2006 - 2026: What are the most surprising changes to happen in major cities?

[iheartthed]

If you could bring someone from the year 2006 on a tour in 2026 of a city of your choice, which city, what has changed, and what would they be most surprised about? In no particular order, my thoughts on New York City:

Citibike & bike infrastructure: Bike shares were non-existent in the U.S. 20 years ago. Way back in 2006 bike messengers were the most visible type of cyclist in NYC and there was very little space given specifically to people on bikes. Fast forward to today, the Citibike system has as many daily users as the Long Island Railroad. And, while not perfect, there is a large amount of protected bike lanes in the city now, while there were virtually none 20 years ago.

NYC Ferry: The Staten Island Ferry was the only city owned and operated ferry route 20 years ago. Today there is a ferry network that operates across the entire city. You can travel from outer Queens to the upper Bronx near Westchester County completely on sea based transportation. Even after nearly a decade since launching many New Yorkers are largely unaware that NYC Ferry exists, but the service carries as many daily riders as a transit system in a medium sized city.

Resurgence of Lower Manhattan: It was still not really clear in 2006 that Lower Manhattan would become busier than ever, and that it would become a popular place to live.

Hyper gentrification outside of Manhattan: There was already gentrification outside of Manhattan prior to 2006, particularly in certain Brooklyn neighborhoods like Park Slope and Fort Greene. But nobody really foresaw what was on the not-so-distant horizon for places like Long Island City, Williamsburg, Bushwick, Bed-Stuy, the South Bronx, etc.

Back in 2006 there was still very little new housing in LIC and much of the neighborhood was dominated by auto repair shops and strip clubs. Today luxury apartment towers are the most prominent feature. A similar transformation occurred in Williamsburg, particularly along the waterfront that was once dominated by idled factories.

Also related to this, someone from 2006 might be surprised at just how much the socializing landscape of NYC has tilted away from Manhattan, particularly into Brooklyn. Twenty years ago nightlife outside of Manhattan mostly catered to neighborhood locals. You had a few hip underground spots in various places, but otherwise a night out on the town typically meant being somewhere in Manhattan. That is not the case in this era. People now travel from all over the city to hang out in Brooklyn. Even tourists factor Brooklyn into their itineraries in ways they didn't do two decades ago.

Billionaire towers and the resurgence of super-talls: Construction started on the new 1 WTC started in 2006, but it wasn't really clear that any other super-tall buildings would be built any time soon. Yet, the Chrysler Building was the second tallest in NYC in 2006 but by 2026 it has dropped to 13th. The Chrysler building had never been ranked lower than the 4th tallest tower in the city since it was completed in 1930.

The resurgence is in part thanks to billionaire towers, which were not something that existed in 2006.

[JManc]

Those skinny super tall money laundering factories along Central Park are straight up hideous. A few of the more recent towers in and around the Park Ave area are decent though.

[dimondpark]

Originally Posted by JManc

Those skinny super tall money laundering factories along Central Park are straight up hideous. A few of the more recent towers in and around the Park Ave area are decent though.

If only they weren't so skinny, they would be amazing, but now they just look dangerous.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by JManc

Those skinny super tall money laundering factories along Central Park are straight up hideous. A few of the more recent towers in and around the Park Ave area are decent though.

Originally Posted by dimondpark

If only they weren't so skinny, they would be amazing, but now they just look dangerous.

They are aesthetically and culturally displeasing.

[jmecklenborg]

The collapse of normal bars, music clubs, and dance clubs.

I can't believe that I live in a world where I have to check to see if a bar is open after 10pm...but that is the reality we're living in.

[jmecklenborg]

Also, many mainstream hotels try to look like artist lofts/youth hostels. The decor tries to make you think that some "cool" person accumulated the garish couches and artwork from junk shops, when it all came fresh out of a factory somewhere in Asia.

[muppet]

London

1. Skyline has exploded. From a paltry 8 skyscrapers to 43, with 20 u/c and 600 more highrises planned. Basically the disparate, seemingly randomised towers dotted around are all clumping into mini skylines that dodge the 14 viewing corridors across the centre.



There's an entirely new skyline in crummy old Vauxhall (at left)





2. Nightlife's dead baby. Still huge but a shadow of its former self. New hotspots in Zone 2 : Brixton, Dalston, Peckham, Clapham. The era of 24 hr supermarkets and pubs are gone -back to 11pm last orders.





3. Desolate, boring Regent Street, once the haunt of mid-range labels and dying brands is now swanky, luxury-courting and the star of the centre. Who'd a thunk?




