Taipei101 2006 New Year Fireworks Show

Download(YSI Free Space)

Oirginal : http://www.dvworld.com.tw

Enjoy it!

It spent about 700,000 USD to perform this 128 seconds show.>

Name all the major cities in your time zone form pole to pole..

with a decent sized population and skyline
in the Eastern TZ (Philadelphia) here goes.

Detroit
Cleveland
Columbus
Cincinatti
Louisville
Indianapolis
Quebec City (not big but fairly famous)
Montreal
Ottawa
Toronto
Hamilton
London
Buffalo
Rochester
Syracuse
Portland
Boston
Fall River
New Bedford
Worcester
Springfield
Albany
Providence
Hartford
Waterbury
New Haven
Bridgeport
Stamford
Yonkers
White Plains
New York City
Newark
Jersey City
Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton/
Philadelphia (1.5 mil)
Atlantic City (not big but fairly famous)
Reading
Harrisburg
Pittsburgh
Baltimore
Washington DC
Richmond
Charlotte
Raleigh
Greensboro
Durham
Charleston (not big but fairly famous)
Savannah (not big but fairly famous)
Atlanta
Jacksonville
Tampa/St Pete
Orlando
Ft. Lauderdale
Miami
Panama City
Bogota
Cartagena
Cali
Lima>

Who made the great cities great?

Who made our great cities great? Who was more responsible? If you have the following choices, which of the two do you think is more responsible for why great cities rise:

• the cities hinterland. it is the needs of the area around the city that made the city great since the city serves functions for its region. Great cities rise in great regions.

• the city is more responsible for its own rise than is the region it serves>

Best Park Attraction

Hey,

I was wondering if any of you guys knew of any cool attractions at your local park. You know the wierd things that people travel from all over the city every weekend to see or do?

Love to know if there is anything wierd out there.>

List of some notable CBDs and downtowns

It's the list from wikipedia.org (CBD)

Africa & the Middle East

Johannesburg--Central Business District & Sandton
Lagos--Victoria Island
Nairobi--Central Business District
Tel Aviv--Central Business District


Asia

Beijing--Central Business District
Hong Kong--Central and Tsim Sha Tsui
Shanghai--Pudong District
Tokyo--Marunouchi and Otemachi wards
Kuala Lumpur--Daerah Sentral Johor Bahru (Central District of Johor Bahru), Golden Triangle of Kuala Lumpur, and Kuala Lumpur City Centre
Manila--Makati City
Singapore--the Central Area, Raffles Place, Orchard Road, Shenton Way and Marina Centre, Marina Bay


Australia

Melbourne--Melbourne central business district
Sydney--Sydney central business district
Brisbane--Brisbane central business district, Queensland


Europe

Dublin--Dublin City Centre: central area of Greater Dublin Area, including docklands and city core.
Frankfurt--the Innenstadt
Istanbul--the Levent District.
London--the City of London and the West End as well as the newly built Canary Wharf.
Madrid--AZCA / Nuevos Ministerios
Paris--La Defense
Warsaw--Śródmieście


North America

Downtown Anchorage, Alaska
Loda, Downtown Mobile, Alabama
Downtown Boston, Massachusetts
Uptown Charlotte, North Carolina
Chicago Loop, Illinois
Downtown Cleveland, Ohio
Downtown Dallas, Texas
Downtown Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Downtown Honolulu, Hawaii
Downtown Houston, Texas
Downtown Kansas City, Missouri
Downtown Los Angeles, California
San Francisco Financial District, California
Downtown Manhattan, New York City (the Lower Manhattan CBD)
Midtown Manhattan, New York City (the largest CBD in the country)
Downtown Miami, Florida
Downtown Montreal, Quebec
Downtown Nashville, Tennessee
Downtown New Haven, Connecticut
Central Business District, New Orleans, Louisiana
Downtown Orlando, Florida
Center City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Downtown Phoenix, Arizona
Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Downtown Portland, Oregon
Downtown Richmond, Virginia
Downtown Salt Lake City, Utah
Downtown San Jose, California
Downtown Tampa and Westshore, Tampa, Florida
Downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Downtown Seattle, Washington
Downtown Syracuse, New York
Downtown Youngstown, Ohio
Downtown - Columbus, Ohio
The District - Downtown Columbia, Missouri
El Centro, Mexico City, Mexico
Guadalajara, Jalisco
Panama City, Panama

The list seems to be a bit weird....>

When cities are dying...

