountain trip than combatants.
Yet the motley crew, supported by Allied forces, eventually succeeded in driving the Germans out of Italy.
"When September 8 came, my brother and I said instinctively, 'Let's go to the mountains'. It wasn't a political decision, it was a decision of conscience," said Burdino, sitting in a study crammed with books.
The Olympic venues are strongly connected to the history of the resistance and its enemies.
Bardonecchia, which will host the snowboarding event, used to be a fascist summer camp. The camp's buildings lay abandoned for decades and have been renovated for the Games.
Sestriere, the Alpine skiing venue, was built as a ski resort in the 1930s by the Agnelli family, founders of Fiat.
Historian Alberto Turinetti di Priero told Reuters that a ski teacher called Maggiorino Marcellin set up a partisan brigade there that eventually took control of the area, then fought bloody battles with German forces.
Former partisan Burdino has spent almost all his life in Pinerolo, where the Olympic curling competition will take place.
"We would go on our bicycles and attack army lorries. It was a hit-and-run strategy, guerrilla tactics," the retired teacher told Reuters.
MUSSOLINI'S FORTS
Only 26 years old when he entered the resistance, Burdino led a group of younger combatants since he had already served in the Italian army and knew the territory well.
One of his first actions was to steal weapons from abandoned fortresses built by Mussolini close to the French border, many of which can still be visited today.
"Later, after I killed a German I would take his weapons. Usually we shot at them from afar so you'd only see that one of them fell and the others carried him away," Burdino said.
He recalled however one time when he shot a German driver at close range, then looked at the dead man with a mixture of pity and shame.
"But I didn't attack Germany. They came to steal from us, they took away our grain, our cattle. We were like a colony," he added, slowly taking off his big glasses and resting his wrinkled face in his hands.
Last year, Burdino published a diary he kept during the war under the title 'Diario Partigiano'.
Despite his experience, he said he liked the Germans -- who are expected to win many of the peaceful battles over scores and timings at the Olympics next month.>
Dubai...outdoes itself as it hits new highs
Dubai outdoes itself as it hits new highs
By Jad Mouawad and Eduardo Porter The New York Times
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2006
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates In a city of superlatives, Burj Dubai is supposed to top them all.
The "burj," or tower in Arabic, is set to become the world's tallest skyscraper in 2008, looming more than 790 meters, or 2,600 feet, above a new neighborhood of offices and residential buildings. But more important, the rival to Burj Dubai's 167 floors will not be the current title-holder, Taiwan's Taipei 101, or even New York's proposed Freedom Tower, which is to rise to a symbolic height of 1,776 feet.
Drive past the Mall of the Emirates, with the only indoor ski slope in the Middle East; pass by three manmade islands shaped like palm trees and then a set of islands arrayed like the map of a world; continue past Burj Al Arab, the world's only seven-star hotel, which looks like a giant sail and offers rooms for as much as $13,900 a night.
There, farther down Dubai's coastal highway, another developer is planning to erect a tower that will stand about 700 meters high.
Simply known as Al Burj, or The Tower, it is to be the hub of a residential village for half a million people.
Once again, oil producers, particularly in the Arabian peninsula, are experiencing a boom. And just as they did in the 1970s and early 1980s, their coffers are spilling over with cash. Last time around, there was an abundance of outrageous projects, and judging from the extravagance on display in Dubai, lavish projects are finding financing once again.
But this time around, the region's main oil producers, like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, have gotten wiser.
Since the boom started three years ago, they have paid down their debt, saved more money than ever before and created more jobs in the private sector. And they are trying to diversify their economies away from oil and its increasingly volatile cycles.
"People are asking where are all the petrodollars and why we have not seen anything like the spending of the '70s and '80s," said Bader al-Saad, who runs the Kuwait Investment Authority.
"What has changed is the economic and political reforms in the region, the fall of the barriers for investors, and the improvement of the banking and financial system," he said. "If we hadn't learned from our previous mistake, this would have been a big stupidity."
After the 1973 oil shock, governments in the Middle East spent 80 percent of their increase in revenue. Between 2003 and 2005, by contrast, they spent less than 40 percent of their new revenue, according to International Monetary Fund estimates. Governments have also whittled down their debt to an average 20 percent of gross domestic product last year, from about 40 percent in 2004.
Mohsin Khan, the director for the Middle East and Central Asia at the International Monetary Fund, said governments were still drawing up their budgets based on oil at $30 a barrel. In fact, since the beginning of 2004, oil prices have doubled and are now near $70 a barrel in New York.
Oil producers in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will sell more than $1 trillion in oil exports between 2004 and 2006, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
This year alone, their revenue is projected to grow by 10 percent, to over $500 billion, according to the U.S. Energy Department. The bulk of that wealth will find its way to the Persian Gulf, home to most of the world's top producers.
"The question many have in the region is how not to squander the wealth like they did in the 1970s," said Rachel Bronson, a specialist on Saudi Arabia at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
"Unlike in the United States, where it feels like high prices are going to last forever, in the Middle East, the feeling is that it will not last. So, how do you avoid the problems of the 1980s that followed the boom of the 1970s?"
Saudi Arabia, for example, tried to use its oil windfall of the 1970s and early 1980s to become an agricultural powerhouse. It spent billions of dollars to irrigate and grow crops on the kingdom's arid lands. In less than a decade, Saudi Arabia became the world's sixth-largest wheat producer.
But then oil prices collapsed, and the Saudi government ran out of money. The costly effort to make the desert bloom then joined a list of financial follies, like the customized Boeing 747s and the palatial resorts in the south of France.
So it is not surprising that the region's finance ministries are still not convinced that oil prices will remain high for very long, even as they design their oil policies to keep prices from falling.
In Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, the government has an investment arm that some analysts say manages more than $250 billion. Kuwait's investment arm, meantime, gets 10 percent of that country's oil sales and controls a fund estimated at well over $100 billion.
Both these investment arms have been in talks to buy a part of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.
