two different areas instead of Madrid vs Vancouver. Both places have several things in common, like could be an inefficient public transport, specially in the morning and afternoon, when all the commuters have to go to work, very few Hospitals, Schools and other community services. The average population who lives in both neighborhoods have a medium-high standard of living, and also have to deal with the problem of the real state because a house in those neighborhoods cost the earth!.Even though they have a lot of similar things, they have huge differences like the way of life. For example in Burnaby each family lives in his own house with his own backyard. However in Alcobendas almost everyone lives in flats, some of them with a balcony or terrace but not more than that. Other important difference between Alcobendas and Burnaby are the small local business, very common in the ground level of the buildings in Alcobendas and totally rare in Burnaby, where Shopping Malls are common.
During the last ten or eight years, the phenomenon of the Globalization has been affecting these two neighborhoods, becoming them in multi-ethnic societies because the immigration has increased for different reasons The European Union, Hong Kong belongs to China, Balcanic war, Iraq war… But at least these two neighborhoods are not in the main tourism routes, they don’t have the lure of the capitals, so the massive tourism are not affected them like other parts of world.
