Four World Cities - which is greatest?
Laurie Taylor wants to know which of these four cities is the planet's greatest: Istanbul, Mumbai, New York or London. The big debate is on Radio 4 tomorrow morning (Monday 12 July) at 0900 but we want your opinion now. Leave a comment here on the blog or tweet using the hashtag #GreatestCity, then - here's the important bit - come back to the blog during the programme and join a live chat with other listeners and contributors to the London Season (we're hoping, for instance, that London expert Tony Travers from LSE will be able to join us). See you there!
Steve Bowbrick is editor of the Radio 4 blog
- Listen to the Greatest Cities Debate at 0900 tomorrow morning and to the other programmes from the season on the London: Another Country page.
- The picture is a press photo of Scutari in Istanbul during the early twentieth century, from the Library of Congress collection via the Wikimedia Commons.
Comment number 1.
At 18:01 11th Jul 2010, Palmetto wrote:I have lived in 2 of the 4 cities (London & N.Y.) & love both but would have to say that the for the most captivating & intriguing I would vote Istanbul.
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Comment number 2.
At 09:28 12th Jul 2010, dappertutto wrote:Really difficult to decide this one - I adore New York - it fizzes with energy, creativity and innovation. Every corner you turn there is something new or surprising - a gorgeous flower wholesaler in the meat packing district or as happened to me a few years ago, Patti Smith sitting talking with Sam Shepard in the tiny cafe off Bleeker Street I happened upon. New Yorkers are great too.
Then there is Istanbul which is completely different - an exotic patchwork of secular and sacred, very very old and new. Grubby and shabby and a little bit edgy. Like an opulent jewel in a dusty velvet lined book - I adore it. Istanbullus are generous, kind and I love them
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Comment number 3.
At 11:28 12th Jul 2010, DavidOnTheBeeb wrote:Istanbul is a city with a truly unique history: for centuries it stood as the capital of one of the greatest western empires of the ancient world (the Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire) and then became the capital of one of the greatest eastern empires (the Ottoman empire). This gives it a fascinating mystique that the others can't match (in my opinion).
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