A portion that is not invested at home is finding its way judiciously around the globe. Last year, Dubai bought $1 billion of DaimlerChrysler shares, for example.
Much of the Arab world's new wealth that is invested abroad also ends up in the United States, in Treasury bonds, helping to finance America's enormous trade deficit.
Yet even as Middle Eastern governments open the spigots to more local spending, analysts like Khan are confident that the region's oil wealth will not be squandered this time. One major difference is the growing importance of local private investors, who have helped create a tripling in stock valuations in the region in the past three years.
And finally, there are signs that Middle Eastern governments are becoming more confident about the sustainability of its boom-time revenue stream. Last August, the Saudi government gave a 15 percent raise to government employees, the first across-the-board pay increase in more than 20 years; in April, the federal government of the United Arab Emirates raised government wages by 25 percent for nationals and 15 percent for foreigners; in January last year, Kuwaiti authorities provided its citizens with grants worth around $700 apiece.
"Last summer the oil price increase was still somewhat of a surprise to producers," Khan said. "Now spending has picked up; projects are coming on stream."
Saudi Arabia has not lost its appetite for extra-large projects.
For example, the government is seeking to revive a decades-old project to build a railway that stretches 950 kilometers, or 590 miles, linking its capital city, Riyadh, with both eastern and western coasts. And the government is planning to spend billions of dollars to expand its petrochemicals industry.>
By Jad Mouawad and Eduardo Porter The New York Times
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2006
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates In a city of superlatives, Burj Dubai is supposed to top them all.
The "burj," or tower in Arabic, is set to become the world's tallest skyscraper in 2008, looming more than 790 meters, or 2,600 feet, above a new neighborhood of offices and residential buildings. But more important, the rival to Burj Dubai's 167 floors will not be the current title-holder, Taiwan's Taipei 101, or even New York's proposed Freedom Tower, which is to rise to a symbolic height of 1,776 feet.
Drive past the Mall of the Emirates, with the only indoor ski slope in the Middle East; pass by three manmade islands shaped like palm trees and then a set of islands arrayed like the map of a world; continue past Burj Al Arab, the world's only seven-star hotel, which looks like a giant sail and offers rooms for as much as $13,900 a night.
There, farther down Dubai's coastal highway, another developer is planning to erect a tower that will stand about 700 meters high.
Simply known as Al Burj, or The Tower, it is to be the hub of a residential village for half a million people.
Once again, oil producers, particularly in the Arabian peninsula, are experiencing a boom. And just as they did in the 1970s and early 1980s, their coffers are spilling over with cash. Last time around, there was an abundance of outrageous projects, and judging from the extravagance on display in Dubai, lavish projects are finding financing once again.
But this time around, the region's main oil producers, like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, have gotten wiser.
Since the boom started three years ago, they have paid down their debt, saved more money than ever before and created more jobs in the private sector. And they are trying to diversify their economies away from oil and its increasingly volatile cycles.
"People are asking where are all the petrodollars and why we have not seen anything like the spending of the '70s and '80s," said Bader al-Saad, who runs the Kuwait Investment Authority.
"What has changed is the economic and political reforms in the region, the fall of the barriers for investors, and the improvement of the banking and financial system," he said. "If we hadn't learned from our previous mistake, this would have been a big stupidity."
After the 1973 oil shock, governments in the Middle East spent 80 percent of their increase in revenue. Between 2003 and 2005, by contrast, they spent less than 40 percent of their new revenue, according to International Monetary Fund estimates. Governments have also whittled down their debt to an average 20 percent of gross domestic product last year, from about 40 percent in 2004.
Mohsin Khan, the director for the Middle East and Central Asia at the International Monetary Fund, said governments were still drawing up their budgets based on oil at $30 a barrel. In fact, since the beginning of 2004, oil prices have doubled and are now near $70 a barrel in New York.
Oil producers in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will sell more than $1 trillion in oil exports between 2004 and 2006, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
This year alone, their revenue is projected to grow by 10 percent, to over $500 billion, according to the U.S. Energy Department. The bulk of that wealth will find its way to the Persian Gulf, home to most of the world's top producers.
"The question many have in the region is how not to squander the wealth like they did in the 1970s," said Rachel Bronson, a specialist on Saudi Arabia at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
"Unlike in the United States, where it feels like high prices are going to last forever, in the Middle East, the feeling is that it will not last. So, how do you avoid the problems of the 1980s that followed the boom of the 1970s?"
Saudi Arabia, for example, tried to use its oil windfall of the 1970s and early 1980s to become an agricultural powerhouse. It spent billions of dollars to irrigate and grow crops on the kingdom's arid lands. In less than a decade, Saudi Arabia became the world's sixth-largest wheat producer.
But then oil prices collapsed, and the Saudi government ran out of money. The costly effort to make the desert bloom then joined a list of financial follies, like the customized Boeing 747s and the palatial resorts in the south of France.
So it is not surprising that the region's finance ministries are still not convinced that oil prices will remain high for very long, even as they design their oil policies to keep prices from falling.
In Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, the government has an investment arm that some analysts say manages more than $250 billion. Kuwait's investment arm, meantime, gets 10 percent of that country's oil sales and controls a fund estimated at well over $100 billion.
Both these investment arms have been in talks to buy a part of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.
A portion that is not invested at home is finding its way judiciously around the globe. Last year, Dubai bought $1 billion of DaimlerChrysler shares, for example.
Much of the Arab world's new wealth that is invested abroad also ends up in the United States, in Treasury bonds, helping to finance America's enormous trade deficit.
Yet even as Middle Eastern governments open the spigots to more local spending, analysts like Khan are confident that the region's oil wealth will not be squandered this time. One major difference is the growing importance of local private investors, who have helped create a tripling in stock valuations in the region in the past three years.