4. There are now 4 megamall districts sucking the life out of the east and west sides of the centre. Parasites.




5. Those who identify as White British are now a minority, down from 55% to 30%. White people remain about half. The Poles, Jamaicans, Aussies, Kiwis and Canadians have been replaced by Romanians, Brazilians, Chinese, Colombians and Ukrainians.




6. The population has boomed by nearly a quarter, from 7.5m to 9.2m in city proper, over 11m in contiguous. 15-18m in metro, and 24m in US style metro region, depending on where you stop.





7. Homelessness is back. Not overtly visible, but every major station has a beggar or two outside.





8. Cost of living is through the roof, notably property prices. This has seen a sea change in South London which is now the haunt of the middle class - and everyone lives on top of each other, including the rich. The majority of all properties are now apartments, the size of a tube carriage, or 800sq ft (30 x 27). This falls further to 350 sq ft (18 x 18) per person as invariably everyone shares.




9. Food is actually good. Even British food.




10. People dress plainly now, they've finally toned it down




11. All the streets have narrowed and cars have been driven out with bans, charges, and fines, resulting in intentionally the worst traffic in the West. Cycling is king, with a citywide network of bike lanes, plus several cycle superhighways to complement the PT.




12. We now have a new network to add to the tube -the Overground




and a new fast line east to west:




13. There are 4 new mega stadia (to add to the other 2), seating 60-90,000. Over 1 million stadium seats now in the city




14. Crime is down spectacularly, but phone grabbing has become a popular, all-family hobby




15. Peak tourist season has moved from summer to Winter, largely due to the xmas lights -so cozy! Instead of replacing the decorations every year at great expense, every street now blows a large budget on one spectacular set to rule them all, then uses them again and again. This has been dubbed the best festive lights in the world, but also 'hell on earth'. At the lowest count an extra 4.6m visitors hit the city in one month, while Londoners themselves go out en masse.




16. The accent has changed




17. Oh, and we're no longer in the EU

[hipster duck]

What I've noticed in Toronto, some of which probably applies to other major cities:

- the skyline, particularly along the waterfront
- increasing presence of people of South Asian and Latin American descent
- relative decline of hearing languages like Cantonese spoken on the streets
- along commercial streets, the replacement of retail with take out restaurants and marijuana dispensaries
- food halls
- the decline of small concert venues and dive bars
- bike infrastructure (bikeshare bikes, separated bike lanes)
- our commuter rail system being viable for things other than suburban workers coming into downtown in the morning and out in the evening
- delivery vans for Amazon
- nearly complete annihilation of the taxi industry and replacement with Uber/Lyft. Taxis used to be nearly as ubiquitous in downtown Toronto as they were in London or Manhattan, but all the different companies painted their cars different colours, so it didn't really register as a huge mass of identical cars. Nevertheless, hailing a cab was as easy as just stepping out onto any street corner and raising your hand.

[MolsonExport]

The other London (Ontario):
1-The skyline size has tripled in my time here, starting from a very low base, admittedly.
2-The population of the metro area has increased by perhaps 70%.
3-Sprawl is worse than ever, despite major increase in highrise construction (see point 1)
4-Downtown is much worse, despite all the new highrises: it is a wasteland overrun by junkies and homeless, driving out all customers and killing local businesses.

[PhilliesPhan]

Back in 2006, I was a 10-11 year old boy growing up in Philly. In 2026, I still live in the city. Here's my perspective on the city:

-The skyline has grown a LOT taller. I've watched Philly's two tallest buildings, Comcast I and Comcast II, rise within that 20 year period. The skyline has also expanded in every direction. University City now has its own distinct skyline, North Philly received a new tallest building when Morgan Hall (GO OWLS!) arrived in 2013, and South Philly has the new CHOP research towers.

-Neighborhoods that used to be decrepit have not only been rebuilt, but are among some of the most expensive in the city. In 2006, I knew that Graduate Hospital still had some rough edges, Point Breeze was a no-go zone, everything north of Vine Street was portrayed as a war zone, and going west of 40th Street was a death wish (although I lived west of 52nd and north of Market ). In 2026, Graduate Hospital is among the most expensive and wealthy neighborhoods in the city, Point Breeze is approaching full gentrification, gentrification across North Philly has reached and, in some spots, leapfrogged Girard Avenue, and 52nd Street is no longer the imposing boundary that it used to be due to the University of Pennsylvania recently expanding the boundary of its mortgage assistance program to 56th Street.

-Fishtown was a neighborhood that you did not visit unless you were white and from that neighborhood. Now, it is one of the best foodie neighborhoods in the country, as well as one of the most expensive and desirable in the city.

