Atlantis. It's so exclusive that nobody knows how to find it.
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Houten, Netherlands. No cars in the city, you can bike anywhere. The true 15 minute city
Ecologically speaking, it must me Singapore.
I'm intrigued, please clarify what you mean by ecologically speaking?
Im refering to the city's garden/forest project. I dont think there is another large city anywhere alse quite like it. There are some good youtube vids if you want to see.
probably the biodiversity is high in singapore, as being a tropical region.
Been there. It's hard to pick a "greatest" city, but Singapore is definitely up there. Amazing place.
For me? Montréal.
It's incredibly walkable, tons of parks and nature and trees all throughout with a beautiful unique urban design (the brick plexes) and a unique blend of cultures.
Clearly it's Best. That's why they named it that.
Clearly it's Best. That's why they named it that.
That's not what the OP asked. "Greatest" in what capacity, I dunno.
"Best" and "greatest" are synonyms. Also I couldn't find any city named "Greatest." 🤷♂️
Belgrade Serbia. It's the perfect size, not crowded but always busy, big enough that it has everything you could want small enough you can get anywhere in under an hour on free public transportation. The food is great and cheap and there's plenty of places open all night. Lots of green space and a couple huge parks. I live as a nomad but if i had to pick a city to settle in Beograd is the easy choice.
New Amsterdam
(because it became New York)
Even Old New York was once New Amsterdam. Why they changed it, I can't say. People just liked it better that way.
SO
take me back to Constantinople!
No, you can't go back to Constantinople
I haven't traveled the world enough to give a definitive answer. I had a blast in Edinburgh, and Luxembourg City is a wonderful place to visit. Most large Canadian cities are delightful. I doubt any of the cities I have visited would be the 'greatest' on the planet, however.
I 100% doubt any city in the USA could qualify. They are far more alike than they are different.
As for New Yorkers frequently & loudly yelling their city is the greatest, I'm convinced it's some kind of pathology similar to Stockholm Syndrome. This comedian explains it better than I can:
I really don't like cities, but the cities I have disliked the least (in order) are: Singapore, Istanbul, Rome, Paris, Tokyo, Quebec City, Granada Spain, New York, Montreal, Cartagena, Cuenca Ecuador, Washington D.C.(although it was many years ago I was there), Ottawa.
New York, obviously, and fuck you
I'll ask you kindly to reconsider those remarks

Back off, Boston
This is the most authentic answer
Said like a typical rat yorker who has never been anywhere else. You know, places that are not full of rats and roaches, piss soaked train cars, endless honking and streets full of garbage.
Spoken like someone who’s never been to New York, and who’s only conceptualization of the city is from some crappy 70s movie
You gave yourself away
Worked there for years.
Try going to another city and comparing. Maybe be brave enough to try one outside of the USA.
I haven't traveled nearly enough, but I'd say it's either Amsterdam, Netherlands, or Barcelona, Spain.
Amsterdam for the freedom and beauty. Barcelona because it's beautiful and on the beach.
It's not even a great beach, kinda rocky for my taste, but it's just such a beautiful city.
TL;DR: Seoul, Korea. I loved living there.
I've not seen many cities on Earth. But, in making my choices, I'll share what Im considering.
Caveat: I've never been to any place on the African continent. This is an admitted blind spot. I've also been to only three European cities.
Not New York, Toronto, San Fransisco, Ottawa, Portland, Las Vegas, Washington D.C., Miami, Québec, Atlanta, or Halifax (sorry Nova Scotia, we love you!)
Not London (UK). Not Frankfurt. Not Sydney (Aus). Not Beijing. Not Kathmandu. Not KL, KK, Bangkok, or Singapore. Not Dubai. Not Colombo, Male, Kuwait, Doha, or Muscat (sorry Oman, we love you!)
No La Habana, ni Santiago de Chile, Cali, Arequipa, Cusco, y no á ciudad de Guatemala (disculpame mis hermanos de Guate!)
