London Versus New York City: Battle of the Best Cities on Earth

Few people may know that London and New York are the only two cities in the world to achieve the top global city rank of Alpha ++. Even fewer people know what that actually means.

They are considered the most important cities in the global economic system. It’s based on a lot of factors: international financial impact, multinational corporation, trade, manufacture, decision-making power, innovation, dominance, infrastructure, yada yada yada.

Basically, what you need to know is they’re the best of the best. We want to delve into these two great powerhouses and see once and for all who’s really the best. The numbers and stats are too similar to pry apart, so obviously we’re basing all our findings on biased opinion and illogical cliches. Bring it on.

Total Area:

NYC – 783.84 km2
LDN – 1574.9 km2

It’s difficult with London being two counties and New York City suspiciously including a lot of water in its area. By metropolitan area New York is bigger, but that’s a whole new kettle of fish. We’re satisfied anyway. Bigger equals better, right?

We’ll conveniently ignore the fact that, of that area, NYC’s green and gorgeous Central Park totally destroys Hyde and Regents parks…

People

Population and Density:
NYC – 8550405 (10908 per km2)
LDN – 8673713 (5431 per km2)

So we’re still a little dubious on area, but there’s no competition here. NYC is way more crowded than London, which we’re taking as yet another win for the capital.

Immigration and ethnicity

Foreign-born population:
Here we have some varying numbers. In 2011, both cities sat around the 37% mark, but there’s belief that London has boosted that to 40%. Both cities are big on diversity and being cosmopolitan, so we’re giving this trophy to London.

However, NYC has far more diverse ethnicity, with percentages between white, black, hispanic and asian more spread than Londons. Hmm…

Language

NYC claims to have 800 different languages, which seems astounding. The number is always stated as ‘believed by experts’ so not verifiable. Either way, it soundly trumps London’s 300+.

Yet… all sites state London has the most languages of any city in the world. Clearly there’s something afoot – London may well be relying on statistics rather than expert conjecture. Unfortunately, New York wins this round.

Travel

Europe has an extraordinary amount to offer, and while the Caribbean is good for beaches and Canada for skiing, we have so many different cultures and countries on our doorstep (for a wonderfully cheap price) that there’s no chance for NYC. Living in London is the best for holidays.

Culture

International tourism:
In 2015, the figures for international visitors put London at 18.82m and New York at 12.27m. NYC however has three of the top ten most visited tourist attractions. London has zilch: nada, none. We might have more visitors but they’ve got less to do when they get here.

Arts:
The West End is wonderful, but Broadway easily beats it. It’s simply the best theatre district on earth. I’d argue the NYC MoMA is one of the best galleries on earth too, but it comes with a price tag, unlike most London galleries.

The music and clubbing scene is supposedly better in London than New York and who are we to argue such subjective bias? New York has better cultural festivals, but London has way better comedy. It’s a seriously tough call, but for accessible art, the capital takes the culture crown.

City Anthem

New York, New York – Brass, Broadway and building big soon-to-be-broken dreams. God love Sinatra but this song has to go away now.

London’s Calling – Probably the only popular song about London. It’s grimy, its anti-establishment, it’s overplayed. It’s better than NY, NY anyway.

Stereotypes

New Yorkers: Big egos and even bigger trust funds. Mean, busy and working non-stop. Then of course there are the starving artists…

Londoners: Either Aristocrat or Cockney. Stiff upper lip, bad food, worse teeth. Rude and constantly commuting and complaining.

As it turns out, the more you delve into the stereotypes, the more you realise they’re the exact same. Check out this comparative subculture shortlist that says it all.

Conclusion

We’ll try to deny it in typical British self-deprecation, but obviously London wins. Thing is, we’re not the only one saying that. As it turns out, the global power city index actually ranks London top, with NYC second. Londoners need to do our best to keep that score. After all, no one wants to be number two.

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