Cities which define our age

May 1, 2012 5:26:41 AM

Brendan Sainsbury
Lonely Planet Author

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Cities are chameleonic; their fortunes ebb and flow with the tide of history. Those etched in legend are the ones that have plugged successfully into the zeitgeist of the times and thrown up something culture-defining. Consider the Rome of Caesar, Moorish Granada, the Barcelona of Gaudi, or the Paris of Haussmann.

But what of our contemporary cities; which of the current crop of 21st-century metropolises will our children’s children be talking about in 100 years as most symbolic of our age?

Here are three possible contenders.

Vancouver

Image by footloosiety

Founded inauspiciously in a pub, Vancouver has come a long way since loquacious English bartender ‘Gassy’ Jack Deighton floated ashore atop a beer barrel in 1867. But, in a settlement younger than most people’s great-grandparents, the notion of Parisian-style opera houses and ruined Coliseums is as foreign as penguins in the arctic. Instead, Vancouver is a city that looks towards the future. What it lacks in storybook history, it makes up for in vision and foresight.

Conceived from a blank canvas (the area was thick rainforest until the 1880s), the city, like Haussmann’s Paris before it, has put aesthetics at the centre of its urban experiment. It remains the only metro-area in North America without ugly concrete freeways running through its central core; while its salubrious green spaces – most notably Stanley Park – express an unusual alchemy between man and the natural environment.

Yet, perhaps the most understated of Vancouver’s city-of-the-moment credentials is its underlying inclusiveness. Patriotic Londoners might brag effusively about the cosmopolitanism of the British capital, but the stomping ground of Dickens and Conan-Doyle is a wholly English creation rooted in its past. Vancouver, on the other hand, doesn’t belong to anyone. Go back two generations and everyone here is an immigrant. The notion of race is a non-issue in a metropolis that has become a microcosm of an increasingly globalized world.

No place is without its critics. Vancouver’s naysayers claim its superficial beauty hides a less enticing blandness. But, just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, modern metropolises need time to develop and fine-tune their personalities. With an expo and a Winter Olympics already under its belt, Vancouver has successfully negotiated its first baby steps. A burgeoning culinary reputation and some charismatic neighbourhoods suggest the best is yet to come.

Sydney

Image by Pavel Sigarteu

Sydney like Vancouver had humble beginnings, growing out of a one-time penal colony on the shores of Botany Bay. The two settlements share many other traits, not least their stunning ocean-side settings. But, while Vancouver’s amalgam of sleek glass-sheeted skyscrapers has created a visually-striking whole, Sydney has gone one further and defined itself with an emblematic building: the windjammer-like opera house, a Coliseum for the 21st century which, since its inauguration in 1973, has become an instantly recognizable global symbol.

If Vancouver remains a metaphoric ‘tweenager’, Sydney, founded in 1788, has entered late adolescence, young enough not to rest on its laurels, but sufficiently mature to have spawned a nascent cultural tradition. The ‘Sydney Push’ was a loose intellectual group founded in the 1940s that went on to inspire writers such as Clive James and Thomas Keneally.

Sensing a growing refinement, Sydney’s plaudits are growing. Travel writer, Jan Morris once derided the city for its coarseness, but by the 1990s she had done a volte-face hailing it as ‘one of the great cities of the world’. The legend laying continues. In 2000 Sydney hosted the Summer Olympics, and in 2007 the opera house was designated a Unesco world heritage site at the callow age of 34.

Singapore

Image by Mark Broadhead

Take a former British colony in Southeast Asia; fill it with Chinese, Malay, and Tamil immigrants; endow it with one of the world’s great hybrid cuisines; and then grant it political independence.

Situated like a modern Greek city-state on Malaysia’s southern tip, Singapore epitomises all the hallmarks of a slick forward-thinking city: a prime Pacific Rim location, an eclectic melting pot of different cultures, unrivalled economic clout, and a public transport system that makes driving a car seem almost redundant.

Although its politics are only quasi-democratic, and its history is notably weightier than that of Vancouver or Sydney, Singapore is 99% about the present. It is often described as the most globalized city on the planet (42% of the population are foreign-born) with a top ten quality-of-life index, and the world’s fastest growing economy.

Ever keen to shed its sometimes antiseptic image, Singapore’s Urban Rejuvenation Authority, formed in 1974, has thrown itself enthusiastically into a process of constant rejuvenation, promoting racial harmony, adding subtle cultural layers, and encouraging tourism. Unburdened by the shackles of the past, the city is embroiled in the push to become one of the early 21st century’s most emblematic and memorable cities. It’s a fight it could easily win.

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Comments

2 April 2011 7:55PM aprilshower Report this comment
For the Singapore section, it is Urban Redevelopment Authority and not Urban Rejuvenation Authority.
4 April 2011 10:27PM tomstar86 Report this comment
Sorry but...Vancouver was "thick rainforest". Really?...
http://waegook-tom.com
5 April 2011 12:16AM finn_nl Report this comment
As a born and bred European used to living in places at least 1.000 years old, I've always been a bit skeptical about the interestingness of somewhat younger New World metropoles, but actually I totally agree with this list. I can't speak for Singapore, but the excitement that comes with the feeling you're experiencing a city that's still defining itself and expanding itelf with the main goals of liveability, sustainability, beautification of the city and quality of life through innovation, in other words with tons of potential, was totally new to me and I had it both in Vancouver and in Sydney - and as a result, almost surprisingly they immediately registered with me as fantastic booming places that I'd love to experience daily life in some day. Just goes to show how good travel is for broadening your horizon. :)
5 April 2011 6:01AM vasenka Report this comment
Hong Kong perhaps...?
5 April 2011 6:52AM slioy Report this comment
I agree with Vasenka, I love HK in ways that Singapore has just never really matched.
5 April 2011 10:17AM mostinterestingman Report this comment
Singapore is a perfect choice! Multi-cultural, spotless, historic, sophisticated, and with a great transportation system, Singapore has it all. Layer on the greatest food array in the world, and you have the 21st C's ultimate representative.
6 April 2011 6:00PM gwan Report this comment
Way to erase the native people of the Vancouver area Lonely Planet! Sure, they didn't have a city, but they still existed.
9 April 2011 4:55PM mrbarberella Report this comment
I wish Lonely Planet could remember there are other great cities in the world other than fricking bland, boring, unfriendly Sydney. It feels like every time there's an article on here about great cities rates a picture of that ugly but photogenic opera house.
9 April 2011 5:57PM hasovic Report this comment
Shanghai
15 June 2011 1:42PM IndianRoadRomeo Report this comment
The cities that define our age are Dhaka, Accra, Mumbai, etc. The overcrowded planet. These cities you've listed are for a select few.
15 June 2011 3:31PM gtarriba Report this comment
I would have thought that a city that "defined our age" would somehow be somehow representative of the way most people in the planet live in our age. Thus I find it strange that all 3 "contenders" are cities from rich countries -in which only 20% of the world's population lives! In my opinion, developing world megalopoleis like Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Mumbai, Kolkata, Beijing or Shanghai are much stronger contenders for "cities of our age". They contain lots of the contradictions of our age. They inspire and attract lots of people from within their country and beyond. They are both rich and poor. Clean, rich, highly developed cities like Vancouver, Sydney or Singapore are not in any way representative of our age, they are in fact exceptions. Most cities are somewhat underdeveloped, messy, rather chaotic, and in a state of constant flux.