What If New York City Were Suddenly Gone?

[Pariah]

Hypothetical question: If New York City were no longer there (meteor impact, nuclear strike, alien death ray, whatever), which American city would become the new financial, cultural, and media (but not political) epicenter of the country? Chicago? Los Angeles? Philadelphia? Newark? Somewhere else?

 

Convince me.

[death tribble]

The United Nations would need to relocate and that might be outside of the US.

 

I think it would need to be a city with plane routes like Chicago. Or Boston. 

[Starlord]

Why would another city want to replace NYC when somebody just took it out?  ?

 

It would probably be Boston or Atlanta until the new super-futuristic, technologically wondrous city being built on NYC's ashes was finished.  

[death tribble]

Also Texas would really suffer the hatred of the rest of the States. Texans fully realise that New York City shoulders that hate of America.

It is said that the only people that can stand Texans and New York City residents are foreigners.

[Tech]

Most likely L.A. or Chicago. I've been told the 3 major cities in the U.S. for "financial, cultural, and media" are these three, so probably LA or Chicago.

[Iuz the Evil]

Probably that, but the loss of NY would absolutely devastate the US economy. Could realistically depose the United States from it's currently uncontested role as the only international mega-power (there are other superpowers, but they all "compete" with the United States presently... in my opinion when all comparisons are "well, x nation is almost as influential in y category" that's pretty telling).

 

Impact would go far further than NYC. Might destabilize the aforementioned political/economic/cultural hubs as well. Where influence would consolidate would be hard to say.

 

And candidly, I'm not sure NYC is the epicenter of the country. There are at least three epicenters, likely due to the scale and diversity of the nation. Pacific region is definitely Los Angeles, east coast is NYC. Middle seems more diffuse/distributed. Chicago? Maybe. Dallas? Somewhere else?

 

I think it's more complicated than that.

[death tribble]

On the up side no more New York Knicks and no more New York Yankees. I'd miss the Mets.

[Pariah]

Death Tribble, you seem to have a lot to say about the disappearance of New York City. Should the rest of us be worried?

[Cancer]

I think it must be a fantasy of his ... winning the affections of that actress he's obsessed with by annihilating a prominent big city on a different continent.  It makes sense in a geek-revenge-and-obsessive-desire sort of way.

 

Guys, there's the raw material for you next Champions secario.

[death tribble]

9 minutes ago, Pariah said:

Death Tribble, you seem to have a lot to say about the disappearance of New York City. Should the rest of us be worried?

Yes.

 

But that has nothing to do with New York City disappearing. It's just me.

You don't have to worry just yet. Hermit does. But don't tell him.

[Badger]

4 hours ago, death tribble said:

Also Texas would really suffer the hatred of the rest of the States. Texans fully realise that New York City shoulders that hate of America.

It is said that the only people that can stand Texans and New York City residents are foreigners.

 

Nah, TX, would still likely get hate competition from CA.  Though outside of CA no one considers CA part of the planet.  

[Badger]

3 hours ago, death tribble said:

On the up side no more New York Knicks and no more New York Yankees. I'd miss the Mets.

 

Well, yeah, everybody loves the humor a season from the Mets provides.

[Lord Liaden]

Deleted

[Badger]

The mention of TX and CA does remind of something

 

In American poltics, the GOP might stand to be winners.  If the state of NY's influence is severely damaged, then instead of 2 big Dem state blocks, and one big GOP block, it now stands at 1 to 1.

[Cassandra]

Metropolis will take it's place.

[archer]

5 hours ago, Pariah said:

Hypothetical question: If New York City were no longer there (meteor impact, nuclear strike, alien death ray, whatever), which American city would become the new financial, cultural, and media (but not political) epicenter of the country? Chicago? Los Angeles? Philadelphia? Newark? Somewhere else?

 

Convince me.

 

Here's the 15 most populous cities in the US

 

New York City, NY 8,622,698 (+5.47% increase since the 2010 census)

Los Angeles, CA 3,999,759 (+5.46%)

Chicago, IL 2,716,450 (+0.77%)

Houston, TX 2,312,717 (+10.12%)

Phoenix, AZ 1,626,078 (+12.48%)

Philadelphia, PA 1,580,863 (+3.59%)

San Antonio, TX 1,511,946 (+13.90%)

San Diego, CA 1,419,516 (+8.58%)

Dallas, TX 1,341,075 (+11.96%)

San Jose, CA 1,035,317 (+9.45%)

Austin, TX 950,715 (+20.28%)

Jacksonville, FL 892,062 (+8.55%)

San Francisco, CA  884,363 (+9.83%)

Columbus, OH 879,170 (+11.71%)

Fort Worth, TX 874,168 (+17.94%)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population

 

There's 5 TX cities on the list

4 CA

1 NY

1IL

1 AZ

1 PA

1 FL

1 OH

 

One thing that will play a factor is whether there's an environment that's friendly to the city to grow and physical room for growth. For some reason, Chicago and Philadelphia are currently growing at a much lower pace than the other cities on the list.

