I think the main thing that a city needs to be special is to have strong opinions on city related things, like the design of public spaces and what the cultural

I think the main thing that a city needs to be special is to have strong opinions on city related things, like the design of public spaces and what the cultural identity of the place is. Otherwise, things end up as a generic strip mall sprawl. When a city takes an interest in art and design and a community focuses on expressing the cultural identity of its inhabitants, it can gain an identity and become more than just a collection of people who just happen to live there for economic reasons.