And finally, there are signs that Middle Eastern governments are becoming more confident about the sustainability of its boom-time revenue stream. Last August, the Saudi government gave a 15 percent raise to government employees, the first across-the-board pay increase in more than 20 years; in April, the federal government of the United Arab Emirates raised government wages by 25 percent for nationals and 15 percent for foreigners; in January last year, Kuwaiti authorities provided its citizens with grants worth around $700 apiece.
"Last summer the oil price increase was still somewhat of a surprise to producers," Khan said. "Now spending has picked up; projects are coming on stream."
Saudi Arabia has not lost its appetite for extra-large projects.
For example, the government is seeking to revive a decades-old project to build a railway that stretches 950 kilometers, or 590 miles, linking its capital city, Riyadh, with both eastern and western coasts. And the government is planning to spend billions of dollars to expand its petrochemicals industry.>
Wikipedia article about candidate cities for 2016 Olympics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Summer_Olympics
2016 Summer Olympics
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2016 Summer Olympics, formally called the Games of the XXXI Olympiad, will be an international athletic event that has yet to be organized by the International Olympic Committee. The organization under the leadership of Jacques Rogge is currently preparing to mount calls for cities to bid for the honor of hosting the event. All applications are expected to be officially submitted in 2007. The winning bid will be announced in the summer of 2009.
Some expect that in 2016 the Games will return to the United States, due to an unwritten convention that every 20 years the IOC reciprocate for the vast payments by the NBC media group for Olympic coverage—funds that largely bankroll the IOC. However, the U.S. is considering not nominating any city, due to poor world reception for the New York City 2012 bid and in hopes of putting pressure on politicians especially to be more enthusiastic in support of a possible 2020 bid. However, the poor reception given to the 1996 Atlanta Games, which was perceived by many as overly commercialized and poorly organized in terms of logistics, and the bribery scandal that plagued the award of the 2002 Winter Olympics to Salt Lake City, may count against the U.S. Of course, this does not stop any individual city with strong credentials from putting forward a bid.
Cities considering bids
United States
In September 2005, United States Olympic Committee Chairman Peter Ueberroth said that the USOC has reached no decision on whether to bid at all for the 2016 Games. It would be Â"prematureÂ" for any city to announce a bid before a process is laid out, Ueberroth added. Two months later, Ueberroth said that a strong commitment from all three levels of government (city, state and federal) is a prerequisite to the USOC sponsoring a bid for the 2016 Games. On 26 December 2005, Phil Hersh of the Chicago Tribune reported [1]that visits by USOC officials to Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco had been scheduled for November 2005, but postponed until after 26 February 2006 (Closing Ceremony of Torino Winter Games). USOC visits to New York and Washington were never definitively scheduled, but those two cities may yet become part of the itinerary. The USOCÂ's decision whether to go forward with a bid will not be made until spring, the newspaper reported.
Baltimore-Washington D.C.
On July 7, 2005, Dan Knise, president of "Baltimore-Washington D.C. 2012", said that there was a definite possibility that the cities might get back into the bidding for 2016. Knise stated in a Baltimore Sun article [2] that "we should remain interested and engaged in the process." Rick Abbruzzese, a spokesman for Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, added that "we will have to see what the details are, get together with our partners in D.C. and go from there."
Chicago
Chicago had previously decided against bidding for the 2016 Games as a result of financial guarantees required by the IOC. However, the IOC has since announced a new philosophy under which the Olympics would become a smaller event in terms of construction and costs, and apparently as a result of this, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley has reversed his opinion and now intends to bid to host the 2016 Games. After the formation of the Chicago Metropolitan Organizing Committee in the 1990s, the city had previously shown some initial interest in hosting the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. Also, in 1904 it was at first awarded the Games that were eventually held in St. Louis to coincide with the World's Fair.
Chicago's presumed entry is considered to be among the strongest of the U.S. bids; the city benefits from many existing high-profile sporting venues, such as Soldier Field, United Center, Wrigley Field, and U.S. Cellular Field, and universities such as UIC and Northwestern could also contribute. There is also a newly constructed venue in Bridgeview for the MLS Chicago Fire. The city also scores well in terms of infrastructure: the main points in the city and suburbs are easily accessible by "L" lines, Amtrak, and Metra commuter rail, and the construction of a new Metra line, the Star Line, will further facilitate movement between possible venues. Chicago O'Hare International Airport, one of the United States' most important transportation hubs, will have completed a major expansion by 2016.
Chicago also benefits from the strong sports culture in the city. Chicagoans are infamously known for their rabid fandom of their hometeams - the White Sox, the Bears, the Cubs, the Chicago Blackhawks (all of them founding teams in their respective leagues) and the Bulls. Chicago also has the support of Michael Jordan, arguably the most recognized basketball player in the world.
The Chicago bid's geographic location also counts in its favor: its central position within the U.S. means that its time zone is very suitable for American television coverage. The city's reputation as a major convention center, as well as its great international diversity, are also seen as positives. Finally, it is expected that a bid would be strongly supported by a majority of Chicago residents, avoiding one of the problems that blighted New York City's failed bid for the 2012 Games.
Mayor Daley has privately expressed a desire for an additional NFL franchise to come to Chicago in order to have the 80,000 seat stadium needed to host this event, according to the Chicago Tribune. Experts however, think it unlikely that Chicago will land an additional NFL franchise when the NFL is more concerned about keeping the Saints in New Orleans and expanding into the Los Angeles area. Soldier Field, which seats approximately 61,000 fans, is far from adequate as the main Olympic stadium, and has been criticized for what some call a "hideous" amalgamation of modernist and classical architecture.
Denver
Denver is reportedly thinking of entering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics, or possibly a Summer Games, but given the fact that Denver declined the opportunity to host the 1976 Winter Olympics without giving a compelling reason for doing so, it seems that they may be out before the race even begins.
Detroit
Detroit has been mentioned in local media reports as considering a bid for either a Winter or a Summer Games, with the summer games sharing venues with Windsor, Ontario Canada. Detroit has witnessed a rebuilding of the once-crumbling infrastructure of its downtown region in recent years, and has been awarded major sporting events such as Super Bowl XL, the 2003 Ryder Cup and the 2009 NCAA Final Four. However, the IOC has never entertained a Summer Olympics bid for venues in more than one country. And spreading an Olympiad throughout the Detroit area alone would pose transportation problems, as the area lacks substantive mass transit facilities.