Ok, so I have been reading quite enough about all that pretty, booming, spreading, expanding and all-crystal-clear cities.

But life is not even close to this. Urban growth is being achieved at the great expense of those left behind. Of those who oppose the change.

I want to see all urban contrasts - both in the large and small scale: I want to see the dying neighborhoods and whole cities. Places which had not seen any building equipment for ages or any business activity, where no sane person would come into without personal army.

You probably know what I am talking about, since it's (unfortunately) not that difficult to find them.>

US Cleanest city: Portland, Chicago is worst

The list of the 50 largest U.S. cities and score breakdown
http://www.rd.com/content/openConten...ontentId=15115

America's cleanest city

#1 Portland, Oregon (44)
#2 San Jose, California
#3 Buffalo, New York
#4 Columbus, Ohio
#5 San Francisco

Dirtiest

#1 Chicago, Illinois (6.71)
#2 New York, New York
#3 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
#4 St. Louis, Missouri
#5 Birmingham, Alabama>

Does your city have any floating restaurants?

Does your city have any floating restaurants? Here's one in HK

Aberdeen floating restaurants

Jumbo
>

The most impressive city of these cities for you

Chicago


Frank Furt


Hong Kong


London


Los Angeles


Madrid


Milan


Moscow


New York City


Paris


Seoul


Sydney


Singapore


Tokyo


Toronto



Have you been to one or more of these cities ?
if so, which city is most awesome and impressive for you?>

Which side of the Mississippi is New Orleans on?

Is it on the same side as Memphis or St. Louis? What do you think? I know the answer..just seeking what you guys think.>

Public vs Private space

Hello all, I am wondering if anybody knows of any good articles that deals with public and private space in cities. Thank you!>

High rise clusters, not CBD

This is the place to share information and pictures about high rise clusters that are not part of your central business district or even connected to it.

(as examples, the greater downtown area in Chicago would be eliminated in the sense that it is one continuous high rise district: Loop, Mag Mile, River North, South Loop, Gold Coast, etc.. In Manhattan, both Downtown and Midtown would count separately since they are not attached by high rises straight through.)

where are the major clusters located away from downtown and is their purpose more residential high rise? commerical? true mix of purposes (i.e. Century City). How important are they to the city and how well tied in with the city's transporation system?

While in-city/non CBD is the intention, edge cities part of the metro area (i.e. Tyson in VA) or suburbs with extensive skylines (i.e. Clayton, MO) can be included. And metros like the Bay Area can certainly be looked at has having non-main downtown (in this case: SF) clusters in the downtowns of Oakland and San Jose, as would be any major cluster in NYC's outer boroughs.>

The Big Mac Index

Fast food and strong currencies
Jun 9th 2005
From The Economist print edition

How much burger do you get for your euro, yuan or Swiss franc?



ITALIANS like their coffee strong and their currencies weak. That, at least, is the conclusion one can draw from their latest round of grumbles about Europe's single currency. But are the Italians right to moan? Is the euro overvalued?

Our annual Big Mac index suggests they have a case: the euro is overvalued by 17% against the dollar. How come? The euro is worth about $1.22 on the foreign-exchange markets. A Big Mac costs €2.92, on average, in the euro zone and $3.06 in the United States. The rate needed to equalise the burger's price in the two regions is just $1.05. To patrons of McDonald's, at least, the single currency is overpriced.

The Big Mac index, which we have compiled since 1986, is based on the notion that a currency's price should reflect its purchasing power. According to the late, great economist Rudiger Dornbusch, this idea can be traced back to the Salamanca school in 16th-century Spain. Since then, he wrote, the doctrine of purchasing-power parity (PPP) has been variously seen as a Â"truism, an empirical regularity or a grossly misleading simplification.Â"

Economists lost some faith in PPP as a guide to exchange rates in the 1970s, after the world's currencies abandoned their anchors to the dollar. By the end of the decade, exchange rates seemed to be drifting without chart or compass. Later studies showed that a currency's purchasing power does assert itself over the long run. But it might take three to five years for a misaligned exchange rate to move even halfway back into line.

