Discribe your home city.

[TheDuckOfFlanders]

This is a thread where you can talk about the city you live in.Surely ,a lot of us live's in very different city's ,with big cultural difference's between them.Some of us live in a metropolis ,other's live in a inland small town.

So here goes mine:

my homecity: Ypres (Ieper) ; 25.000 souls
General look: Very dominant medieval looking city ,Surrounded Nice looking old city wall's (in a star motive) surrouded by water.Build along a small river with lot's of short bridge's through the city.A big Medieval looking central marketplace.A lot of little park's,fountain's and monument's.
History: Ypres glory period was during the medieval time around 1100-1200 when flanders as region was a very wealthy and important region.Hence a lot of nice medieval landmark's through the city ,which remind's us f the vibrent cloth industry the city had.the city was home to a lot of rich merchant's ,who traveled with their ship's over the Yser river through the little canal's in the city right to the center Marketplace ,where a big "halle" was build ,a medieval trading center.The merchant's build their house's at the center of the city ,at the side's of the big marketplace and along the major road's.The city had at time about 40.000 inhabitant's ,wich was pretty large for that time.With the conflict of the 100 years war ,and the arrival of the plague trough through that war flander's Ypres went in decile.through world war I Ypres became important again ,this time though as for it's strategical importance as excelent fortified city along the front line.For four year's long heavy artillery pounded the city and destroyed practicly everything that once had been builded.it was become the theatre in a brutal onslaught that had it's result in thousand's of Brittish ,Canadian and Belgian casualty's.After tye war ,it's citizin rebuilded the city in it's former medieval glory as a almost exact copy ,mostly with the original building material's.

economicly:Ypres is a vibrent city ,wich has a small medium ammount of non-poluting industry ,and no polluting industry.the city mainly live's on a large ammount of tourism ,among wich a lot of day visitor's and a large ammount of english war tourists who vist the war monument's in and around the city.

Socioligicly: Ypres is a pretty small city ,a lot of the citizin have a limited view of the world.The older population is small and very catholic ,the younger people are more educated most of the time's and a lot of them work in one of he It company's present in the city or in the tourism sector.The town has a good amount of leisure infrastructure and free-time accomendation's.This attract's a lot of people form wealthier classes who buy up old houses and rennovate them.the poppulance is very law abiding and criminality is very low.

Quite a bit of text ,well ,i'm pretty proud to live in such a nice city.

 

[damunzy]

My birth city is Orlando:
Pretty basic city in the US but with a lot of places to go for entertainment (it's why the state doesn't charge income tax, pleny of money from tourism). I grew up in the burbs and in the surrounding towns (movign a total of 9 times at age 19....all around and in Orlando). There is a downtown area but it is pretty small (has a few tall buildings) and the town is devoid of the huge apartment buildings associated with big cities such as New York City. The weather is hot but nothing like the middle east....the thing that makes it a pain is the humidity but it is worse in places like S. Alabama and Loisianna(sp!!). I remember many a summer in Orlando staying inside because it was 99+ degrees F. The winters are mild and I never owned more than one pair of jeans until I moved to a farther north state (the temp gets down to 30-40s, normally 50-60 F). If you like beaches, lakes, and rivers then Orlando is the place for you. Both coasts are within 1 1/2 hours drive with many great beaches...even one that let's you drive your car along the beach (many beaches in the US has illegalized that b/c of errosion) and many parks and lakes that you can boating on within 10-30 minutes drive. Great place to visit, too hot to live (take it from a native).

The numbers:
Population
2000 185,915
2005 (projected) 196,863
2010 (projected) 211,671
Racial and Ethnic Diversity*
White 61.1%
Black 26.9%
Hispanic 17.5%
Asian 2.7%
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islanders 0.1%
Other race 5.4%
*Total is greater than 100% because Hispanics may be of any race.
Median Age 31.3 years
Housing
Average Price of Homes $123,700
Land Area
Square Miles 104.00
Total Acres 66,559
Personal State Income Tax None
State Sales Tax 6.0%

 

[damunzy]

My current home: Bensalem, Pennsylvania
Pretty nice town. Only live here for a few months so not much to say other than that. Oh, and it is expensive!


