10 Largest Stadia in London and New York

London and New York City boast some of the best and most modern sporting venues in the world having four stadiums with capacities of over 80,000. Wembley Stadium and the New Meadowlands stadium are the two most expensive stadiums in the world costing around $1.6 billion dollars each to build.

1. Wembley Stadium, London - 90,000 capacity

Home of the England National Football Team but also a multi use venue.

2. New Meadowlands Stadium, New York City - 82,566 capacity

Joint venture between the New York Jets and New York Giants (American football)

3. Twickenham Stadium, London - 82,000 capacity

Home of the England National Rugby Team

4. Olympic Stadium, London - 80,000 capacity

Venue for 2012 olympic games - completion 2011

5. Emirates Stadium, London - 60,355 capacity

Home of Arsenal FC (soccer)

6. Yankees Stadium, New York City - 52,325 capacity, includes standing

Home of the New York Yankees (baseball)

7. Stamford Bridge, London - 41,841 capacity

Home of Chelsea FC (soccer)

8. Citi Field, New York City - 41,800 capacity

Home of the New York Mets (baseball)

9. White Hart Lane, London - 36,310

Home of Tottenham Hotspur FC (soccer)

10. The Boleyn Ground, London - 35,303

Home of West Ham United FC (soccer)

ULTra System for Heathrow Airport update

07/12/10: Ultra is fully operational but the airport does not want to open a new system during their busiest season so the public cannot ride it yet. Riders are restricted to airport workers although a date has not been set for public use.

The future of urban transport is coming to London's Heathrow airport with the roll out of the Urban Light Transit system (ULtra)

London and New York top world's best department stores

The Global Department Store Summit(GDSS) was held in New York this year from 10-11 June. Participants included top executives from over 280 stores worldwide with Selfridges in London taking the title of world's best department store followed by Bloomingdales in New York City. Lane Crawford in Hong Kong came in third. Criteria which were assessed included strength of brand, innovation, in store experience, customer service and financial results.

Selfridges

Harry Gordon Selfridge founded Selfridges and is widely credited with coining the expression "the customer is always right". Techniques for marketing at Selfridges are techniques that were adopted by department stores all over the world such as placing the highly profitable perfume counters at the front of the store in the middle. Unusual and interesting exhibits were also features which attracted shoppers to come back to the shop. In 1909, Louis Bleriot's monoplane was exhibited in Selfridges after it's first cross channel flight. Innovation in bold marketing is epitomised by Selfridges world famous window displays which have been pored over by photographers for generations and published in many magazines worldwide including Vogue, Design Week, Harpers Bazaar and the New York Times. 1-27 April 1925 saw the first public demonstration of the television which was given from the first floor of Selfridges by John Logie Baird. Selfridges stores are also known for their architectural excellence and the London flagship store was designed by Chicago architect Daniel Burnham who also designed the Marshall Fields department store in Chicago.

Bloomingdales

Window displays also became a trademark of Bloomingdales with many imported European products used as a centrepiece to elaborate theatrical backgrounds. Another trademark is the small medium and large brown bags which have became a part of a shopping trip to Bloomingdales from 1973. Bloomingdales target market became the affluent young professional classes in New York and around the same time as the brown bag was brought into use, many expensive designers were supplying the store. Famously, in 1976 traffic was reversed on Lexington Avenue so that Queen Elizabeth II could exit her vehicle on the right hand side and enter the store through the main entrance.

The Pinnacle, London

Following on from 17/08/10, the core of the Pinnacle has just started to rise - this short video documents how the London skyline is about to change -

Empire State Building: Leadership in American Progress in Sustainability

This interesting short video on the Empire State Building by the Rocky Mountain Institute outlines the plans for sustainability for the Empire State Building coming into the 21st century. The Empire State Building is looking at a retro fit which will tackle the problem of higher energy consumption in older buildings which is something that could save older buildings and energy in cities around the world.

New York's Future Cityscape

London's Future Cityscape