Our index shows that burger prices can certainly fall out of line with each other. If he could keep the burgers fresh, an ingenious arbitrageur could buy Big Macs for the equivalent of $1.27 in China, whose yuan is the most undervalued currency in our table, and sell them for $5.05 in Switzerland, whose franc is the most overvalued currency. The impracticality of such a trade highlights some of the flaws in the PPP idea. Trade barriers, transport costs and differences in taxes drive a wedge between prices in different countries.

More important, the $5.05 charged for a Swiss Big Mac helps to pay for the retail space in which it is served, and for the labour that serves it. Neither of these two crucial ingredients can be easily traded across borders. David Parsley, of Vanderbilt University, and Shang-Jin Wei, of the International Monetary Fund, estimate that non-traded inputs, such as labour, rent and electricity, account for between 55% and 64% of the price of a Big Mac*.

The two economists disassemble the Big Mac into its separate ingredients. They find that the parts of the burger that are traded internationally converge towards purchasing-power parity quite quickly. Any disparity in onion prices will be halved in less than nine months, for example. But the non-traded bits converge much more slowly: a wage gap between countries has a Â"half-lifeÂ" of almost 29 months.

Seen in this light, our index provides little comfort to Italian critics of the single currency. If the euro buys less burger than it should, perhaps inflexible wages, not a strong currency, are to blame.>

Shanghai Housing Market Bubble Bursts

Flats bubble bursts in Shanghai

City's housing market caves in after a doubling of prices and a run-up fueled by speculation, writes Don Lee

Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Los Angeles Times



Once one of the hottest property markets in the world, Shanghai has seen sales of homes virtually halt in some areas, prompting developers to slash prices and real estate brokerages to shutter thousands of offices.

For the first time, Shanghai homeowners are learning what it means to have an upside-down mortgage, when the value of a home falls below the amount of debt on the property. Recent homebuyers are suing to get their money back. Banks are fretting about a wave of default loans.

"The industry is scaling back," said Mu Wijie, regional manager at Century 21 China, who estimated that 3,000 brokerage offices had closed since spring. Real estate agents, whose phones would not stop ringing a year ago, say their incomes have plunged 67 percent.

Shanghai's housing slump is only going to worsen and imperil a significant part of the mainland economy, said Andy Xie, Morgan Stanley's chief Asia economist in Hong Kong.

Although the city's 20 million residents represent less than 2 percent of China's population of 1.3 billion, Xie said, Shanghai accounts for an astounding 20 percent of the country's property value. One million homes in Shanghai alone are under construction.

"They'll remain empty for years," Xie said, adding a jolting comedown also is in store for other cities with building booms, including Beijing, Chongqing and Chengdu, though other analysts say the problem is largely confined to Shanghai.

Shanghai's housing bust comes after a doubling of prices in the previous three years, a run-up fueled by massive speculation.

With the economy booming and Shanghai at the center of worldwide attention, investors from Hong Kong, Taiwan and elsewhere were buying as fast as buildings were going up.

At least 30 percent to 40 percent of homes sold were bought by speculators, said Zhang Zhijie, a real estate analyst at Soufun.com Academy, a research group in Shanghai.

"Ordinary people had no option but to follow the trend. Worrying that prices would be even more unaffordable tomorrow, many of them borrowed from relatives and banks to buy as soon as possible," Zhang said.

The government only pushed the market higher, he added. "Many of the officials said Shanghai's property market was healthy and wouldn't drop before the World Expo" in 2010.

For Wang Suxian, a tale of two lines illustrates how the bubble has burst.

When home prices were at the tail end of the boom in March, Wang hired two migrant workers to stand in line for a chance to buy units in what the developer said was modeled after an apartment community on New York's Park Avenue.

The workers waited 72 hours, and came away with two apartments, one for US$110,000 (HK$858,000), about the average price for a new home in Shanghai, and another for US$170,000.

And for a short period, Wang believed she was raking in hundreds of dollars a day for doing nothing, as property prices in the city kept soaring.

But today, prices at the complex have fallen by 33 percent, and the lines of frenzied buyers are gone. Wang is among dozens who are fighting the developer to take the apartments back.

She stood in a line herself with about 40 other buyers outside the builder's headquarters, demanding that it negotiate a deal to return their money. "This is ridiculous," Wang said.

The company, Da Hua Group, invited the homeowners inside, served them hot tea, then told them to forget it.

"I think it'll take at least three years before the property market becomes healthy again," said Zhu Delin, a finance professor at Shanghai University and former head of the Shanghai Banking Association.