 

Another thing that will play an effect is how New York City is obliterated. If it's in a meteor strike, the cause of its destruction would likely be the tidal wave which resulted from a strike somewhere in the Atlantic rather than a random direct hit. So if the city drowned, inland cities would probably reflexively be a more popular destination. Likewise if it's in an invasion from a foreign country, cities which are far from the border would become a more popular option.

 

NYC is the hub of a lot of different industries from fashion, to shipping, to financial. I'd expect that the various industries would fragment and end up in a lot of different places. Chicago would probably pick up the financial because it would still have a functional stock market, for example. East coast port cities would be more likely to pick up shipping than inland cities in the mid-west (for some reason).

 

But as for which city would pick up the most in the aftermath of the disaster, Philadelphia would pick up the most in population because it's the closest for refugees who don't have the financial ability to move with a job. So I'd pick Philadelphia to be the most likely to become Gotham City or Bludhaven.

 

The city which would pick up the most industry would be a Texas city, either Dallas/Fort Worth or San Antonio, mainly since Texas has a much more business-friendly environment than California at this point.

 

Dallas and Forth Worth are close enough together that most people can't tell where one city stops and the other begins without looking at signs. It has two major airports. And it has lots of empty land to continue to expand in every direction.

 

San Antonio and Austin are close enough together that you could commute by car if you really wanted to. Lots of empty land.

 

I think the Mets would end up in San Antonio just because its the largest city without a major league team and it'd probably pick up one of New York's NFL teams as well.

[Iuz the Evil]

39 minutes ago, Badger said:

 

Nah, TX, would still likely get hate competition from CA.  Though outside of CA no one considers CA part of the planet.  

In much the same way Heaven and other spiritual positive afterlife locations are not considered part of the planet. I assume the fear that primitive cultures often exhibit when encountering more advanced civilizations explains much of the hostility. "Why do you resist us. We only wish to improve quality of life"

[Badger]

Heh, only being the messenger here.  

 

 

THough, on a serious note, in general in life,  never trust someone who only wants to improve your quality of life, not until you find out what you have to really give up.  

 

 

[Iuz the Evil]

36 minutes ago, Badger said:

Heh, only being the messenger here.  

 

 

THough, on a serious note, in general in life,  never trust someone who only wants to improve your quality of life, not until you find out what you have to really give up.  

 

 

Your primitive society is authority driven.

[Bazza]

6 hours ago, Pariah said:

Death Tribble, you seem to have a lot to say about the disappearance of New York City. Should the rest of us be worried?

 

Remember, the Tribble is from London, the "sister city" to NYC as the epicentre of politics, finince & culture. 

[Lord Liaden]

At least until Brexit.

[Hermit]

considering how 9-11 affected the national outlook, and indeed had responses all over the world, HOW NYC went away would indeed be a big factor.A natural disaster would have folks thinking 'location location location' I suspect, where as a deliberately  man made one might have them thinking 'security security security'. 

 

While others have mentioned some likely options... for dark humor's sake? Jersey City

 

Also... if somehow the buildings still stood (Alien death ray) leaving the actual physical city in tact? You would have thousands of folks commuting from New Jersey snatching up the finally empty apartments and hoping Rent Control still held 

 

[Lord Liaden]

The magnitude of the destruction in the New York area would have an impact on whether its major features would devolve to other jurisdictions. Despite the devastation it suffered from nuclear bombing, Hiroshima received extensive rebuilding projects after WW II, and has since grown much larger than before the bombing. New Orleans has recovered much of its population from before Hurricane Katrina. The natural benefits for both sites as ports made it desirable for people to return and restore those cities. New York has grown to its presence prominence due in no small part to its geography and location, so if there were substantial remnants from the city after the destruction, there'd be both practical and symbolic incentive to renew it.

[Badger]

54 minutes ago, Hermit said:

considering how 9-11 affected the national outlook, and indeed had responses all over the world, HOW NYC went away would indeed be a big factor.A natural disaster would have folks thinking 'location location location' I suspect, where as a deliberately  man made one might have them thinking 'security security security'. 

 

While others have mentioned some likely options... for dark humor's sake? Jersey City

 

Also... if somehow the buildings still stood (Alien death ray) leaving the actual physical city in tact? You would have thousands of folks commuting from New Jersey snatching up the finally empty apartments and hoping Rent Control still held 

 

 

On the other hand, if people just up and disappeared from a place, you'd have to be crazy to move there.

[Hermit]

1 minute ago, Badger said:

 

On the other hand, if people just up and disappeared from a place, you'd have to be crazy to move there.

So... you're saying the Floridians would be the ones flocking to it then???