I live in Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
Vancouver was first settled in the 1860's as a result of the Fraser River Gold Rush. Prior to the Great Vancouver Fire of 1886 the area known today as Gastown was the main hub of human activity. However, with the fire started as an attempt to clear brush fire, it quickly escalated due to the winds. Only two of the main buildings in Gastown were still standing after the fire was out. Within four days the city began rebuilding itself after which a firehall was constructed, the first police force in the area was formed, and the city was rebuilt with modern water, electricity and streetcar systems.
A sketch of the Great Vancouver Fire and the area surrounding it
Prior to the 1980s the economy of the city relied on Vancouver's resource sectors such as forestry, mining, fishign and agriculture. However it has diversified over the last 30 years, partly due to Expo 86 which was held on Vancouver's centenial and provided a much needed boost to the city with more than 22 million people attending the exhibition, and is today consistently ranked as one of the top three most livable cities in the world. Metro Vancouver has become the third largest film production location in North America after Los Angeles and New York, earning it the nickname 'Hollywood North'.
Global Air photo of Expo 86
(You can see the location of Expo 86 in this photo at the end of False Creek underneath the big white domed stadium known as BC Place)
Global Air Photo 2009
(The area where Expo 86 once was is now a mix of grass and parking lot but a few of the Expo buildings still exist. The large dyson sphere located on the land mass at the tail end of False Creek is now called The Telus World of Science and above BC Place a stadium for the Vancouver Canucks hockey team was built named GM Place which will be renamed Canada Place for the 2010 Olympics)
As stated, Vancouver/Whistler are going to be the hosts of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games which will again provide a much needed boost to certain sections of the city (Including Gastown which is today located near the heart of the downtown Eastside, regarded by many to be one of the most run down, drug addicted, poor, and violent places in Canada.)
A panorama image of Vancouver at dusk
(In the image above if you scroll all the way to the left past BC Place and the Telus World of Science dyson sphere you will come across a large number of building cranes. This is the area where the 2010 Vancouver Olympics Village will be)
What the Olympic Village will look like after completion
Another Panorama of Vancouver
The skytrain, originally built for Expo 86, has extended itself far beyond it's original area. Today there are currently 2 different lines built and a third being built for the Olympics that will take you from the Vancouver airport to the heart of Vancouver in less than 40 minutes. There is also a third line in the planning stages that is going to begin construction at the end of 2010/early 2011 and extensions to the current lines to the University of BC and Langley. There is also a streetcar system being built that will begin it's first run during the Olympics and eventually extend to through Gastown, to the Waterfront or the heart of Downtown Vancouver, and all the way to Stanley Park. The Westcoast Express is another mass transit system that uses the train tracks to shuttle people all the way from Mission to Waterfront Station and the Interurban Railway, which will probably be coming back online sometime in 2010/2011 after a long period of inactivity, is currently in the planning stages and will take residents from the farthest areas in Greater Vancouver south of the Fraser River and meet up with the Skytrain at Scott Road Station. The Seabus is used to traverse the distance across the Burrard Inlet to North Vancouver and the North Shore Mountains.
New York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment. As host of the United Nations headquarters, it is also an important center for international affairs. The city is often referred to as New York City to differentiate it from the state of New York, of which it is a part. New York is notable among American cities for its high use of mass transit, most of which runs 24 hours per day, and for the overall density and diversity of its population. In 2005, nearly 170 languages were spoken in the city and 36% of its population was born outside the United States.[7][8] The city is sometimes referred to as "The City that Never Sleeps", while other nicknames include Gotham[9] and the Big Apple.[10] New York was founded as a commercial trading post by the Dutch in 1624. The settlement was called New Amsterdam until 1664 when the colony came under English control.[11] New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790.[12] It has been the country's largest city since 1790.[13] Many neighborhoods and landmarks in the city have become world-famous. The Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Wall Street, in Lower Manhattan, has been a dominant global financial center since World War II and is home to the New York Stock Exchange. The city has been home to several of the tallest buildings in the world, including the Empire State Building and the twin towers of the former World Trade Center. New York is the birthplace of many cultural movements, including the Harlem Renaissance in literature and visual art, abstract expressionism (also known as the New York School) in painting, and hip hop,[14] punk,[15] salsa, disco and Tin Pan Alley in music. It is the home of Broadway theater. Brooklyn (Kings County: Pop. 2,528,050)[77] is the city's most populous borough and was an independent city until 1898. Brooklyn is known for its cultural, social and ethnic diversity, an independent art scene, distinct neighborhoods and a unique architectural heritage. It is also the only borough outside of Manhattan with a distinct downtown area. The borough features a long beachfront and Coney Island, established in the 1870s as one of the earliest amusement grounds in the country Wiki 
Here's what it looked like in 1964:
Here's what it looks like now:
The Manila Cathedral 1920
Manila Cathedral present
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