The typical home being built is in a high-rise complex, with two bedrooms and 850 square feet of living space. Developers say many of Shanghai's homes are valued at about US$70,000 or less, and price drops have not been as steep for those units.

Some still see promise in the Shanghai market. Incomes are rising and people are relocating from the inner city to outlying areas, said Richard David of Macquarie Property Investment Banking China in Shanghai.

What's more, he says, the Shanghai government which owns all the land has auctioned off few lots in the past two years, which will limit the number of housing units in the future.

But that's little solace for homeowners who have seen inventories rise even as buyers show no hurry to come back into the market.

People are blaming the popping of the housing bubble on the central government, which has applied one measure after another in the last year to quash excessive speculation and price increases.

Banks were ordered to raise their best rate on home loans to 5.5 percent from 5 percent. Homebuyers were required to make down payments of at least 30 percent, up from 20 percent. A 5.5 percent capital gains tax on sellers' profits was imposed.

Beijing also levied a 5 percent tax on the sale price of homes sold before two years of ownership.

"It's killed the speculators," said David Pitcher, the former head of CB Richard Ellis' office in Shanghai.

Before the market swooned, buses would bring investors from the southeastern coastal city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang province on home-buying missions. They no longer come.

Wang, the woman battling Da Hua, is one of tens of thousands of Shanghai homebuyers from Wenzhou, known for its wealth and business prowess.

But it's not just speculators who have bailed out of the market. A lot of potential Shanghai buyers have been scared off by numerous reports of sinking home prices and desperate action by some owners.

Internet chat rooms recently were abuzz with a story that a Taiwanese man had jumped from the 33rd floor of an apartment tower. Many people suspect that he killed himself because he was drowning in debt after his home investments went sour.

Managers at the complex refused to comment, but brokers indicated the price of some units in Shanghai have plummeted by more than 50 percent since March, when a home fetched as much as US$250 a square foot.

Zhang Wei, an editor at Imagine China, a photography agency, was close to buying an apartment in the new Pudong development area last year. He planned to use his US$1,250 in savings, and his parents - a policeman and a doctor - agreed to contribute about US$30,000.

The family of three currently lives in a 550 sqft apartment in an industrial district that was provided by his father's employer, the Police Bureau.

Zhang walked away from the deal after the central government stepped up its campaign to cool Shanghai's market. He noticed prices beginning to drop.

"When two of the four real estate agencies near our home finally closed, I decided not to buy for at least two years," he said. "Even a 1 percent drop in prices is a lot of money for us."

For Shanghai, prolonged weakness in the housing market could be very painful. It relies heavily on real estate to drive its economy. Morgan Stanley's Xie says property sales directly accounted for about half of US$31 billion of the growth in Shanghai's annual economic output from 2001 to 2004.

Construction cranes still fill the skyline of Shanghai, an area of about 5, 700 square kilometers. But there's sparse development in the center of the city, where strong sales of high-end homes and luxury office suites, in large part by foreigners, belie the losses around it.

Shanghai's government is relocating inner-city residents to new suburban areas, where entire towns are going up as part of a plan to build distinct industries that ring the city.

It's unclear how many of these new homes are sitting empty. Sales and inventory figures aren't provided by the government. But analysts say they can see the surplus of housing when they drive past housing complexes and there are few lights on at night.

Few analysts are betting on a quick turnaround. Yin Zhongli, an economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, says a housing crash takes time to clean up. He worries that the financial sector will be crippled by the real estate fallout.

Last year, he said, 76 percent of all bank loans in Shanghai were in real estate. "Now is the time to swallow a bitter pill," Yin said.

That's what Huang Xiaolei is doing. The Shanghai native nabbed a 1,700 sqft apartment from Da Hua during the heady times last spring. The unit would not be completed until the end of the year, but as is customary in China, Huang had to secure a loan and make the down payment right away.

She and her parents pooled their life savings of about US$80,000 and put 30 percent down on the US$270,000 flat.

In April, they began making monthly mortgage payments of US$1,100 on a 30-year loan with a 5.5 percent interest rate.

In November, Huang stopped the monthly payment, and this month she filed a lawsuit against Da Hua, claiming her contract allowed her to rescind the purchase before the house was completed under special circumstances, with a 3 percent fee.

"We have over 40 cases like this at our firm," said Du Yuping, Huang's lawyer.

