Placism

New York is a placist city that needs to be escaped occasionally. Placism is racism of place, or a sort of illogical preference for one place over another. Where most city inhabitants prefer their own geography to the cities of others. In Mexico City they have a term for people who live in Puebla, a beautiful city 2 hours distant. “Pipope” stands for pinche pueblano pendejo, the disguised jealousy of “Chilangos” (Mexico City inhabitants) for the gorgeous city of Puebla. New Orleans natives show disdain for tourists and their gaudy bead exchanging habits. London charges its motorists 5 quid for the pleasure of visiting its center. Barcelona’s city expansion corners mirror the Catalans circuitous way of doing things.

A recent trip to both Dubai and Mumbai was astounding. 15 percent of the world’s construction cranes are in the United Arab Emirates, more than any other country in the world. In the U.S. we make one building at a time, while in Dubai whole neighborhoods are being created at once time with 8 adjacent skyscrapers being built at the same time as the future tallest building in the world. 30 percent of the population is Indian.

Dubai is a city of new infrastructure waiting for people. Mumbai is a city of multi-millions people waiting for infrastructure. The roads, trains, and sewers are clogged and some one million live in shanty slums. Still India is modernizing rapidly despite bureaucracy. Once you leave the this top 5 worlds most polluted city the countryside is legendarily beautiful.