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The most livable cities

economist.com

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Re: The most livable cities

#111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What the US lacks for in city/cultural diversity it makes up for with natural diversity, you should have gone! The Pacific Northwest is very beautiful.

I'm not sure I'd have much time to venture outside of the city. Plus, I live in climate that's similar to PNW (coastal Poland), and actually the desert surrounding Las Vegas and semi-desert Bay Area were much more interesting for me. I'd much rather go to Florida for example, as I've never experienced the tropics before.

I really don't think the PNW and coastal Poland is similar (if it's anything like Sweden). The PNW is like if the Alps had a huge coastline and almost no population to speak of. Check out Olympic National Park and remember that pictures are not the same as being there. It's breathtaking, pristine nature. Florida is extremely boring, the only thing it has going for it is the warm water. Hawaii on the other hand is completely amazing, paradise on Earth, but the water is a bit chilly.

Re: The most livable cities

#112
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Using the median surely goes too far the other way though, discounting the fact that the US is far larger than any of those countries except Russia. Of course the US is less likely to have shooting-free years, it's far bigger. The stats are deaths per million people .

That doesn't make the criticism invalid - even if the deaths are weighted by population, choosing the median is far more likely to give a non-zero value for larger countries.

> even if the deaths are weighted by population, choosing the median is far more likely to give a non-zero value for larger countries.

the reasoning is well explained in the link I posted.

The main reason, for those who don't want to read it or went straight to comments without reading my post in full, is that

*The data itself supports this interpretation, as the United States endured mass shooting events all seven years, but the other countries all experienced mass shootings during only one or two years. Thus, in a typical year, most countries experience zero mass shooting deaths, while the US experiences at least a few.*

If that doesn't scare people enough, maybe this[1] or this[2] will.

[1] https://rockinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/number-mass-...

[2] https://yubanet.com/usa/over-70-of-mass-shootings-in-develop...

Over 70% of mass shootings in developed countries happen in the US, international analysis shows

“Mass shootings are a uniquely American problem, particularly in relation to other developed countries.”

Re: The most livable cities

#113

Some factors rapidly changing in UK cities are - Empty offices since the pandemic - Disappearance of the high-street due to Amazon - New "In-between" builds Most British cities still have empty or skeleton-crewed office buildings. That can't be sustainable. Surely these will be sold off as housing. Shops are vanishing at a terrifying rate. Some city centres are boarded up and only charity shops, Tesco minimarts and t…

> Disappearance of the high-street due to Amazon My own anectdata, but I've made the opposite observation. At least in my hometown (~10k population), I've been pleasantly surprised at just how resilient the high-street has been. In the past year, we've had a new bakery, a new arts and craft shop, a new cafe, and the farmer's market is going from strength to strength. While several years ago, I would order relentlessl…

A cluster of new shops isn't necessarily a sign of boom though, that's also how it looks like when landlords still haven't yet failed finding substitute renters in an ever accelerating sequence of try-and-fail. I know places where the same "newly opened!" signs in the windows keep getting reused since the aughts.

Re: The most livable cities

#114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should be able to have fun anywhere. But seriously, should they be skewed more single 30s guys with no commitments? Should they be skewed towards the things that benefit the majority of people who are not single 30s guys. Saying this as a former 'single guy in his 30s' myself.

He didn't say he was single. One can be a man in his 30s without kids and still not be single, not everyone want to have kids.

Your are right - sorry.

Re: The most livable cities

#115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

Wrong. German is a nationality, not an ethnicity, except if you take an opinion of a few far right borderline Nazi German parties.

The ability to pull nazis out of thin air never ceases to amaze me

Re: The most livable cities

#116
post #29

As I wrote last year, these liveability index ignores all the best cities in Europe and I suppose in most countries by focusing on the largest cities. I enjoyed living in the US, France, Denmark and Germany, I can't find Boulder, Besançon, Nantes, Helsingor, Münster, etc. These are all smaller cities outside of the big ones and they would all have a score higher than Vienna in this index. I am 100% confident that you…

Besançon is fantastic both in the winter and in the summer, it's a wonderful place to live in if you have a chance.

Re: The most livable cities

#117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It may be European perspective, but there are dozens of absolutely gorgeous historic cities within an hour or two of flight from where I live, so flying sixteen hours to see Seattle (where I could fly two hours to see Paris or Rome) is just a sorry proposition.

Paris and Rome are indeed lovely. But they're just like NYC and Seattle... Mini malls and intersections.

Equating Seattle with Rome, this is just an absurd statement.

Re: The most livable cities

#118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>There are as large regional differences within individual European countries Have you considered that they're not very large differences and you're just blinded by the fact that you're attuned to them?

> Have you considered that they're not very large differences and you're just blinded by the fact that you're attuned to them? Well, let's compare. You could drive for days across America, and hear truly microscopic changes in accent and dialect from one side to the other. Here in Scotland, I could drive for an hour and hear a totally different accent, two hours would get me to a totally different dialect, and with a…

But if you drive north from California for 15 hours you'd end up in Canada, a completely different country with slightly different road markings, Tim Hortons instead of Starbucks, and they even say "about" slightly differently! Take that you Scots!

Re: The most livable cities

#119
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mass shootings are rare but yeah, the only way you could tell that Warsaw is anywhere near a war is because of a large number of Ukrainians and all lower cost rentals gone from the market.

To be fair livable probably means the nice parts of the American city. Most American city have nice parts and bad parts, where life in the bad parts can sometimes be as bad as living in a third world. Take Chiraq for example, or even Detroit. Schools have metal detectors to prevent weapons from being brought in, even if there isn’t a risk of mass shooting.

Third world cities tend to have "nice parts" as well. Chances are they are even nicer, by some metrics.

Re: The most livable cities

#120
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Auckland is lovely - if you can afford to live there.

NZ is not cheap indeed and Auckland is insanely expensive (managed to buy despite the crazy housing market), but nice beaches and awesome for sailing !

Yeah, I was really surprised by how nice the beaches are in Auckland when I first travelled up there.

I had thought, given how many people live around them and use them, that the beaches would be crowded, or ruined with litter, but nothing of the sort.

And the water is so much warmer than our South Island beaches.

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