Is Toronto really a 'world class' city?
When people outside of Canada think to themselves "what's a world class city" does Toronto really come up? Even in the top 20?
It seems to me that across all criteria, across all cities and countries and continents, world class cities have one thing in common:
Population density.
There are obvious counter points to that like say Los Angeles, except I think LA is kind of a sharthole, and it's conglomerates that make up LA county is a big part of the appeal. I'm willing to say it's an exception to the rule, but I would argue the draw from overseas is largely the association of what LA is in popular culture more than it is Wilshire or Pomona. The best parts of LA are the densest, not places like the valley.
Even though Vancouver only has ~700k residents, it's the density of the city itself, not White Rock or ladner or Coquitlam that is the draw. It's things to do per square km.
Berlin, London, hong Kong, Seoul, tokyo, Mumbai, Cairo, Paris, New York, Athens, Istanbul, etc.
From this perspective it's going to take a hell of a stadium to bring Calgary in that tier or even the tier below it.
Coming from a place like Vancouver and landing in Calgary...it's just not that impressive. Fine place to grow up, have kids, get old etc. Things to do, people to see, but downtown is dead after 7pm and it takes an hour drive to go anywhere or see anyone.
The world class conversation just screams picking at people's inferiority complex. I feel like it's actually pretty insulting to characterize the arena as making the city better.
It's one step removed from saying there is nothing to do in Calgary without the flames.
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