Los Angeles
A Los Angeles bid was first announced on October 7, 2004, and this was eventually confirmed on 7 September 2005 at the Amateur Athletic Foundation, an organization created with surplus funds from the 1984 Olympics. The announcement was made jointly by Barry Sanders, chairman of the Southern California Olympic Committee, and City Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa; Villaraigosa told a gathering including Olympians Janet Evans and Rafer Johnson that "We're a community built for the Olympic Games. We have world-class sporting venues and we have a history of success."
Los Angeles has hosted two previous Summer Olympic Games, in 1932 and 1984, but Sanders said that the 2016 bid would be "distinctive in its approach". The city has a number of available sports venues, including the Coliseum used in both previous Olympics, the downtown Staples Center, the soccer fields at the Home Depot Center in suburban Carson and the Arrowhead Pond arena in Anaheim.
Minneapolis-Saint Paul
A possible bid from Minnesota by Minneapolis-Saint Paul was reported on August 7, 2003. Minneapolis-St. Paul previously bid but were rejected for the 1996 games, which eventually went to Atlanta, Georgia.
New York City
City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said that a decision on whether to bid again for the Olympics will be taken if he wins re-election in November 2005. He was subsequently re-elected in November 2005. Any New York City bid would have to convince the IOC that the stadium problems which contributed to the failure of the city's 2012 bid would not be repeated.
Philadelphia
Philadelphia has been reported in the local media to be preparing a bid for the 2016 Summer Olympic games, after its success with massive large-scale events such as the 2000 Republican National Convention and Live 8 in July 2005. In July 2005, Joe Torsella, head of Philadelphia Sports Congress, indicated there is interest in a Philadelphia bid for the 2016 Games. Philadelphia has the advantage of a large centralized sports complex that encompasses Lincoln Financial Field, Citizens Bank Park, the Wachovia Center and Wachovia Spectrum as well as several other venues at area universities (such as The Liacouras Center at Temple University and Franklin Field at the University of Pennsylvania, which stages the Penn Relays tack meet every April), and in neighboring Delaware and New Jersey, an abundance of hotel rooms, and a site for the Olympic Village located within close proximity to the sports complex and transportation, including Philadelphia International Airport and SEPTA subway lines to Center City. The city's historic sites and its location at the center of the Northeastern United States (approximately equidistant from New York and Washington) are also major advantages.
San Diego-Tijuana
A report of January 24, 2005 suggests that a binational U.S.-Mexican bid involving the geographically close cities of San Diego and Tijuana is under consideration. Since under the IOC rules, the Games are awarded to a city supported by a national Olympic committee – note use of the singular – a San Diego/Tijuana bid would likely be nonconforming to IOC standards. While it is true that the IOC has paid lip service to the idea of a Â"bi-nationalÂ" games, it has only seriously considered the proposal for the Winter Games, where some cities with strong support for winter sports, e.g. Helsinki, lack a suitable nearby mountain venue for Alpine skiing. And even those bids have all failed, pretty miserably.
Other North American bids
Havana
José Ramón Fernández, president of the Cuban Olympic Committee, announced on July 7, 2005 that his country would bid. Potential problems with a Havana bid center on required improvements to infrastructure and poor relations between Cuba and the United States.
Montreal
GamesBids.com reported on July 27, 2005 that Montreal was considering a bid for the 2016 Games. Its advantages include a highly multicultural population (3.7 million); its position as a major economic center and past experience at hosting global events, such as the 1976 Summer Olympics, the Canadian Grand Prix in Formula One auto racing, the 1967 World's Fair (which attracted 50 million people), the 2005 FINA World Aquatic Championships and the International Fireworks Competition (the best in the world); and its location in the North American Eastern Standard Time Zone, the same time zone as the major cities of the eastern United States. However, Toronto's more recent experience in bidding for the Olympics may well count against Montreal, but if left up to the Canadian people, more said they would choose Montreal to host the games over Toronto.
Toronto
The lack of European competition could also give Toronto an edge in trying to win the Games if it chooses to bid on them. The city was a close second to Beijing in the final round of bids for the 2008 Games and in the last two decades has achieved an international population diversity that rivals that of New York. Although as a Canadian city a Toronto Games would not technically fulfill the "unwritten convention" mentioned above with regard to NBC, it could be still be a very strong candidate in the mind of the IOC for 2016, especially since it also lies in the North American Eastern Standard Time Zone. Toronto pulled out of bidding for the 2012 Summer Games after the 2010 Winter Games were awarded to the Canadian city of Vancouver.
South America
Argentina
Buenos Aires was a candidate city for the 2004 Olympics, but lost hope of becoming an Olympic host after Argentina's economic crash in 2001. However, the country's economy has since rebounded to such an extent that some groups within the Argentine media now predict that Buenos Aires will announce a bid to host the 2016 Games, with an associated increase in investment in the city's infrastructure.
Brazil
Agency reports have mentioned Rio de Janeiro as a possible bidder for 2016. Rio de Janeiro launched applications to host the 2004 and 2012 Olympics, but failed to make the shortlist on both occasions.
Chile
In 2002, the president of the Chilean Olympic committeee, Fernando Eitel, announced that he wanted to see the 2016 Olympics hosted by Chile, adding that "much of the organization is already in place." Eitel also believes that Rogge wishes to see more developing countries playing a part in hosting the Games, and that this desire would work in Chile's favor.
Africa
Kenya
Kenya announced in early 2005 that it had the intention of bidding for the 2016 Summer Olympics, likely to be held at its capital (and only real major city), Nairobi. This would make it only the second African country (after South Africa) to launch a serious bid for the Games. However, Rogge has said that Kenya would have to make signifcant improvements to its infrastructure if such a bid were to be taken seriously.
