The discussion can go on even after you feel like you don't need it anymore. It's not just for you, but the forum community. Every time you ask a question, other people learn from the discussion that ensues.
Funny. I sometimes see threads from 2003 or 2004 get bumped in one of my other forums. Then the conversation picks up where it left off years ago.
Just to add to the discussion something I don't think I've seen mentioned: The feel of most cities changes depending on the time of day, the time of year, etc. I live in Washington, DC so I'll use that as an example - travelling on the metro at 8 AM on a Wednesday feels far different than at midnight on a Saturday or a 2 PM on a Sunday. At rush hours, people hurry around, run down the escalators to catch the next train and generally don't speak to each other. It is a professional crowd who commutes to work just as professionally as they do their job - they have their travelling routines (whether it be listening to their iPod, catching up on some work, or reading on their Kindle). At at midnight on a Saturday, the metro will be significantly more rowdy (read as drunk) and probably less crowded, while on a Sunday afternoon (if it's a nice day or during the summer) it will be just as crowded at rush hours but people have cameras hanging around their necks and maps in their hands, discussing how many stops until the monuments.
I don't live in a city, so this impression is flawed... but we occasionally visit the state capital (fairly small). This isn't a good impression because we aren't downtown much, but basically there's a shopping mall, a lot of nondescript large buildings full of official-looking offices, a park or two, a river, and like you wrote, a LOT of traffic (woe betide the careless street-crosser) and consequently a LOT of street noise - honks, motors revving and general whooosh of cars passing. There are buses and cabs, yes, but not too many, mostly standard cars and business vans. Not too many pedestrians and most wear formal office wear. Then there's the occasional bookstore crammed under more offices. Not too many shops, mostly in the mall and in the non-downtown. The nearby college campus has a couple streets of small stores. A little ways off are a few hospitals. I don't think this description is entirely standard for large cities; my idea of New York (though I've never been there) is same, but several times as big, with more cabs and larger, more expensive stores. But as has been said, it's a good idea to make a city unique.
The OP might have gotten his answer, but it was a good question. IMO NYC is a very unique city, I doubt any city can match it. So if New York, you need to talk to New Yorkers(past or present). I don't know if any large city is as different as New York. To me Tucson and San Antonio were similar. I drove through parts of Chicago, it might be an entity onto itself too. Frankfurt Germany has similarities with other large cities. But European cities have old narrow streets built for a time when traffic was alot less, and parking is always a problem. That is common in some cities. Pick a culture and then look at their large cities, and look at pictures. For some people, travel to the cities is not possible, not just a problem for teens. Money is tight, so a virtual tour of a city might have to do. Preferably you can find a picture in the same season as when you write about. Not good to have a bright summer sunny picture when discribing a dreary blizzard in the city.
Are you wanting a run-down city or a thriving one? In my experience, run-down cities will be full of police sirens, businesses with cheap or pawned goods and possibly bars on the windows and doors, lots of old beaten up cars, and people wandering the streets and meeting up with people they know (supposedly). In the thriving cities, there seems to be much more traffic, more corporate businesses and flashy companies that want to get customers' attention, newer cars, and people rushing around everywhere but not paying attention to one another. Maybe those are generic things, but hey it's something.
Well it's different in each city but for New York, on part of the city the buildings are about a medium height. Not too big, but not small either. In the main section of Manhattan, the buildings tower over you dramatically. The streets are always crowded with people and vehicles. Also notice the large amount of commercial area
I realize this thread's already been pretty well answered, but I always play GTA IV for inspiration of what a big city is like.
I would like to add something, it's a smaller idea, but one I keep finding. I would characterize all cities in terms of dirt, especially 'grit.' Kind of a pulverized dark obsidian. The more the people and traffic, the more the grit. During the summers I worked in Milwaukee even my snot was black. It's on the sidewalks, it discolors buildings, it lines the gutters. If I ride through it often enough the front half of my clothes get discolored, they appear to be rubbed with sandpaper and they wear faster. I'm constantly polishing the toes of my boots. It got so bad that I now wear a U2 pollen mask. I even find it telling that when screenwriters describe modern police dramas they refer to them as "gritty."