-Mayfair, once a very Irish neighborhood, is likely majority Asian nowadays. The Northeast in general has grown super diverse in the last 20 years.

-The city grew in population and feels busy. As a kid, I used to hear stories of Philly's continued population decline on the news. The city also felt a lot emptier, even in Center City. That has all changed. Philly feels a lot more cosmopolitan than it used to feel in the mid-2000s.

-The Gallery is gone. Well, "The Gallery" name still exists, but the old structure was completely renovated from top to bottom. Anyone who remembers the old Gallery will find the "Fashion District" to be unrecognizable. Also, the Franklin Mills Mall renamed itself (to which, again, no Philly native is using the new name).

-SEPTA has made several changes over the years. If you grew up using the Regional Rail, the R-system has been dropped in favor of naming each line after its terminus/termini. Also, many stations across the SEPTA system have been changed. Market East, Pattison, Margaret-Orthodox, University City, and Bridge-Pratt are now Jefferson Station, NRG Station, Arrott Transportation Center, Penn Medicine Station, and Frankford Transportation Center.

-You see young white people in areas where you'd never see a white face in 2006. 2nd and Diamond? Young white faces. 53rd and Locust? Young white faces. Wayne and Manheim? Young white faces. Hell, even Broad and Susquehanna? Young white faces. Nothing wrong with that, just speaking from experience.

-The Schuylkill River Trail exists. Not only does it exist, but there's a Boardwalk section in a portion of the Schuylkill River and a bridge taking you over the Schuylkill in South Philly.

-The building that all of us Philly kids thought was an aquarium has lost its whales. That building is now the HQ of Aramark.

-The Divine Lorraine, once a symbol of blight in North Philly, was completely renovated and transformed into apartments in 2017.

-Zooballoon at the Philadelphia Zoo has been replaced by a Ferris Wheel.

-The Eagles have won two Super Bowls. GO BIRDS DH!

I may reply to my comment if I think of more. These were just the ideas off the top of my head.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

- nearly complete annihilation of the taxi industry and replacement with Uber/Lyft. Taxis used to be nearly as ubiquitous in downtown Toronto as they were in London or Manhattan, but all the different companies painted their cars different colours, so it didn't really register as a huge mass of identical cars. Nevertheless, hailing a cab was as easy as just stepping out onto any street corner and raising your hand.

How could I forgot this one. Yes, hailing a cab from an app on your phone to pick you up from literally anywhere was unthinkable in 2006, and it has pretty much demolished the NYC yellow cab industry. It's hard to get an accounting of how many yellow cabs have disappeared because the medallion count is stable, but many are not actively used. I would guesstimate that yellow cab visibility in Manhattan has decreased by about 70-80% since 2006.

The apple green outer borough taxis didn't exist in 2006, but after a short lived explosion in popularity they have just about completely disappeared.

Originally Posted by hipster duck

- delivery vans for Amazon

Ha. I thought about making a separate thread about this a while ago. Amazon trucks seemingly outnumber UPS and Fedex in NYC by about a 5:1 ratio. It's insane how quickly that happened.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by PhilliesPhan

Back in 2006, I was a 10-11 year old boy growing up in Philly. In 2026, I still live in the city. Here's my perspective on the city:

-The skyline has grown a LOT taller. I've watched Philly's two tallest buildings, Comcast I and Comcast II, rise within that 20 year period. The skyline has also expanded in every direction. University City now has its own distinct skyline, North Philly received a new tallest building when Morgan Hall (GO OWLS!) arrived in 2013, and South Philly has the new CHOP research towers.

-Neighborhoods that used to be decrepit have not only been rebuilt, but are among some of the most expensive in the city. In 2006, I knew that Graduate Hospital still had some rough edges, Point Breeze was a no-go zone, everything north of Vine Street was portrayed as a war zone, and going west of 40th Street was a death wish (although I lived west of 52nd and north of Market ).

...

-You see young white people in areas where you'd never see a white face in 2006. 2nd and Diamond? Young white faces. 53rd and Locust? Young white faces. Wayne and Manheim? Young white faces. Hell, even Broad and Susquehanna? Young white faces. Nothing wrong with that, just speaking from experience.

When did this area start to change? I remember this area in the late 00s/early 2010s and it just seemed ripe for gentrification. I'm actually surprised it has taken so long since even back then it was an under the radar place for Penn students looking for cheap rent.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by JManc

Those skinny super tall money laundering factories along Central Park are straight up hideous.

Originally Posted by dimondpark

If only they weren't so skinny, they would be amazing, but now they just look dangerous.

Originally Posted by craigs

They are aesthetically and culturally displeasing.