The numbers:
Total Population - 58,434
Male 29,068
Female 29,366
Median Age 36.4
One Race 57,467
White 48,443
Black or African American 4,047
American Indian or Alaskan Native 126
Asian 3,860
Asian Indian 2,438
Chinese 317
Filipino 277
Japanese 44
Korean 432
Vietnamese 120
Other Asian 232
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 30
Native Hawaiian 9
Guamanian or Chamorro 9
Samoan 1
Other Pacific Islander 11
Some Other Race 961
Two or More Races 967

Average household size 2.56
Average family size 3.14
State Income Tax: 2.8%

 

[BigBirdZ28]

my homecity: East Riffa,

General look : Riffa is a nice town, the highest town in Bahrain. Bahrain is almost completely @ sealevel.

There is nothing

Economicly : Economically, E. Riffa is a residential area with light commerce abound. Most people live in Riffa because of the quiet & layed backness of the place. by anyone's standards (except the most extreme quiet seekers). In the morning, the rushhour is only about 20 minutes long at it's PEAK.

Socioligicly : oh wow, sociologically, guys care mainly about RACING. yep. Sure there are enough hubble bubble places around & a cinema down the road, but none of that compares to racing culture.

Crime is extremely low, Bahrain is a very very safe country (al7amdilla). Violent crime rates rival rates of the countries with the lowest. larger crimes are petty theft & on a bigger scale, drugs . Not much though .

E. Riffa's racing culture rivals that of Isa Town with Muharraq comming a close 3rd.

My house is just off a mainroad & I can hear the races going alllll night. VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!

Kind of brings a tear to your eye .

Khalil.

 

[Greadius]

Tallahassee... is an odd city I think.

First of all, its in Florida, technically. Its 25 miles to the nearest beach, but 14 miles to Georgia. We're closer to Memphis than Miami.
There are 150,000 people packed into about 5 miles of highrises and apartment complexes... any further than that and its old south style plantations and rednecks. Not the best representation of Florida.

However, because of a strange Florida parable about people walking between Jacksonville & Pensecola, and meeting in the middle to found the Capitol, we are the seat of government in the state.

The big Capital building is actually the distinguishing city. It was brilliantly designed as a fairly thin, extremely tall building, with two rounded dome shapes right below it where the bi-cameral legistlatures meet.
I won't point out what it looks like because it is so painfully obvious... its part of Tallahassee lore as to why it was built despite the allusion.

The other important feature of Tallahassee is Florida State University, which apparently plays football or something. Its the only team we have, so people get pretty nutty about it around here.

 

[dannyevilcat]

Ah... Victoria, British Columbia, Canada:

"The City of Gardens", often called more English than the English, although that always makes me laugh at how ridiculous it sounds.

Population: 300,000 (amazes me that it's larger than many of the cities I think of as large. Orlando, for instance... it has it's own professional sports teams and we don't!)

What you'll see here: tourists, restaurants and cafes, bars, seniors, panhandlers, double-decker buses made specifically to give the appearance that we are, in fact, more English...

What you'll probably smell: The acrid waft of Marijuana smoke

What you might hear: the endless irritating drone of bongo drums.

If it had a few cobblestone streets, it would be perfect. As far as Canadian cities go, it's not nearly so sterile as I found Toronto to be (although I love T.O.), probably similar to Montreal in the summer-- but doesn't turn ugly in the winter, and not as european as Quebec City. Other than that, no other city comes close (except I hear Ottawa is great, I just haven't been there.)

Victoria rocks in the summertime! In conclusion, You should all come here

Oh, I know the thread says "describe", but a picture is worth a thousand words, and it's really small, so it won't use much space.

 

[Mr Spice]

I live in Stockholm, the capital of my country Sweden.

Population: Depends on how you count. The political community of Stockholm has around 900 000 inhabitants, but does not include all areas normally considered part of the city. If those areas are included Stockholm has somewhere about 1,8 million inhabitants.