I think that the greatest cities on Earth have DEEP histories, offer diversity, and have been at the crossroads of the human condition.
Of the cities I've spent at least a week in (in no particular order):
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La ciudad de México, México. (Pyramids, gardens, art, and food)
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Istanbul, Türkiye (Hagia Sofia, Bosphorus, history)
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Seoul, Korea (functionality, history, food, mountains, music)
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Cartagena, Colombia (music, seaside, fortress, art)
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Beirut, Lebanon [at least, when (2012) and how (with well-connected locals) I was there. Certainly, it's faced repeated harms in the past 7 years.]
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Berlin, Germany (architecture, functionality, history, walking tour, art, festivals)
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Montréal, Québec (one Canadian city needed to be on)
Ones I've not been to, but might list if I had:
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Tehran, Iran (history)
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Barcelona, Spain (Al-Analous)
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Mumbai, India
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Hong Kong
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Tokyo, Japan
I like Seoul, but I liked Tokyo just a bit more. I recommend it if you get a chance. But like any city that big, your mileage may vary based on what you actually do and see.
I didn't live in Tokyo, but I did live near it for a little while. It was beautiful, but I'm a bit glad I wasn't in the city all the time. Just too much going on for my tempo.
I’d love to go back to Cartagena. I proposed to my wife there and we had an absolutely amazing trip
That was one of my see-before-i-die trips I made as a teenager. Based, entirely, on a profile in Nat Geo. Australia was another.
Iceland, Norwegian fjords, New Zealand mountains, and Haida Gwaii are nearest the top of my list for physical spaces. Rapa Nui would be a neat experience, but not wholly necessary. Hokkaido in Northern Japan would be a cultural experience I'd chase.
And, I'd really like to go on the ground from Djibouti to Cape Town on a circuitous voyage through as many places and nations as I can manage. Then, a flight to Libreville, Gabon and travel on the ground toward Ghana.
Serious question, how do you afford that much travel, or am I just that poor?
The first bit, living in Seoul, was youth and low cost of living in Seoul. I had debt, but my Thailand, China, and Australia trips were done on the cheap.
The next bit, living in Kuwait, was making oil money, zeroing out my debts, and having no mortgage and no kids. It was pretty sweet. But, still, I lived in the desert.
The next bit, living in Guate, was still no mortgage and no debt. My eldest was around for my last two years there. But, again, low cost of living and flying was a boon.
Since returning to Canada, I have only been to cities to which I can drive. I still pretty new to having a mortgage.
That said, I'm not planning any trips until sometime after 2037. If, yknow, there's still a world then.
I think that the greatest cities on Earth have DEEP histories, offer diversity, and have been at the crossroads of the human condition.
Not sure how you can say all that, exclude London and then put Montreal on there… place is less then 400 years old!
Montreal was a late addition.
It's not that old, I'd agree. But, of Canadian cities that I could see as among the greatest in the world, it's Canada's nearest option.
Québec is older, over 400 years. But, Montreal is more of a world city.
Calgary is solid too, other than the fact that it's in Alberta.
Vancouver is beautiful but in my experience it generally smells like garbage.
Good buddy of mine spent 5 years in Calgary and has only good things to saw. The Tarsands really pushed things in that province out of joint.
I'd like to spend some time in Van. I was in Victoria for a few days and Nanaimo for a few more. But Van and Tofino were bridges too far on that trip.
Portland was the West Coast city that was outstanding to me. Victoria was cute. Seattle was excessive.
Berlin.
Many people hate Berlin. I don't. It's got so much variety, there are neighbourhoods surrounded by lakes, neighbourhoods that are basically in the woods, beautiful neighbourhoods like Charlottenburg and very urban neighbourhoods. Want something good to eat? There'll be something amazing nearby. They have trams running through the forest. There are trains going to Amsterdam and Prague. You can get everywhere by public transport (outside town in Brandenburg too). It's surrounded by a beautiful state, where you can watch cranes migrate in huge flocks and where you can skate on natural ice in winter.