Huang regrets that she got caught up in the frenzied market, and says that even if she wins the lawsuit, she'll suffer a hard financial loss.

"I was cheated," she said.>

What do you hate about your city???

I personally don't like bashing cities, but it's a part of our urban life, nontheless. I can give you lots, lots, and lots of shortcomings about my hometown, Philadelphia, as well as other cities (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=272645) I have traveled in. Please share some of your shortcomings about your city and others.>

world's oldest skyscraper city!

world's oldest/first skyscraper city - Shibam, Yemen
Shiban, Yemen (called 'the Manhattan of the DesertÂ", and Â"town with the worldÂ's first skyscrapers)
is thought to have been in existence since the second century AD,
and the skyscrapers themselves (more than 500 buildings over 30 meters) date back to 8th century AD.



UNESCO World Heritage, Shibam
http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&id_site=192

Have any forumers been there?>

Google Earth Images

Could someone please post a Google Earth Image of Downtown Minneapolis for me. I do not have the program and am very curious to see its view. Thanks alot.>

Cities with most Africans outside of Africa.

Here are all US cities with at least 100,000 African Americans and their share of the city's total population:

New York City, NY--1,962,154--(24.5%)
Chicago, IL--1,053,739--(36.4%)
Detroit, MI--771,966--(81.2%)
Philadelphia, PA--646,123--(42.6%)
Houston, TX--487,851--(25.0%)
Baltimore, MD--417,099--(64.0%)
Los Angeles, CA--401,986--(10.9%)
Memphis, TN--397,732--(61.2%)
Washington, DC--340,088--(59.4%)
New Orleans, LA--323,392--(66.7%)
Dallas, TX--304,824--(25.6%)
Atlanta, GA--254,062--(61.0%)
Cleveland, OH--241,512--(50.5%)
Milwaukee, WI--220,432--(36.9%)
Jacksonville,FL--211,252--(28.7%)
Indianapolis,IN--198,252--(25.4%)
Birmingham, AL--177,709--(73.2%)
St. Louis, MO--177,446--(51.0%)
Charlotte, NC--175,661--(32.5%)
Columbus, OH--172,750--(24.3%)
Boston, MA--140,305--(23.8%)
Newark, NJ--142,083--(51.9%)
Nashville, TN--145,483--(26.7%)
Oakland, CA--140,139--(35.1%)
Cincinnati, OH--141,534--(42.7%)
Kansas City, MO--136,921--(31.0%)
Jackson, MS--129,609--(70.3%)
Baton Rouge, LA--113,478--(49.8%)
Richmond, VA--112,455--(56.9%)
Buffalo, NY--107,066--(36.6%)
Fort Worth, TX--106,988--(20.0%)
Norfolk, VA--102,268--(43.6%)
Shreveport, LA--101,218--(50.6%)

Please post data for other cities that you know have more than 100,000 Africans. There is probably plenty of them in Western Europe and Brazil.>

Exagerrating the Population of Metro's in North America

Populations are in units of 1000. They are all compiled from the United Nations stats on urban regions. Enjoy...

1 18934 Mexico
2 17147 New York
3 13766 Los Angeles
4 7181 Chicago
5 5157 Toronto
6 4571 Philadelphia
7 4253 San Francisco
8 4163 Dallas
9 4151 Washington
10 3927 Detroit
11 3889 Guadalajara
12 3566 Montreal
13 3556 Houston
14 3502 Monterrey
15 3197 San Diego
16 3039 Boston
17 2804 Phoenix
18 2674 Atlanta
19 2494 Minneapolis
20 2339 Miami
21 2247 Vancouver
22 2217 Seattle
23 2184 Tampa
24 2166 St Louis
25 2140 Baltimore
26 2140 Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News
27 1979 Toluca
28 1888 Puebla
29 1848 Riverside-San Bernardino
30 1796 Cleveland
31 1796 Pittsburgh
32 1778 Denver
33 1717 San Jose
34 1564 Tijuana
35 1555 Fort Lauderdale
36 1536 Kansas City
37 1506 Sacremento
38 1462 Juarez
39 1432 Leon
40 1395 Portland-Vancouver
41 1391 San Antonio
42 1382 Cincinatti
43 1335 Milwaukee
44 1326 Orlando
45 1244 West Palm Beach
46 1135 Ottawa
47 1121 Columbus
48 1120 New Orleans
49 1083 Las Vegas
50 1070 Calgary
51 1056 Indianapolis
52 1053 Torreon
53 1028 Buffalo
54 1004 Edmonton>

Dubai: When will it be a Gamma city

Dubai is obviously determined to become a world class city, but officialy it has "some evidence of world city formation". When will Dubai finally hit world class level?