South Africa
According to agency reports, a South African city, most likely Cape Town, is considering a bid. Given that South Africa will host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Rogge's eagerness for either Africa and/or South America to host an Olympic Games, and the potential strength of another bid from Cape Town - Cape Town itself was part of the candidate city shortlist for the 2004 Olympics (coming in third place after Athens and Rome); some are very optimistic about South Africa's prospects of hosting the Olympic Games in the near future.
Asia
Dubai
Dubai in the United Arab Emirates has announced an interest in bidding for the right to host what would be the Middle East's first Olympiad. Infrastructure is excellent, and the emirate's wealth means that it could easily afford to build any facilities deemed necessary. One potential problem is that of climate: the Dubai summer would be unacceptably hot for such an event, so a spring or fall date would probably be required.
India
The Indian capital of New Delhi has announced its wish to host the Olympics, and believes that a great source of strength will be the 2010 Commonwealth Games, which will be held in the same city. However, national opinion is deeply divided, with many saying that given the evidence that no country has ever won the Games with its first attempt, and the less than impressive national displays in Olympic medal tables, the bid would rely massively on the success of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Israel
The city of Tel Aviv is reportedly considering a bid, and is in the process of constructing a feasibility report into staging the Games. However, they admit that there are major challenges which would need to be overcome for an Israeli bid to succeed, not least in terms of security. There would also be the danger of politically-motivated boycotts or protests from some nations, although a Tel Aviv Olympics would probably suffer rather less from this than one held in Jerusalem. Other problems include relatively poor infrastructure and a possible lack of support from within the IOC itself.
Japan
Japan has announced that it wants to host the Summer Olympic Games in either 2016 or 2020; the most likely course of action is a "warm-up bid" for the 2016 Games, with the same city then bidding again (with a higher expectation of success) four years later. So far, the cities of Sapporo and Fukuoka have expressed their interest. Sapporo hosted the 1972 Winter Games, but neither city has previously bid for a Summer Olympiad. Osaka could be another strong possibility pending enough bids. According to GamesBids.com in a report of August 5, 2005, Tokyo has also expressed an interest in hosting the Games in a year from 2016 onward.
South Korea
South Korea's second largest city of Busan is intending to make a bid. The city's mayor announced in 2002, after its success in hosting that year's Asian Games and FIFA World Cup, that an Olympic bid was the next natural step to becoming a world-class city. South Korea has hosted the Olympics before, when the 1988 Games were held in Seoul, but there may be problems with Pyeongchang's bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics, as the IOC would certainly not select the same country to host consecutive Olympiads. Pyeongchang is seen as a front-runner for 2014, having only narrowly lost to the Canadian bid in 2010, and this may damage Busan's chances.
Thailand
The Thai Prime Minister has said that his country intends to make a bid. No city has been formally selected as yet, although Bangkok would be considered a strong favorite. It is said that the idea of making a bid came under consideration as a result of the Thai Olympic team's strong showing at the Athens Games of 2004.
Europe
Given London's success in securing the 2012 Games, it is considered extremely unlikely that a European city will be selected for a second successive Olympiad. Nevetherless, a number of European cities are said to be considering bids.
Czech Republic
A Czech bid from Prague is said to be under consideration. Yet this bid is viewed by many as a "trial" bid to check out the situation in the selection process and to prepare better for a major bid for 2020.
Germany
Hamburg is likely to form the centerpiece of any German bid, as it is generally seen as a better candidate than Leipzig, the city that attempted to host the 2012 Games. The capital Berlin may bid as well, in light of other recent European capital city bids (notably London & Paris).
Italy
A possible Italian bid could be centered on Milan-Lombardy, and were it not for the great unlikelihood of there being two successive European Summer Games it might score highly. Other Italian cities to have been mentioned are Naples and Rome.
Italy would have also soon finished the Torino 2006 winter games, it may be some time before we see an Italian city host another game.
Netherlands
A Dutch bid centered on Rotterdam is said to be under consideration.
Portugal
The Portuguese committee's president, Vicente Moura, announced on July 6, 2005 that there would be a bid from Lisbon.
Russia
Moscow was a candidate city for 2012, and although knocked out in the first round of voting its bid was praised for its technical merit. Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said, "We will bid for the right to become the host city for the 2016 Olympic Games." [3] The only other Russian city considered to have the ability to stage an Olympic Games is St. Petersburg, and the Vice Governor of that city mentioned the possibility on 29 December 2003.
Spain
Madrid came third in the race for 2012, despite having led the field on the second ballot. The 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona were generally considered a great success, and this may bode well for a successful Spanish bid in the future; Rogge said after their defeat for 2012 that "the IOC would be delighted with a new Madrid candidacy." [4]
Some sources say the cost of Barcelona games of 1992 drained that city too severely, possibly contributing to another Spanish city losing a summer bid. Likelihood of a successful Spanish bid for the summer games could also hinge on how well the city of Jaca fares in its current attempt to host the 2014 winter games.
Turkey
The Turkish government announced in 1992 that it would continue to bid for the Games until it was successful; this implies that there will be another bid from Istanbul this time around as well. Istanbul was part of the 2000 and 2008 candidate city shortlists, and also applied but failed to make the shortlists for the 2004 and 2012 Olympics.>
2016 Summer Olympics
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2016 Summer Olympics, formally called the Games of the XXXI Olympiad, will be an international athletic event that has yet to be organized by the International Olympic Committee. The organization under the leadership of Jacques Rogge is currently preparing to mount calls for cities to bid for the honor of hosting the event. All applications are expected to be officially submitted in 2007. The winning bid will be announced in the summer of 2009.
