Alternate world-class cities?

A few I can think of with POD


Montreal - if no Eerie Canal is built the St. Lawrence would remain the easiest way to access the Great Lakes. This is a huge blow for New York (and probably the US if it exists in TTL).

New Orleans - France keeps Louisiana or a chunk of it; it becomes a major access point to the interior of America.

Mexico City - anything with Mexico being better developed (ironically this Mexico City might be smaller than OTL's in terms of population).

San Diego - an alternate to Los Angeles / Long Beach if the US gains more Mexican territory.

San Francisco - probably best option would be for the US not to gain Southern California, then it becomes its main access to the Pacific, as it was in OTL.

Rivas- A Nicaraguan Canal is built, early on.

Havana - No commie revolution, Cuba grows economically, in banking, and tourism. Havana remains the Jewel of the Caribbean.

Rio de Janerio or Sao Paolo - Brazil doesn't get involve in the War of Triple Alliance, it remains stable and continues the path it was headed.

Vienna & Berlin - they were headed that way in OTL. No WWI is a good divergence.

Constantinople/Istambul - It was a world class city, and it is not hard to have kept it that way.

St. Petersburg - Keep Russia strong.

There are quite a few others in Europe that depending how far back you go could likely become world class cities some have been mentioned.

Algiers / Tripoli / Alexandria - could have become quite cosmo/metro-politan had there been gradual decolonization.

I like the idea of Zanzibar City as an African HK/Singapore, not so sure how you get there.

Had a few Indian costal cities stayed as city states post-independence, they could have become HK type cities.
 
I think in a world were Muslim states are more successful in the 19th century, Jeddah is still unlikely to be that important of a city. In a scenario like that, cities like Constantinople, Salonika, Damascus are all likely to be more important then any city in Arabia. Tehran would also be likely to increase a bit in importance, as perhaps would a city in Africa, perhaps Zanzibar or Dar-es-Salaam. Arabia would be likely to be more of a sleepy backwater then it is today, think the Ottoman version of Siberia. Lots of nice resources, but most the population and important cities would be in other areas.

I'm aware. I still like the idea of the Gateway to Mecca being a world-class port and highly metropolitan city.
 

Nietzsche

Banned
Koenigsberg was rather close, given its important position in the Baltic. Spare it the ravages of war & Soviet rape of the architecture and it could very well hit World-Class by the 50s or 60s, if not sooner, depending on the PoD.
 
Koenigsberg was rather close, given its important position in the Baltic. Spare it the ravages of war & Soviet rape of the architecture and it could very well hit World-Class by the 50s or 60s, if not sooner, depending on the PoD.

I think a world class city needs a strong hinterland, which IMO Koenigsberg misses, East Prussia being quite agricultural.

More likely IMO is Frankfurt in an alternate 1848 scenario.

If we go really far back and assume a surviving Frankish Empire, I can see Aachen growing a lot.
 
Seville: in a TL where the Spanish Empire manages to last longer and becomes a major trading center.
Antwep: in a TL where no 80 years war is fought.
Cartagena de Indias: in a TL where Greater Colombia consolidates and becomes a major power.
Toledo: in a TL where the visigoth kingdom manages to fend off the islamic invassion.
 
Has anyone mentioned Venice? It could of stayed a world class city if it didn't anger one too many nations and the pope.

How about Rangoon? A stronger more influential British presence could do it.
 
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