They will come to serve as very apt historical symbols of the period of structural weakness of the American socioeconomic system that began in the 2010s.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

The collapse of normal bars, music clubs, and dance clubs.

I can't believe that I live in a world where I have to check to see if a bar is open after 10pm...but that is the reality we're living in.

Yeah, I think this is a MAJOR change to city life.

A 20-something time traveler from 2006 who set the time machine to Friday 5/8/2026 at 11:30 PM would be astounded at how lame we've become.

[niwell]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

What I've noticed in Toronto, some of which probably applies to other major cities:

- the skyline, particularly along the waterfront
- increasing presence of people of South Asian and Latin American descent
- relative decline of hearing languages like Cantonese spoken on the streets
- along commercial streets, the replacement of retail with take out restaurants and marijuana dispensaries
- food halls
- the decline of small concert venues and dive bars
- bike infrastructure (bikeshare bikes, separated bike lanes)
- our commuter rail system being viable for things other than suburban workers coming into downtown in the morning and out in the evening
- delivery vans for Amazon
- nearly complete annihilation of the taxi industry and replacement with Uber/Lyft. Taxis used to be nearly as ubiquitous in downtown Toronto as they were in London or Manhattan, but all the different companies painted their cars different colours, so it didn't really register as a huge mass of identical cars. Nevertheless, hailing a cab was as easy as just stepping out onto any street corner and raising your hand.

I agree with the rest of your list but there's actually been a bit of a resurgence in small venues as of late. The difference is that despite the internet it paradoxically seems harder to find out when/where things are happening. Back in 2006 you grabbed a NOW magazine (weekly alt paper) and had all the listings.

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

The collapse of normal bars, music clubs, and dance clubs.

I can't believe that I live in a world where I have to check to see if a bar is open after 10pm...but that is the reality we're living in.

Weirdly enough it seems like kind of the opposite here. Lots of places that used to open at noon have shifted to evening-only hours. However a lot of late night food options and 24 hour grocery stores have disappeared.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by niwell

I agree with the rest of your list but there's actually been a bit of a resurgence in small venues as of late. The difference is that despite the internet it paradoxically seems harder to find out when/where things are happening. Back in 2006 you grabbed a NOW magazine (weekly alt paper) and had all the listings.

That's good to hear! I'll admit I'm not really in the know about concerts and music venues anymore, but a lot of them were dying off in the late 2010s and I assumed that that trend just continued.

---

Another thing that I feel has changed is the loss of the neighbourhood diner: the kind of greasy spoon where you'd get a basic brunch of two eggs, bacon or sausages, toast or home fries served on a formica bar, washed down with bottomless refills of Bunn-o-Matic coffee. I feel like some of the corporate chain places stuck around, but the independent places that were cheap and decent all died out.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

Another thing that I feel has changed is the loss of the neighbourhood diner: the kind of greasy spoon where you'd get a basic brunch of two eggs, bacon or sausages, toast or home fries served on a formica bar, washed down with bottomless refills of Bunn-o-Matic coffee. I feel like some of the corporate chain places stuck around, but the independent places that were cheap and decent all died out.

Gawd, how I miss those places. They were a dime a dozen during my wild oats years in Montreal. I took them for granted. Some were open 24/7, even on Christmas, and New Years Day. Cheap. Bottomless pot of coffee. Greasy, not the greatest, but amazing value for the money, and kitschy-charming atmosphere. Back in those days, you could sit there for hours, slugging back coffee and smoking cigarettes. Sitting up at the counter, bantering with the servers and short-order cooks. Good fucking times.

There are very few left, and the ones that survived have greatly increased their prices.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by pj3000

Yeah, I think this is a MAJOR change to city life.

A 20-something time traveler from 2006 who set the time machine to Friday 5/8/2026 at 11:30 PM would be astounded at how lame we've become.

Now imagine the horror a time traveler from 1986 would experience. Nightlife in the US has, generally, been on the decline for decades. COVID really did hasten its demise, though.

Anyway, after 20 years in SF, I moved back to LA in 2021, so I can't speak about the changes here since 2006.

[iheartthed]

Surprised to hear so many responses about nightlife in other cities. The nightlife scene in NYC has shifted to different areas of the city but it's very much still around.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Surprised to hear so many responses about nightlife in other cities. The nightlife scene in NYC has shifted to different areas of the city but it's very much still around.

Well, it is NYC after all.

But it's not that nightlife is non-existent... it's still very much around in cities such as Pittsburgh, Miami, Boston, Rochester, Buffalo, and DC (these happen to the major cities I'm in most frequently over the past 5 years)... but it's more that the nightlife has seemed to transform to "eveninglife".