Some expect that in 2016 the Games will return to the United States, due to an unwritten convention that every 20 years the IOC reciprocate for the vast payments by the NBC media group for Olympic coverage—funds that largely bankroll the IOC. However, the U.S. is considering not nominating any city, due to poor world reception for the New York City 2012 bid and in hopes of putting pressure on politicians especially to be more enthusiastic in support of a possible 2020 bid. However, the poor reception given to the 1996 Atlanta Games, which was perceived by many as overly commercialized and poorly organized in terms of logistics, and the bribery scandal that plagued the award of the 2002 Winter Olympics to Salt Lake City, may count against the U.S. Of course, this does not stop any individual city with strong credentials from putting forward a bid.
Cities considering bids
United States
In September 2005, United States Olympic Committee Chairman Peter Ueberroth said that the USOC has reached no decision on whether to bid at all for the 2016 Games. It would be Â"prematureÂ" for any city to announce a bid before a process is laid out, Ueberroth added. Two months later, Ueberroth said that a strong commitment from all three levels of government (city, state and federal) is a prerequisite to the USOC sponsoring a bid for the 2016 Games. On 26 December 2005, Phil Hersh of the Chicago Tribune reported [1]that visits by USOC officials to Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco had been scheduled for November 2005, but postponed until after 26 February 2006 (Closing Ceremony of Torino Winter Games). USOC visits to New York and Washington were never definitively scheduled, but those two cities may yet become part of the itinerary. The USOCÂ's decision whether to go forward with a bid will not be made until spring, the newspaper reported.
Baltimore-Washington D.C.
On July 7, 2005, Dan Knise, president of "Baltimore-Washington D.C. 2012", said that there was a definite possibility that the cities might get back into the bidding for 2016. Knise stated in a Baltimore Sun article [2] that "we should remain interested and engaged in the process." Rick Abbruzzese, a spokesman for Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, added that "we will have to see what the details are, get together with our partners in D.C. and go from there."
Chicago
Chicago had previously decided against bidding for the 2016 Games as a result of financial guarantees required by the IOC. However, the IOC has since announced a new philosophy under which the Olympics would become a smaller event in terms of construction and costs, and apparently as a result of this, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley has reversed his opinion and now intends to bid to host the 2016 Games. After the formation of the Chicago Metropolitan Organizing Committee in the 1990s, the city had previously shown some initial interest in hosting the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. Also, in 1904 it was at first awarded the Games that were eventually held in St. Louis to coincide with the World's Fair.
Chicago's presumed entry is considered to be among the strongest of the U.S. bids; the city benefits from many existing high-profile sporting venues, such as Soldier Field, United Center, Wrigley Field, and U.S. Cellular Field, and universities such as UIC and Northwestern could also contribute. There is also a newly constructed venue in Bridgeview for the MLS Chicago Fire. The city also scores well in terms of infrastructure: the main points in the city and suburbs are easily accessible by "L" lines, Amtrak, and Metra commuter rail, and the construction of a new Metra line, the Star Line, will further facilitate movement between possible venues. Chicago O'Hare International Airport, one of the United States' most important transportation hubs, will have completed a major expansion by 2016.
Chicago also benefits from the strong sports culture in the city. Chicagoans are infamously known for their rabid fandom of their hometeams - the White Sox, the Bears, the Cubs, the Chicago Blackhawks (all of them founding teams in their respective leagues) and the Bulls. Chicago also has the support of Michael Jordan, arguably the most recognized basketball player in the world.
The Chicago bid's geographic location also counts in its favor: its central position within the U.S. means that its time zone is very suitable for American television coverage. The city's reputation as a major convention center, as well as its great international diversity, are also seen as positives. Finally, it is expected that a bid would be strongly supported by a majority of Chicago residents, avoiding one of the problems that blighted New York City's failed bid for the 2012 Games.
Mayor Daley has privately expressed a desire for an additional NFL franchise to come to Chicago in order to have the 80,000 seat stadium needed to host this event, according to the Chicago Tribune. Experts however, think it unlikely that Chicago will land an additional NFL franchise when the NFL is more concerned about keeping the Saints in New Orleans and expanding into the Los Angeles area. Soldier Field, which seats approximately 61,000 fans, is far from adequate as the main Olympic stadium, and has been criticized for what some call a "hideous" amalgamation of modernist and classical architecture.
Denver
Denver is reportedly thinking of entering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics, or possibly a Summer Games, but given the fact that Denver declined the opportunity to host the 1976 Winter Olympics without giving a compelling reason for doing so, it seems that they may be out before the race even begins.
Detroit
Detroit has been mentioned in local media reports as considering a bid for either a Winter or a Summer Games, with the summer games sharing venues with Windsor, Ontario Canada. Detroit has witnessed a rebuilding of the once-crumbling infrastructure of its downtown region in recent years, and has been awarded major sporting events such as Super Bowl XL, the 2003 Ryder Cup and the 2009 NCAA Final Four. However, the IOC has never entertained a Summer Olympics bid for venues in more than one country. And spreading an Olympiad throughout the Detroit area alone would pose transportation problems, as the area lacks substantive mass transit facilities.
Los Angeles
A Los Angeles bid was first announced on October 7, 2004, and this was eventually confirmed on 7 September 2005 at the Amateur Athletic Foundation, an organization created with surplus funds from the 1984 Olympics. The announcement was made jointly by Barry Sanders, chairman of the Southern California Olympic Committee, and City Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa; Villaraigosa told a gathering including Olympians Janet Evans and Rafer Johnson that "We're a community built for the Olympic Games. We have world-class sporting venues and we have a history of success."
Los Angeles has hosted two previous Summer Olympic Games, in 1932 and 1984, but Sanders said that the 2016 bid would be "distinctive in its approach". The city has a number of available sports venues, including the Coliseum used in both previous Olympics, the downtown Staples Center, the soccer fields at the Home Depot Center in suburban Carson and the Arrowhead Pond arena in Anaheim.
Minneapolis-Saint Paul
A possible bid from Minnesota by Minneapolis-Saint Paul was reported on August 7, 2003. Minneapolis-St. Paul previously bid but were rejected for the 1996 games, which eventually went to Atlanta, Georgia.