If you don't know what I'm talking about, go to the bottom of this page>

Advertising in U/C buildings!!!

Hello... I have seen sometimes in this forum, pictures of cities, mainly in US, where sometimes you see buildings under construction, and it seems the advertising companies use the "fences, walls" around the construction area to advertise stuff, as if they were outdoors! Do you guys know what I am talking about?

Please, I am an advertising student. If you have pictures of this kind of thing, post here! I am very grateful!>

International kinship of Cities

What cities are you close to on the border to another country? With couple has the closest kinship?
EXAMPLE: detroit(USA)--windsor(CANADA)>

What building do you think is going to reach 492 m first? SWFC, Burj Dubai, ICC?

ok i posted this question on the SWFC construction forum but i think i should get more people's opinions. so, What building do you think is going to reach 492 m first? SWFC, Burj Dubai, or Union Square 7??>

Portland Pearl and Buffalo Cobblestone

Hi Forumers-

Thought I'd share this site where the Pearl is being used as a model for a former industrial area of downtown Buffalo, NY. It has great bones, but is slowly allowing demolition of historical industrial buildings even as the area starts to catch the loft boom.

Here is the complex coming down in the name of 'progress':

http://www.buffalorising.com/city/ar...appointing.php

http://www.buffalorising.com/city/ar...ony_set_fo.php

Here is the Pearl slide show:

http://www.buffalorising.com/city/ar..._cobbles_1.php

Unfortunately a historic grain silo is being torn down for a casino complex. It has many of us howling in protest to deaf ears. Portland any many other cities have shown that development and preservation are not only compatible, but create a much more interesting neighborhood. Anyone wishing to share why this is a bad idea on the site, please feel free. Buffalonians need to start "getting it.">

What building do you think is going to reach 492 m first? SWFC or Burj Dubai?

ok i posted this question on the SWFC construction forum but i think i should get more people's opinions. so, What building do you think is going to reach 492 m first? SWFC Or Burj Dubai??>

Most improved skyline in the last 10 years?

What city is it? >

Dubai is a FAKE CITY

All of you guys are right, you have outed us. It isn't a real city, in fact none of us actually live here. We are bussed in from Oman and Qatar by the Tourism Board and made to stand in poses and take photos which are plastered all over magazines world wide. The police don't less us walk around the streets so it looks as picture perfect as possible. We don't really live in Dubai, but please dont tell the rest of the world our secret >

Amount of skyscrapers in Shanghai under construction?

The best source for skyscrapers (emporis) say that Shanghai has 37 skyscrapers under construction. I don`t really believe this.

How many skyscrapers (12floors or over 35m) are right now in Shanghai under construction? What do you believe?


Maybe someone has more information about this. I would really like to know the amount.>

City Brand Index

At www.citybrandsindex.com there is a list which measures the brand identity of cities.
The list is made by the following properties:

Quote:>

The Presence This point of the City Brands Hexagon is all about the cityÂ's international status and standing. In this section, we ask how familiar people are with each of the 30 cities in the survey, whether they have actually visited them or not, and ask what the cities are famous for. We also ask whether each city has made an important contribution to the world in culture, science, or in the way cities are governed, during the last 30 years. The Place Here, we explore peopleÂ's perceptions about the physical aspect of each city: how pleasant or unpleasant they imagine it is to be outdoors and to travel around the city, how beautiful it is, and what the climate is like. The Potential This point of the City Brand Hexagon considers the economic and educational opportunities that each city is believed to offer visitors, businesses and immigrants. We ask our panels how easy they think it would be to find a job in the city, and, if they had a business, how good a place they think it would be to do business in. Finally, we ask whether each city would be a good place for them or other family members to get a higher educational qualification. The Pulse The appeal of a vibrant urban lifestyle is an important part of each cityÂ's brand image. In this section, we explore how exciting people think the cities are, and we ask how easy people think it would be to find interesting things to do, both as a short term visitor and as a long term resident. The People The people make the city, and in this point of the hexagon we ask whether our respondents think the inhabitants would be warm and friendly, or cold and prejudiced against outsiders. We ask whether they think it would be easy for them to find and fit into a community which shares their language and culture. Finally, and very importantly, we ask how safe our panellists think they would feel in the city. The Prerequisites This is the section where we ask people about how they perceive the basic qualities of the city: what they think it would be like to live there, how easy they think it would be to find satisfactory, affordable accommodation, and what they believe the general standard of public amenities is like – schools, hospitals, public transport, sports facilities, and so on. Overall Rankings Rank London 1 Paris 2 Sydney 3 Rome 4 Barcelona 5 Amsterdam 6 New York 7 Los Angeles 8 Madrid 9 Berlin 10 San Francisco 11 Toronto 12 Geneva 13 Washington 14 Brussels 15 Milan 16 Stockholm 17 Edinburgh 18 Tokyo 19 Prague 20 Hong Kong 21 Singapore 22 Rio de Janeiro 23 Beijing 24 Mexico City 25 Moscow 26 Johannesburg 27 Cairo 28 Mumbai 29 Lagos 30