I live near Freiburg now. Everybody loves Freiburg and the Black Forest. But I miss Berlin.
Shhhh! We keep up that reputation deliberately so not even more people come here and worsen the housing crisis ;)
Berlin is a dirty shithole lol
Its not a dirty shit hole, not more than any other metropole city. But it suffers from what many cities post ww2, especially german cities, supper from: ugly block architecture and car centered infrastructure
ugly block architecture
Affordable social architecture for people, not castles and churches built on slave labor.
West (not east) Berlin paid people to take the mouldings off their historic buildings. Nothing to do with affordable social architecture.
You can build affordable and beautiful. Prove, castle in berlin vs the national museum in stockholm which do you think cost more?
It's not just to do with WW2, both east and west Berlin loved tearing down and uglifying old buildings (seriously, west Berlin paid people to tear off decorations) for some reason.
One of the cleanest and best kept cities I've been to. I was surprised, that's for sure. I was expecting this grungy hole, but no, she's a very well kept place.
Seattle WA is pretty cool.
Scrolled until I saw my city! Moved here from the south and haven’t regretted a single second. NYC is too stuck up because they make you dress up just to go to a mid-cocktail bar. I’ll go to a cocktail bar after work in my ripped jeans and graphic tshirt here, most of the time with my dog. It’s super chill.
Canmore, Alberta. You're minutes from all the places that make up 90% of the Earth porn pictures on the internet, nestled right in the Rocky Mountains. Nobody is ever going to nuke, invade, occupy or otherwise come anywhere near Canmore during a war. Even if they did you could just escape into the vast Canadian wilderness which surrounds it. Lots of good food, shops, recreation and a generally great place to live and raise a family. Cheaper than Banff too!
Nobody said it had to be a major city.
Istanbul, although maybe not anymore since Erdogan is doing his best to ruin it.
The food is amazing, it (was) an open and tolerant city and its several thousand years of settlement mean there's fascinating history no matter where you look.
Not Cheyenne, Wyoming. Go there. Walk the streets of its downtown. Walk those desolate streets and say to yourself, "this place is actually the capital of an entire state?"
Cheyenne, Wyoming, the town that God forgot.
From my experience trying to move there in the past decade, it would have been Denver
The "Green Rush" brought an interesting vibe of a small city growing bigger, but then the pandemic busted up that momentum and your's truly got priced out of an already overpriced studio
I remember walking around 16th Street after the lockdown was lifted and realized that the magic wasn't coming back. The absolute state of the homeless population certainly wasn't helping
I mean I love my city and kinda think its the gratest but I can recognize that is my biased feeling and I don't have nearly enough experience to say. Many seem really cool. I think one thing is many cities have all sorts of coold aspects but im not sure one is cool in every aspect.
Purpee Oregon
Depends a lot how you interpret "great". My personal favorites are, without picking a winner:
Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Edinburgh, Brno
Amsterdam. We went as tourists once like anyone does with an AirBnB near the center and it was a really good time.
Then we went there again for 2,5 weeks and the center just wasn't affordable, so we got a cheaper place out in the suburbs. And it was so much better than we had hoped! Beautiful parks all around, but even the regular housing areas are super green, quiet, and beautiful. It's incredible how good cities can be if they're not crammed like crazy and built for cars rather than people. Even as a driver it's nice because there is so little traffic.
I want to say another city to be cool, but New York City, New York State always makes me proud. I live in Rochester lol.
Pyongyang, Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
They have the least authoritarian government and the most amount of food available for the non-elite class.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kastellorizo
The island's official name, Megisti (Μεγίστη) means "biggest" or "greatest".
Los Angeles. In spite of all the anti-homeless initiatives, it's still the least wlrst place in the world for someone to be on the streets.
Not anything in the US, since you know, then you'd be in the US and that's a big no-no. It's mine, obviously.
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