assomeet98


Message from: Steve
About: banlieue - suburbs

Fri, 6 Mar 98 09:45:06 EST


I think that people are painting an incomplete image of what large American
cities are like. Although it is very true that almost ever large city has
crime, proverty and drug problems, there is much more to any large city.
There are many different areas to a city. There are the financial districts,
which are business oriented, usually very congested with large skyscrapers.
There are also slums (which is the picture that I think everyone was sort of
envisioning) where the streets are dirty, the houses/building are run down
and there is usually a high crime rate. However, there is usually a couple
additional areas besides these (depending on the large city). For example,
there is almost always an expensive living area part of town. This part of
town usually is merged with a commercial district, so in both of these
areas it is usually fairly clean, with very nice apartments (expensive) and
many different types of stores and shops. The final type of district that I
can think of that is present in most large cities are large sports arena or
civic centers where large events are held. There are man bars and restaurants
in these areas and they are very lively whenever there is an even going on.

I understand that everyone only gave a brief description of American large cities,
but I didn't feel it really painted a good picture. American large cities
are not much different than Paris. If you think about it, Paris looks very
different depending on where you are in the city. The shops and restaurants
are different depending on where you are. The only difference at first glance I
would say between a city like Paris and American cities are the fact that there
are many more skyscrapers in American cities.
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