New York City
City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said that a decision on whether to bid again for the Olympics will be taken if he wins re-election in November 2005. He was subsequently re-elected in November 2005. Any New York City bid would have to convince the IOC that the stadium problems which contributed to the failure of the city's 2012 bid would not be repeated.
Philadelphia
Philadelphia has been reported in the local media to be preparing a bid for the 2016 Summer Olympic games, after its success with massive large-scale events such as the 2000 Republican National Convention and Live 8 in July 2005. In July 2005, Joe Torsella, head of Philadelphia Sports Congress, indicated there is interest in a Philadelphia bid for the 2016 Games. Philadelphia has the advantage of a large centralized sports complex that encompasses Lincoln Financial Field, Citizens Bank Park, the Wachovia Center and Wachovia Spectrum as well as several other venues at area universities (such as The Liacouras Center at Temple University and Franklin Field at the University of Pennsylvania, which stages the Penn Relays tack meet every April), and in neighboring Delaware and New Jersey, an abundance of hotel rooms, and a site for the Olympic Village located within close proximity to the sports complex and transportation, including Philadelphia International Airport and SEPTA subway lines to Center City. The city's historic sites and its location at the center of the Northeastern United States (approximately equidistant from New York and Washington) are also major advantages.
San Diego-Tijuana
A report of January 24, 2005 suggests that a binational U.S.-Mexican bid involving the geographically close cities of San Diego and Tijuana is under consideration. Since under the IOC rules, the Games are awarded to a city supported by a national Olympic committee – note use of the singular – a San Diego/Tijuana bid would likely be nonconforming to IOC standards. While it is true that the IOC has paid lip service to the idea of a Â"bi-nationalÂ" games, it has only seriously considered the proposal for the Winter Games, where some cities with strong support for winter sports, e.g. Helsinki, lack a suitable nearby mountain venue for Alpine skiing. And even those bids have all failed, pretty miserably.
Other North American bids
Havana
José Ramón Fernández, president of the Cuban Olympic Committee, announced on July 7, 2005 that his country would bid. Potential problems with a Havana bid center on required improvements to infrastructure and poor relations between Cuba and the United States.
Montreal
GamesBids.com reported on July 27, 2005 that Montreal was considering a bid for the 2016 Games. Its advantages include a highly multicultural population (3.7 million); its position as a major economic center and past experience at hosting global events, such as the 1976 Summer Olympics, the Canadian Grand Prix in Formula One auto racing, the 1967 World's Fair (which attracted 50 million people), the 2005 FINA World Aquatic Championships and the International Fireworks Competition (the best in the world); and its location in the North American Eastern Standard Time Zone, the same time zone as the major cities of the eastern United States. However, Toronto's more recent experience in bidding for the Olympics may well count against Montreal, but if left up to the Canadian people, more said they would choose Montreal to host the games over Toronto.
Toronto
The lack of European competition could also give Toronto an edge in trying to win the Games if it chooses to bid on them. The city was a close second to Beijing in the final round of bids for the 2008 Games and in the last two decades has achieved an international population diversity that rivals that of New York. Although as a Canadian city a Toronto Games would not technically fulfill the "unwritten convention" mentioned above with regard to NBC, it could be still be a very strong candidate in the mind of the IOC for 2016, especially since it also lies in the North American Eastern Standard Time Zone. Toronto pulled out of bidding for the 2012 Summer Games after the 2010 Winter Games were awarded to the Canadian city of Vancouver.
South America
Argentina
Buenos Aires was a candidate city for the 2004 Olympics, but lost hope of becoming an Olympic host after Argentina's economic crash in 2001. However, the country's economy has since rebounded to such an extent that some groups within the Argentine media now predict that Buenos Aires will announce a bid to host the 2016 Games, with an associated increase in investment in the city's infrastructure.
Brazil
Agency reports have mentioned Rio de Janeiro as a possible bidder for 2016. Rio de Janeiro launched applications to host the 2004 and 2012 Olympics, but failed to make the shortlist on both occasions.
Chile
In 2002, the president of the Chilean Olympic committeee, Fernando Eitel, announced that he wanted to see the 2016 Olympics hosted by Chile, adding that "much of the organization is already in place." Eitel also believes that Rogge wishes to see more developing countries playing a part in hosting the Games, and that this desire would work in Chile's favor.
Africa
Kenya
Kenya announced in early 2005 that it had the intention of bidding for the 2016 Summer Olympics, likely to be held at its capital (and only real major city), Nairobi. This would make it only the second African country (after South Africa) to launch a serious bid for the Games. However, Rogge has said that Kenya would have to make signifcant improvements to its infrastructure if such a bid were to be taken seriously.
South Africa
According to agency reports, a South African city, most likely Cape Town, is considering a bid. Given that South Africa will host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Rogge's eagerness for either Africa and/or South America to host an Olympic Games, and the potential strength of another bid from Cape Town - Cape Town itself was part of the candidate city shortlist for the 2004 Olympics (coming in third place after Athens and Rome); some are very optimistic about South Africa's prospects of hosting the Olympic Games in the near future.
Asia
Dubai
Dubai in the United Arab Emirates has announced an interest in bidding for the right to host what would be the Middle East's first Olympiad. Infrastructure is excellent, and the emirate's wealth means that it could easily afford to build any facilities deemed necessary. One potential problem is that of climate: the Dubai summer would be unacceptably hot for such an event, so a spring or fall date would probably be required.
India
The Indian capital of New Delhi has announced its wish to host the Olympics, and believes that a great source of strength will be the 2010 Commonwealth Games, which will be held in the same city. However, national opinion is deeply divided, with many saying that given the evidence that no country has ever won the Games with its first attempt, and the less than impressive national displays in Olympic medal tables, the bid would rely massively on the success of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Israel
The city of Tel Aviv is reportedly considering a bid, and is in the process of constructing a feasibility report into staging the Games. However, they admit that there are major challenges which would need to be overcome for an Israeli bid to succeed, not least in terms of security. There would also be the danger of politically-motivated boycotts or protests from some nations, although a Tel Aviv Olympics would probably suffer rather less from this than one held in Jerusalem. Other problems include relatively poor infrastructure and a possible lack of support from within the IOC itself.