Date of foundation: Stockholm is believed to have been founded the year 1252 by king Birger Jarl, but no one knows for sure.

The core of Stockholm is rather nice with old buildings and lots of water. Our goverment buildings are in the middle of the city, next to the royal castle. The looks of other areas vary quite a bit.

 

[Ren]

My home town is Townsville, Queensland, Australia. Townsville consists of two cities that have joined each other due to expansion (mainly residential) The 2 cities are Townsville and Thuringowa. Townsville, which is the larger city, is right on the western coast, and the city is not really much of a shopping centre, there are more tourist things, like nightclubs (about 7 I think) and cafes. On the Strand, which runs along the beach, there are not much but cafes and other touristy things. There is barely any sand on the beach, lots of rocks though...It is a very modern city, with few, if any, buildings older than about the 1920s. The Townsville Shire stretches about 10 km (6 miles) inland, mainly residential. Thuringowa on the other hand is basically a house plantation not much more can be said about it. One thing that surprised me when I moved here at the start of the year was how many main roads there are around! They are everywhere!! I can't think of anything else to say now, but I may edit in more later....

 

[Black Fluffy Lion]

London

Population: 6.5 million I think
Stuff to see: people getting mugged, enormous traffic jams, badly organised train system, illegal hot dog vendors, rain, previously white buildings dark grey, sewage being dumped into the Thames, pigeons, various millenium flops etc.

nah, put all of that to the side and it's a nice place

 

[Black Fluffy Lion]

here, have some photos:

Covent Garden

Piccadilly Circus

Tower Bridge

Harrods

 

[Mikoyan]

I'm from Stockholm, like Mr. Spice

Here are some nice visions of Stockholm!

Södermalm

Old Town

Old Town again

Drottninggatan (Shopping Street)

Riddarholmens Kyrka (A very old church)

 

[scorch]

Im from Te Puke (go ahead and laugh, its pronounced 'Teh Pook-eh', its a small town with about 10,000 people, and about 5,000 people from areas around it.

Its the kiwifruit capital of the WORLD. So the surrounding area is mainly kiwfruit orchards, it has about 20 kiwifruit packhouses in the area.

There are about 15 churches in Te Puke, lots of people have commented that Te Puke is a very religous town.

The ethnic breakdown, is what i figure, 60% white, 30% Maori, 5% Indian, 5% other.

There isn't much too do in Te Puke as a young person, there is a Movie theatre, but it isn't 'the place to be', we also have a KFC, and about 5 fish and chip shops. Most teenagers goto the Mount (town/city, with mountain(well, more a big hill), and the coolest beach), which is 15 minute drive away.

Te puke lies on a main highway, and a railway also runs through it, as a result, all the logs being carried from Rotorua to Tauranga pass through Te Puke, which all the locals get pissed off about. The railway runs straight through the middle, devided Te Puke into 'two sides of the rail way', the 'other side', being a slum and poor area, while the 'side???' is a standard middle class area.

As for housing and apperence, nothing much, 'the other side' as a lot of slummy badly kept houses, while the 'side' have standard modern houses, no mansions, and that's it.

 

[Lucky]

my city: Magdeburg, Germany

Location: heart of Germany, between Hannover and Berlin
Population: 270,000 approx.
City site: on both banks of the river Elbe

History: As one of the oldest cities of Germany, Magdeburg has a history of over 1000 years.

