European cities like Paris are undoubtedly much older than American cities like New York. This age difference has led to many interesting differences in their development. For example, in the United States, wealthy populations live in the suburbs, far from the city, while in Europe the richest prefer the city center.
Why? Because hundreds of years ago there were no trains or cars to bring people into cities. So people had to live within easy reach of their workplace. And since the rich weren't particularly inclined to walk far to work, they settled as close to the city center as possible. In practice, if you look at a map of wealth distribution in Paris in the 16th century, you'll see several concentric rings starting from the center of Paris (the Ile de la Cité) and going out to the suburbs, with the richest circles being in the center and getting poorer as you move away from it.
But even so, people still wanted to be as close as possible to the city and its center. This is why European cities are much denser than American cities. The density of New York is closer to that of Lyon than to that of Paris… despite all its enormous skyscrapers. Indeed, in North America, cities were built or developed at the same time as modern means of transport (trains, trams and then cars) were born. Initially, these modern means of transport were reserved for the wealthiest sections of the population because they were expensive. On a map of the distribution of wealth in the United States from this time, the rich live near the train stations and therefore settled in the suburbs because they could afford it.
The video below (in English unfortunately, but you can put subtitles… in English) made by Wendover Productions explains in more detail this difference between European and American cities, also talking about the higher crime in the center of American cities… It's fascinating, so don't hesitate to make the effort to watch this video in English!
Article updated on May 20, 2021 by Byothe
