[GeorgefromGeorgia]

Interesting hearing about Sweden. I have never been to Sweden, but my Wife and I were married in Denmark. We loved Denmark and its people. Also, we lived in Germany for four years and traveled extensive in Europe.
American cities generally have a business center, surrounded by poor areas, then suburbs. There are differences. Cities like New York, Chicago and San Francisco are not like this. Much of the close to the business center areas are expensive, "Tony" areas that demonstrate wealth. Also, compare Houston, Texas, to Portland, Oregon. Houston has no zoning laws and development is on the lassez-faire model, while Portland has severely restricted (through zoning) development. In Houston, housing is very inexpensive, while Portland expensive (also with small living areas).
I remember hearing the tour guide in Paris explain why there were no slums near the beautiful city centers. Apparently, at one time the government essentially eliminated the near center slums, and moved the poor out to the city's edge. Now that is where all the Muslims acted out, burning cars, etc.

[WesternCulture]

Likewise interesting hearing about the US. Just like there are differences between American cities, there of course are differences between European ones as well, although general patterns are visible in both cases.

One thing I think would be a bit surprising to an American visitor who haven't seen much of the major European cities is the absence of a skyline. Few European cities display a downtown concentration of skyscrapers. Cities like Copenhagen and Stockholm have more or less banned "real" skyscrapers, while some other European cities have allowed a few.

I guess Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, is the closest thing to an American city in this respect. Warsaw, Poland have some skyscrapers too, but it's not exactly New York or Chicago.

Paris and London have some skyscrapers but they are scattered around.

Here in Scandinavia, I'd say we have ONE(!) skyscraper:

Turning Torso in Malmö.

I like it a lot. It's really unique in the way it actually is a turning, twisting, high rise structure. Furthermore, these construction principles will be used when erecting
"World Trade Center Tower 1"/"Freedom Tower" in NYC.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turning_Torso

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_tower