For anyone who loves cities, walking the streets of Manhattan is a treat.
Of course, New York stands head and shoulders above all other cities in the United States when it comes to world city rankings: the biggest stock exchanges, most large corporate headquarters, most international airport flights, the highest concentration of big law firms and accounting firms, etc.
From a more subjective point of view, New York also seems to embody the ultimate city. That is to say, it is hard to think of a place that is more "urban" than Manhattan. Whether you view this city from the top of the Empire State Building or down from the seemingly narrow streets in the financial district, you are face to face with this incredibly dense landscape of concrete, steel and glass - not to mention huge numbers of people pacing their way through the urban maze..
Great cities, through the ages, have always challenged the existing urban order. Often forced by circumstance and responding with groundbreaking innovation and creativity, great cities set new trends and give new meaning to urbanity. .
New York's enduring greatness dates back to the turn of the previous century..
The circumstance was one of geographical constraints: a very rapidly growing population and booming economy on a narrow island hemmed in by the Hudson River and the East River..
At the time, it was probably the fastest growing city in the world. The challenge was to house all that economic activity and as many people as possible in Manhattan, and to transport large numbers of commuters between Manhattan and the other boroughs..
New York's creativity and innovativeness was (and is) multifaceted, to be sure, but by far the most important innovative development in the history of that city has to do with technological engineering: skyscrapers, elevators, bridges, tunnels, subways and skylines. All the things, one might say, that have defined urban landscapes ever since. New York became the architectural mentor and pacesetter to the world..
What is more, many of these feats of engineering became symbols of urbanity and modernity: Brooklyn Bridge (1883), Grand Central Station (rebuilt in 1913), the Chrysler Building (1930), the Empire State Building (1931) and many others..
If New York's challenge was monumental about a century ago, so is Miami's today. And this one, too, is dictated by geography. Miami's challenge is to build the world's first truly global city and to redefine the meaning of urbanity in a globalized world. .
The challenge has been forced on Miami by globalization and technological developments - and by virtue of its location..
The challenge is not simply to forge global connections and maintain world city status - much of that has come naturally to Miami. The challenge is, in fact, much more daunting: to engineer the global city as a place to live.
It is to foster a sense of belonging, community and urban spirit while continuing the promotion of Miami as a global city..
Miami's challenge, then, cannot be met with bridges and tunnels and technology. Instead, it has to be tackled with innovative social engineering and institution building. The kind of engineering that involves community and identity building among diverse ethnic groups, social classes and transnational villagers..
In one of his recent writings, John Friedmann (the "father" of world city theory) points to the danger of the globalizing city as a kind of "hotel" - the sort of place where people check in and out without a sense of communal involvement and civic engagement..
In these kinds of cities, says Friedmann, civility, even democracy, has little chance to flourish and ultimately this will threaten the city's prospects at large..
It is a challenge to all cities swept up in the tide of globalization - but none as extreme as Miami. .
It is for this reason, that Miami can be viewed as the "city on the edge" - if the project fails, Miami may slide towards the abyss..
But if the challenge is met successfully, 100 years from now, Miami will be known as the pacesetter for urban living in the global era..
Jan Nijman, Ph.D., is a professor of Geography and Regional Studies at the University of Miami.