>>

R&D Scorecard Global Top 1,000 Companies: US firms dominate

R&D Scorecard Global Top 1,000 Companies: US firms dominate; 86% of total R&D comes from just 6 countries out of 36

By Finfacts Team

The increase in corporate R&D investment for 2004-05 was 2 per cent in Europe but 7 per cent in the US and Asia, according to the International R&D Scoreboard, produced by the UK's Department of Trade and Industry.

There are two Irish companies among the top 1,000 global companies: Kerry Group has a 416th ranking and Elan Pharmaceuticals has a 806th rank ( Download Excel file at bottom of page).

The USA has 6 of the 15 largest companies by R&D (see figure ES3) but 6 of the top 10 larger companies by growth of R&D and 11 of the top 15 by R&D intensity. Europe has 6 of the top 15 by R&D but 1 of the top 10 by growth and 4 of the top 15 by R&D intensity. Amongst R&D-intensive middle-sized companies (sales up to £500m and R&D intensity over 4.5%) in the Global 1000, the USA has the largest proportion (38%) of its Scoreboard companies in this category. However, the UK is second of the 6 major countries by proportion with 22% of its companies in the middle – sized category. Using the US, EU and UK Scoreboards, the proportions of sizeable companies (R&D over £6.4m) in each R&D intensity band can be displayed. For the highest R&D intensity bands above 10%, the UK has a higher proportion than the EU ex UK although less than the USA (see figure ES4). The UKÂ's number of companies in this category has increased by 77% between the 2001 and 2005 Scoreboards.

The Scorecard of the the world's top 1,000 companies by R&D spending, shows that European companies as a whole have not increased R&D investment over the past four years, while US companies are spending 12 per cent more on R&D than their four-year average.


The European-US DaimlerChrysler car group, tops the R&D spending league, with an investment of $7.69bn - just ahead of Pfizer of the US with $7.684bn.

The US continues to score highly when "R&D intensity" - R&D in relation to sales - is measured. American companies invested 4.5 per cent of sales revenues in R&D, compared with 4.0 per cent for Japanese and 3.3 per cent for European companies.

This partly reflects the fact that the US is strongly represented in the three big R&D-intensive sectors of industry: pharmaceuticals, IT hardware and software. Europe is relatively weak in IT and related fields, while Asia lacks a vibrant pharmaceutical sector.



The business climate for R&D-active companies continued to improve in the period covered by the Scoreboard, with increases in overall sales growth, profitability and R&D levels for the top 1000 companies across the world. Growth in all three measures was stronger in the Americas than in the Asia-Pacific region or Europe. The United States continues to be the strongest R&D nation with 6 of the top 15 biggest R&D investing companies; Europe collectively has 5. The USA also has 11 of the top 15 larger companies by R&D intensity (R&D as % sales); Europe has the remaining 4.>

Nightlife in your city :)

Hi there. .......Give us a highlight of a hot Saturday night in your city. Tell us where to go, the best clubs, undiscovered gems, and the best party spots in town!


For the lovely city of Albuquerque-

After work, head out to the cool Q-Bar in historic Old Town, for martinis. Grab a quick snack at Ambrozia on Mountain Boulevard, before heading down 8th Street to catch the Albuquerque Symphony Orchestra perform at the bandshell on the lake in the Zoological Gardens. Take Central Boulevard into downtowns thumping Entertainment District, walk the 4th Street Mall and check out-

Burts Tiki Club
Banana Joes
The Billiards Club
Shank
New York Pizza Co.
Sauce
the Hole
Grab a beer at the Library, where the waitresses dance on the bartops
or bang your head in any of the other 29 clubs, discos and bars in downtown.