A small summary:
One of the first written records is the creation of defensive fortifications in this area by Karl the Great in the process of the Saxon-War, in 805AD.
When the saxon earl Heinrich I. becomes the first german King in 919AD the region around Magdeburg south towards the Harz mountains becomes the political center of Germany.
In 968AD Emperor Otto I. the Great founds the Archbishopric Magdeburg and the city becomes the center of his expanding empire. After his death in the year 973 he was entombed in the Cathedral of Magdeburg, one of oldest romanic buildings in the world.
Another romanic building is the Monastry of Our Beloved Women, founded in 1015AD near the cathedral.
In 1188 Archbishop Wichmann composes the Mageburger City Law, writing a code of law which was internationally spread to become the foundation of city law all over Europe. From now on the interests of the city and its citizens are adressed by a mayor and the city council.
Archbishop Albrecht II. lays the foundation for the new gothic cathedral, which is being build on the foundation of the old romanic building in 1209. This cathedral was finally finished to what it looks like today in 1520 and is the oldest gothic cathedral in Germany.
In 1296 Magdeburg becomes member of the Hanse. It already had trading relations with cities as far away as Nowgorod, Russia, and is the trading center for western Europe with eastern Europe. In the following years Magdeburg rises to become the most important city in central Europe, also sometimes called the "Rome of central Europe".
Martin Luther attends a school in Magdeburg at the age of 14, later, in 1524 he preaches here and in 1531 Magdeburg becomes the first city to defend the Reformation. In the following years until 1630AD Magdeburg reaches its height of political, economical and religious domination in this part of Europe.
In 1631 the imperial, catholic troops under General Tilly capture Magdeburg and raze most of the city to the ground. Two thirds of all citizen are slaughtered. But the city prevails and is quickly rebuilt, although it never reaches the importance it once had again.
Otto von Guericke becomes mayor of Magdeburg in 1646. In 1666 he successfully undertakes his experiments to prove the existance of the ... with the famous Magdeburger Halbkugeln (hemispheres). Magdeburg becomes part of the new prussian kingdom and the city defenses are reconstructed to become a prussian fortress.
I the late 17th century Magdeburg renews its position as a commercial and industrial center in central Europe. Between 1715 and 1740 Magdeburg becomes the strongest fortress under prussian rule.
In 1806 Magdeburg is captured by Napoleon troops after 2 weeks of siege but in 1814 freed by prussian and russian troops. Both invasions happened without any serious damage to the city. Magdeburg becomes the capital of the newly founded province Saxony in 1816.
In the 1830s Industrialization reaches Magdeburg and it becomes an industrial center for heavy machine construction and also an important traffic junction for railway.
In 1900 Magdeburg reaches 229,000 citizens.
On January, 16th, 1945, Magdeburg is attacked by allied bombers, 80% of the city are destroyed, including the old, culturally priceless downtown with many baroque buildings. Magdeburg is the 3rd most devastated city in Germany after Dresden and Cologne. On the 18th of April it is captured by american troop, on the 1st of July control is given to the Russians.
The city is rebuilt but will never be the same again. It once again becomes an industrial center for mechanical engineering in the GDR. In 1989 the population also takes part in the Monday demonstrations and prayers in our Cathedral. From the 7th October the city is under military rule, although I don´t remember anything uncommon from that time.
After the reunion of Germany Magdeburg becomes the capital of Saxony-Anhalt. Huge efforts are undertaken to reimprove the townscape and beautify the city. After 10 years a lot has been done but there is more to come.
In 1993 the technical university, medical acadamy and pedagogical college are united to become the University "Otto-von-Guericke", the youngest, but one of the best in several areas, university of Europe, where I am studying.

General feeling: Now a more or less typical german city with several exceptions. We have much more parks and other recreational areas. Downtown is pretty ok now but it doesn´t have the real feeling because there are no more small roads and smaller pedestrian zones with nice cafes and such.
The university is really good, not overcrowded but well supported. But the city is lacking in nightlife.
Our local sports include especially handball, football (soccer) and athletics and swimming. We have several Olympic Gold medalists and one of the best Handball teams of Europe.

Concluding, it´s a really nice city to visit, espicially if you are interested in history.

 

[Austin IronFist]

Lubbock, Texas: 240,000 people, dry, flat, pretty suburban, windy, treeless. We have lots of big storms in the summer, but we haven't had a tornado since the 70's. We are the home of Texas Tech University with basketball coach Bobby Knight(I live five blocks from Texas Tech). And we're the cotton capital of the world.

 

[Matrix]

If you're interested...
I live in Haren. Around 18500 habitants. Rich town: average income of Haren = 2 x Dutch modal income. (Liberal party is biggest. ) It's a suburb of Groningen, which is the big city of the north of the Netherlands.

