~City Quotient

Most of the cities we regard as “great” cities, or at least interesting cities, are usually regarded as such because they exhibit some of the same characteristics that we find…

Since the beginning of urban history, mountains have played a role in the fates—good and bad—of many cities. Many early cities chose mountains (or large hills) as a prime defense…

In times past our first encounter with a new city might have been through one of the gates in its walls, by its seaport or river port. Later our entrance…

Among the city’s diverse land uses perhaps none provide the diversity of functions as do its hotels. At various times and places hotels have served as palaces, brothels, hospitals, statehouses,…

When popes supplanted Rome’s emperors as sovereigns of the Roman world they borrowed much from their predecessors. Along with a lust for power and a propensity to wield it willfully…

The biblical Tower of Babel was reputedly built with the idea of reaching heaven by the application of technology. It was a flop in that purpose; but there is a…

While what city we were born in or hail from can affect how we are perceived (the ‘pushy” New Yorker, ‘laid-back’ Angeleno, or ‘irascible’ Parisian), what specific neighborhoods or districts…

Probably before Homer sang of the rivalries of Mycenae and Troy the poet was the historian of cities. Without the poet, many cities long blown to dust or now just…

Among the many organic metaphors that have been employed to describe cities and their various parts, urban parks are often referred to as “the lungs of the city.” Certainly, the…

Capital cities may, or may not, live up to the literalness of their designation. London, Paris, and Cairo, for example, meet the test in virtually every way. But in other…