Head up to Civic Plaza, to watch hot local bands perform, or gawk at the fire-breathers and Turkish Belly Dancers, or trance with thousands of hot bodies at the Summerfest.

A MUST-see for any Albuquerque Saturday is OPM.......one of the hottest and best clubs in the Southwest, home for reknowned DJ Kike, DJ Irene, and Bad Boy Carlos.

Check out a play at one of downtowns 6 Independant theaters, ranging from alternative, to classic Shakespeare, to Independant Poetry readings.

Attend a party at the rooftop pool at the Hyatt Regency, and head into the Warehouse District in Edo to find some hot jazz clubs and Salsa Venues.

Dont forget to head out to the heights, and flirt in the jungle club of Assets, Sandiagos, or if your down by the river, take a few shots at Neds on the Rio Grande. South African, British and Aussie expats should check out the White Lion Pub or the Mama Afrika, both in Los Ranchos. Japanese looking for a taste of home should check out Hima-Hima Club in Uptown. Or go wine tasting in Casa Bordeax in Corrales.

For a real fancy meal with an equally fancy price tag.....Corn Maiden on the north-end is the place.....and of course, Petro pumps out decent (sometimes) tracks, or a decent( sometimes) pianist will play, on the 18th floor of BOW Bldg.

All the big hotels have "chic" bars and discos.............right now, Tamaya at Hyatt Regency Tamaya, or Waters at the Doubletree....are the best.

Metro Albuquerque has 4 casinos.....all of which offer Las Vegas style gambling, Las Vegas style shows...nightclubs, and usually big name concerts. The only one worth going to is the Sandia Casino..........which just completed its new high-rise hotel tower.

Of course we have Opera, Ballet and Symphony.

And the best concerts (BIG names) are held at the Journal Pavilion and Tingley Coliseum.


Make your way into Nob Hill, get a tatoo, or take the tour of Albuquerques 9 Gay Clubs (all in Nob Hill), and dont miss Pulse and Blu........two of the city's hottest places to party.

While in Nob Hill, check out Kellys Brew Pub, and watch sexy dancers partake in HOT Tango and Rumba (to which I belong )


Before calling the night over, visit Graham Central Station in Midtown, and dance a few hours away in one of its 4 superclubs......Miami Beach, Swing, the Barn and Cats.

After your too drunk to dance anymore, catch a famous green-chile burrito at the Frontier (personally, I hate the place)....its open 24/7.


And the whole night long...take the Express Line,a buck fifty will get you unlimited trips all along Central Avenue corridor until 4 am. Its safe, its reliable, and it keeps you and your friends from driving drunk.

Enjoy! >

can you tell a city's importance in the suburbs it spawns?

Some of us would like to think that suburbia everywhere is homogenized and indistinguishable from metro area to metro area, but is that truly the case?

Doesn't the appearance of a city's suburban area depend on the importance of that city and that city's wealth, as well? Is a city's persona reflected onto its suburbs?

Here's the question:

CAN YOU TELL THE IMPORTANCE OF A MAJOR AMERICAN CITY BY NEVER STEPPING FOOT IN THAT CITY, BUT JUST DRIVING THORUGH ITS SUBURBS?

To clarify, do the suburbs of Top Tier cities look different than the suburbs of lower tier cities....be that in transportation, housing costs (obvious one), density, shopping, education, culture, diversity, restaurants, enterainment, traffic, amenities,attractions, etc.?

Is suburban Baltimore fundamentally different from suburban NYC?
Suburban Cleveland from suburban Chicago?
Suburban San Diego from suburban LA?
etc.

Can you get a sense of how major a city is just by viewing and analyzing its suburbs?>

Would you live in Miami, FL?

It's last thread for this topic. I wondering that would you rather to live in Miami because of sun, beaches, nice sky and other everything. Just discussion there.

PS: That's not including in Broward and Palm Beach County. Its only in Miami-Dade County.>

connections between world cities and other world cities

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/visual/hwatlas.html

New York


Tokyo


London


Paris


Hong Kong
>

Australian Military

Haha jokes, this isnt what is being posted here , here's the real thing
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