I'm born and raised there and live there ever since. I still live at home with my parents.

 

[Sixchan]

Glasgow, Scotland

Mottos:

Let Gasgow flourish
Glasgow Smiles Better
Glasgow: The Friendly City
Glesga ya beauty!
Ho yoo! Yoor Ge'in' i'!

Short History:

St. Mungo arrivies in "Chleschu" (Dear Green Place). Myth has it that Mungo is the son of a celtic princess. The father is a prince who gets into her bed disguised as a girl. Perhaps the princess was in the mood for some hot lesbian action or something. aaanyway...
Mungo did miracles. He brought a bird back to life and made a branch of a frozen tree burst into flame when the monastery fire went out. The third requires a story. A king found out that his wife had been cheating on him with a soldier, and she had given a ring the king had gave her to the soldier. The king stole the ring from the soldier and cast it into the river. Then, he asked his wife to wear the ring to a party. The woman went to St. Mungo and begged his help. St. Mungo went fishing. He caught a fish, and when he cut it open, and there, in its mouth, was the ring. Take it Frodo Baggins. He also brought a bell back from Rome, and to go with our coat of arms, there is a rhyme:

Here's the bird that never flew
Here's the tree that never grew
Here's the bell that never rang
Here's the fish that never swam

Then we built a big Cathedral, then a University. In 100 turns!
Next, came the Reformation. John Knox (Leader of Scottish Proddies) studied at Glasgow University, and Queen Mary's last battle to save her throne took place at Langside, now part of Glasgow. By the time the 17th century comes around, Glasgow becomes an industrial city, instead of an agricultural town. Our hygine laws were some of the best in the world. City By-laws forbade throwing your piss into the street.
When the English Civil war broke out, Glasgow sided with Cromwell, until the Royalists captured the city and the council apologised and said it had all been a big mistake. Then we sided with the king, and got captured by Cromwell. As the seventeen century came, almost all tobacco coming into Britain went through Glasgow. Around this time came the Jacobite rebellion. On Christmas day, 1745, Bonnie Prince Charlie invaded with the remnants of his defeated Jacobite Army, and the Glaswegians paid him to go away. Then...Then...In 1745...*hic*...the Saracen Head Inn, known as the "Sary Heid" to almost all Glaswegians, opens *hic*. During this time, rmsharpe's hero's hero's were studying at Glasgow University - Adam Smith and David Hume. Proponents of Capitalistic systems the world over, with gems of wisdom like: "The Wealth of nations is achieved by you working hard - And giving me all the profits." and "The working class can kiss my arse." Also at this time, James Watt, another Student at Glasgow Uni. invented the steam engine. Then came the Irish immigration. The only important part of this is that ultimately, Celtic Football Club gets formed. The Clydeside shipyards go into steamship production, and produce europe's first passenger steamship. Top speed: 8mph. The Czar of Russia had a yacht built on the Clyde. It was so perfectly stablized you could play billiards on it in a storm. By 1820, the working-class were so unhappy about conditions, parliament belived another revolution was about to break out in the city! Between 1832 and 1854 cholera killed more people in Glasgow than people were killed in the crimean war. Massive Growth was taking place in Glasgow not just the city, but the crime, too.

Murder, murder Polis,
Three stairs up,
The wummin in the middle door,
hut me wi'a cup.
Ma heid's aw bleedin',
Ma leg's aw cut,
Murder, murder Polis,
Three stairs up.

Now, Modern Glasgow's main focus came in. Fitba'. Queen's Park, the only ameteur team in Proffesional Football, were the premier team in britain. for their first eight and a half years they never lost a match! and for 7 years they did not concede a single goal. Celtic were founded in 1887 to give the Irish immigrants something to do. They used to play near Jeanfield cemetary, but now play at Parkhead. Rangers were founded in 1873 on Glasgow Green, where they plyed all their matches before the construction of Castle Greyskull, the ground they now play at, and where they serve Satan. All this time serving the wishes of evil has confused many rangers fan's minds. Despite being Scottish, they're favourite tunes are 'God save the Queen', and 'Royal Brittania'. Recently, ant an Aberdeen match, every time the rangers fans began to sing, the aberdonians interrupted with cries of "You're Scottish, and you know you are!" also was heard (to the tune of You are my sunshine):

"You are a Wegie, an ugly Wegie,
you're only happy on giro day -
yer Da's a dealer,
yer ma's a stealer -
Please don't take my hubcaps away."