Japan
Japan has announced that it wants to host the Summer Olympic Games in either 2016 or 2020; the most likely course of action is a "warm-up bid" for the 2016 Games, with the same city then bidding again (with a higher expectation of success) four years later. So far, the cities of Sapporo and Fukuoka have expressed their interest. Sapporo hosted the 1972 Winter Games, but neither city has previously bid for a Summer Olympiad. Osaka could be another strong possibility pending enough bids. According to GamesBids.com in a report of August 5, 2005, Tokyo has also expressed an interest in hosting the Games in a year from 2016 onward.
South Korea
South Korea's second largest city of Busan is intending to make a bid. The city's mayor announced in 2002, after its success in hosting that year's Asian Games and FIFA World Cup, that an Olympic bid was the next natural step to becoming a world-class city. South Korea has hosted the Olympics before, when the 1988 Games were held in Seoul, but there may be problems with Pyeongchang's bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics, as the IOC would certainly not select the same country to host consecutive Olympiads. Pyeongchang is seen as a front-runner for 2014, having only narrowly lost to the Canadian bid in 2010, and this may damage Busan's chances.
Thailand
The Thai Prime Minister has said that his country intends to make a bid. No city has been formally selected as yet, although Bangkok would be considered a strong favorite. It is said that the idea of making a bid came under consideration as a result of the Thai Olympic team's strong showing at the Athens Games of 2004.
Europe
Given London's success in securing the 2012 Games, it is considered extremely unlikely that a European city will be selected for a second successive Olympiad. Nevetherless, a number of European cities are said to be considering bids.
Czech Republic
A Czech bid from Prague is said to be under consideration. Yet this bid is viewed by many as a "trial" bid to check out the situation in the selection process and to prepare better for a major bid for 2020.
Germany
Hamburg is likely to form the centerpiece of any German bid, as it is generally seen as a better candidate than Leipzig, the city that attempted to host the 2012 Games. The capital Berlin may bid as well, in light of other recent European capital city bids (notably London & Paris).
Italy
A possible Italian bid could be centered on Milan-Lombardy, and were it not for the great unlikelihood of there being two successive European Summer Games it might score highly. Other Italian cities to have been mentioned are Naples and Rome.
Italy would have also soon finished the Torino 2006 winter games, it may be some time before we see an Italian city host another game.
Netherlands
A Dutch bid centered on Rotterdam is said to be under consideration.
Portugal
The Portuguese committee's president, Vicente Moura, announced on July 6, 2005 that there would be a bid from Lisbon.
Russia
Moscow was a candidate city for 2012, and although knocked out in the first round of voting its bid was praised for its technical merit. Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said, "We will bid for the right to become the host city for the 2016 Olympic Games." [3] The only other Russian city considered to have the ability to stage an Olympic Games is St. Petersburg, and the Vice Governor of that city mentioned the possibility on 29 December 2003.
Spain
Madrid came third in the race for 2012, despite having led the field on the second ballot. The 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona were generally considered a great success, and this may bode well for a successful Spanish bid in the future; Rogge said after their defeat for 2012 that "the IOC would be delighted with a new Madrid candidacy." [4]
Some sources say the cost of Barcelona games of 1992 drained that city too severely, possibly contributing to another Spanish city losing a summer bid. Likelihood of a successful Spanish bid for the summer games could also hinge on how well the city of Jaca fares in its current attempt to host the 2014 winter games.
Turkey
The Turkish government announced in 1992 that it would continue to bid for the Games until it was successful; this implies that there will be another bid from Istanbul this time around as well. Istanbul was part of the 2000 and 2008 candidate city shortlists, and also applied but failed to make the shortlists for the 2004 and 2012 Olympics.>
cities that portray other cities in movies
Just wanna discuss about cities portraying other cities in motion pictures whether they portray a fictional or an existing city.
An example would be Rumble In The Bronx starring Jackie Chan. The setting was Bronx NY but was filmed in Vancouver>
An example would be Rumble In The Bronx starring Jackie Chan. The setting was Bronx NY but was filmed in Vancouver>
Streetlight ornaments, overhangs, and neighborhood or shopping district entrance sign
Ok youÂ've all seen em, some big some small some flashy and bold some charming some old....their street ornaments. They hang from streetlights; they might drape across the street fastened to street light posts or electric/phone posts or arch there way across the street with supporting columns on either side. Some represent an ethnic neighborhood. Some present an entranceway for visitors and locals alike. Some are added to help breath life into a shopping district. Some light up the street some glitter to catch youÂ're attention.
Why am I bringing this up? Because I would love to see pics of them from around the world, from every neighborhood, in every city in every country! Show us your cool neighborhood street ornaments or fancy entrance/gateways.>
Why am I bringing this up? Because I would love to see pics of them from around the world, from every neighborhood, in every city in every country! Show us your cool neighborhood street ornaments or fancy entrance/gateways.>
"Third World" area(s) within the United States?
Is there a single state, county, city or town that would meet the criteria of an underdeveloped country, as a seperate entity from the United States?>
"Third World" area(s) within the United States?
Is there a single state, county, city or town that would meet the criteria of an underdeveloped country, as a seperate entity from the United States?>
Show Your City's Urban Villages
Urban Villages are sprouting up all over the U.S., so I was wondering if they differ greatly from city to city or if they are pretty much the same. Lets post some pics.
These are some that are under construction or already built in Dallas.
Cityville at Southwestern Medical District
Park Lane Place
Mockingbird Station
CityLights
Village on the Green
The West Village
and the best one IMO is Victory Park
>
These are some that are under construction or already built in Dallas.
Cityville at Southwestern Medical District
Park Lane Place
Mockingbird Station
CityLights
Village on the Green
The West Village
and the best one IMO is Victory Park
>
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