Pittsburgh Preps for its Debut on the World Stage

"When the White House announced that Pittsburgh would be the site of the next G-20 summit, some journalists actually laughed.

Quite an understandable response: After all, the last two meetings took place in Washington and London. Pittsburgh, in comparison, is a relatively small city, with a population hovering a bit over 300,000 for the city proper and 2 million for the region. The former Steel City is certainly known more for its Terrible Towels waved during Steelers football games, its jarring dialect--"yinz" for "you all"--and its Primanti's sandwiches--meat, coleslaw and fries all crammed between two pieces of bread, a true gastronomic adventure--than for any "global" or "cosmopolitan" qualities."