Various other thing happen in the 20th century, but they're not important. Except when Celtic beat Rangers 6-2!

 

[Hamlet]

Hell.

 

[Damien]

I've been living in Bordeaux for 10 days.
It's in South-western France n there are approx. 250,000 inhabitants.The river running there is called La Garonne n there are beautiful beaches(on the Atlantic Ocean) 40 km away from the city center.
The city was inhabited by Gauls n called Burdigala;then it was invaded by romans then by Wisigoths then by English people(between the mid12th n the mid15th) n then it became totally french.The city was rather spared by shelling.Consequently there r still very beautiful n old quarters.
I come from a city called Le Havre(i left it in Dec 98).It 's in Normandy,on the channel.There r approx. 200,000 inhabitants.
The whole regions was settled in the 10th century by danish vikings(Havre means harbour in norman dialect;hafn in old danish)
In 1520, it was decided by the french french king to develop that harbour.It was a nice town till WW2.In 1940 it was occupied by the germans who destroyed the harbour n in 1944 the Brits carpet-bombed the city.(Forget the old town if u visit it;there's no old town)
It was quickly rebuilt:12-floor towers grew up like mushrooms.
The city became even more industrial than before.Oil distilleries spread around the city(the region distills 40% of the french gas production).The city was communist till the mid-80's.
Well,no need to say it's not the most beautiful city in Europe.

 

[sysyphus]

Toronto, Canada (aka, T.O., Hogtown, T-dot, The Big Tomato, Filthy Upper-Canadian Bastards)

Canada's largets and most despised city with a population of 3 million in the city and 6 million in the Greater Toronto Area (1 in 5 Canadians lives in this area). It's not nearly as bland as Victoria (aha dannyevilcat, I get revenge!!!! ). Also, the 5th largest city in North America after Mexico City, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

It is the capital of the Province of Ontario, and coincidently it rests on the north shore of Lake Ontario.

We are recognised by the U.N. as the world's most ethnically diverse city, with a variety of cultural negbourhoods.

Home to the world's tallest free standing structure, the CN Tower, and the 3 tallest buildings in the British Commonwealth.

Sport teams, they claim that there are several here, like the Blue Jays (baseball), Argonauts (Canadian Football) and Raptors (basketball) Rock (Lacrosse) Lynx (football/soccer) but real Torontonians know that there is only one: The Toronto Maple Leafs (Hockey). The rest are all silly attempts at sport.

Torontonians are also notorious for mispronouncing the name of their own city and making fun of visitors who pronounce it correctly. While it is supposed be: Toh-ron-toh, we prefer the more simplified Teronno.

We have a complete and utter moron for a mayor, everyone goes on about it, and we continue to re-elect him.

Crime is low, one of the world's major cities.

Also, home to North America's only authentic castle (Casa Loma)

 

[G-Man]

I'm coming from the grand empire of Timrat, Israel .
Population: 1,800 people.
General look: Private houses. Modern style.
History: Built in the middle 1980s. Expaned in the 90s.
Nearby is tell shimron, where several ancinet cities were. There are also evidences of ancinet life on the Timrat hill - there are tumbs and burial tumbs. In the 1950s a kbibutz called timorim was built where today timrat is. It was abandoned and transfered to the negev. There are still ruins of the buildings they had here.
Economicly: A relatively rich place. No millionaires but also no one with serious financial problems.
Socialy: People from most groups. There were once some arabs but they left so now it's a comletely jewish place (ofcoure if someone not jewish will come he'll be accepted but there doesn't seem to be any right now).