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Vienna again named world's most liveable city

reuters.com

51–60 of 119 posts

Re: Vienna again named world's most liveable city

#51

I live in Vienna. I don't understand how this is the most liveable city in the world - unless by liveable, it means "concrete jungle monstrosity - with good public transportation". I honestly think this is one of the most oppressive cities in the world, and I just don't get how it managed to gain this acclaim, every single year. I guess things must be really bad in a majority of the western world. The thing is, the c…

Chances are you're a spoiled Viennese CS student.

Re: Vienna again named world's most liveable city

#52
post #18

The more I travel, the more convinced I am that the American experiment with car oriented cities was a disaster that will take untold billions of dollars to rectify. It's affected everything from public safety (e.g. police can no longer walk a patrol), to loss of community (people don't really shop in the same place they live), lost productivity (stuck in traffic), and on and on and on. I'm very encouraged by recent,…

You don't think that Vienna is drivable? It doesn't strike me an any more or less drivable than anywhere else in Europe. It's certainly not Amsterdam. The entire SWPL fascination with non-driving cities, or for that matter opposed to sprawl, is just weird. So some people like to drive: That doesn't oppress you. I personally love suburban cities. Everything is so easy: You can hop in your car and be anywhere you want…

My brother lives in Vienna. He usually parks his car, which he needs for family visits and the odd trip to IKEA, and then leaves it untouched for weeks, since it is easier to move around the city without it than with it.

Re: Vienna again named world's most liveable city

#53
post #18

The more I travel, the more convinced I am that the American experiment with car oriented cities was a disaster that will take untold billions of dollars to rectify. It's affected everything from public safety (e.g. police can no longer walk a patrol), to loss of community (people don't really shop in the same place they live), lost productivity (stuck in traffic), and on and on and on. I'm very encouraged by recent,…

You don't think that Vienna is drivable? It doesn't strike me an any more or less drivable than anywhere else in Europe. It's certainly not Amsterdam. The entire SWPL fascination with non-driving cities, or for that matter opposed to sprawl, is just weird. So some people like to drive: That doesn't oppress you. I personally love suburban cities. Everything is so easy: You can hop in your car and be anywhere you want…

You're lazy.

Re: Vienna again named world's most liveable city

#54
post #18

The more I travel, the more convinced I am that the American experiment with car oriented cities was a disaster that will take untold billions of dollars to rectify. It's affected everything from public safety (e.g. police can no longer walk a patrol), to loss of community (people don't really shop in the same place they live), lost productivity (stuck in traffic), and on and on and on. I'm very encouraged by recent,…

You don't think that Vienna is drivable? It doesn't strike me an any more or less drivable than anywhere else in Europe. It's certainly not Amsterdam. The entire SWPL fascination with non-driving cities, or for that matter opposed to sprawl, is just weird. So some people like to drive: That doesn't oppress you. I personally love suburban cities. Everything is so easy: You can hop in your car and be anywhere you want…

I think the real issue is the distinction between HAVING to drive vs BEING ABLE to drive.

Certainly there are roads if you want to drive, but this is unlike suburbs where you NEED to drive.

Re: Vienna again named world's most liveable city

#55
post #18

The more I travel, the more convinced I am that the American experiment with car oriented cities was a disaster that will take untold billions of dollars to rectify. It's affected everything from public safety (e.g. police can no longer walk a patrol), to loss of community (people don't really shop in the same place they live), lost productivity (stuck in traffic), and on and on and on. I'm very encouraged by recent,…

Don't forget about how it develops isolated and street-naive teenagers in the suburbs who are completely unable to go anywhere interesting without a parent till they're 16 (or older in many jurisdictions where the driving age has been creeping up and rules disallow teenagers from giving each other rides). Remember the woman who let her 10 year old take a city bus to school and back in NYC (something which most any 10…

"Any escape might help to soothe / The unattractive truth / That the suburbs have no charms to soothe / The restless dreams of youth... "

- Rush, "Subdivisions"

Re: Vienna again named world's most liveable city

#56
post #18

The more I travel, the more convinced I am that the American experiment with car oriented cities was a disaster that will take untold billions of dollars to rectify. It's affected everything from public safety (e.g. police can no longer walk a patrol), to loss of community (people don't really shop in the same place they live), lost productivity (stuck in traffic), and on and on and on. I'm very encouraged by recent,…

'awkward living accommodations in old buildings' I always find it amusing when Americans equal old buildings with subpar living conditions. Most of the apartments in Europe's typical 19th century buildings deliver an extremly high standard of housing that would just not be profitable to build today.

Re: Vienna again named world's most liveable city

#57
post #18

The more I travel, the more convinced I am that the American experiment with car oriented cities was a disaster that will take untold billions of dollars to rectify. It's affected everything from public safety (e.g. police can no longer walk a patrol), to loss of community (people don't really shop in the same place they live), lost productivity (stuck in traffic), and on and on and on. I'm very encouraged by recent,…

"...American experiment with car oriented cities..."

America is almost 3,000 miles from coast to coast. 1500 miles or more top to bottom. When the auto became popular, most people lived on farms.

What part of that was an experiment? Perhaps you just meant that in a poetic sense, if so, apologies.

But it bears pointing out, especially to a younger HN audience that might have spent most of their lives on an education or corporate campus, living in easy reach of mass transit -- the way things are now are the result of necessity and efficiency. While I'm discounting the role of urban planning, for the most part it's not like there's somebody somewhere pushing buttons on a huge SimCity.

Once again, apologies if I overreacted to your phraseology.

Re: Vienna again named world's most liveable city

#58
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Granted, I visited for a couple of days, but I was positively and deeply surprised by it. Everything seems nice. The city is Beautiful. Public trams go everywhere and the transport system is top notch. Cons: they speak "Bavarian German" and they seem to be paranoid about the internet (more than in Germany). They have cold winters as well if I'm not mistaken.

>Bavarian German you wouldn't want to say that in Vienna though :). We are pretty proud of our Austrian German. Winters are cold, and summers are hot, but still fine. Really nice to live here though.

Oh sure, it's Austrian German :) But I still couldn't get anything they threw at me, except when they spoke Hochdeutsch

But then again since my German is not the greatest they would switch pretty quickly to English.

Re: Vienna again named world's most liveable city

#59
post #11

I live in Vienna and I see these surveys all the time. I moved in Vienna 2.5 years ago. Vienna is a good place to live (otherwise I would have left) provided you don't care about things that are simply not available, for example no real IT sector, no startup scene etc. It's okay, but it's nothing spectacular. I don't understand what these people find so fascinating about the city. My friends share my opinion too. I g…

I live in Vienna too and one thing I like in particular is that despite I live in a metropole with its 2 million inhabitants, I can jump on my bike in the summer, ride for twenty minutes to Donau, Vienna's river, and go for a swim, while being in nature. I can't think of any other city that offers what a world city has to offer, and being able to enjoy nature to the extent that I can swim in its river without worrying about pollution. Beat that.

Re: Vienna again named world's most liveable city

#60
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Niiiiiiiice. Da ist der Wiener Humor ja auch noch in den Kommentaren. :)

.. ist eh leiwand, aber es macht kein sinn auf dem wand den bild so mahlen. Was weisse ich, mir ist ein kangaroo ganz normal auf 'm tisch ..

Austr.* markov chain? Kangaroo ebücher? ;)
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