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The most livable cities

economist.com

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Re: The most livable cities

#41

Post by crooked-v »

sascha_sl wrote: post #21
bergenty wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love “car-infested”. Taking public transport and living densely is my version of hell.

You don't need to live densely to have public transport and access to services. US city planning (and Canada for the most part) have a problem with either allowing very high density (in limited space, so you get huge towers) or single family homes, very few things in between. I live in a mixed used era, in a 5 story appartment block, which is the high end of density around here. I have two tram lines within 400 meter…

See also: US suburbs in the streetcar era, which were built just densely enough that it was practical for everyone to walk to streetcar stops. You can see what's left of that period in some neighborhoods of cities like Boston and San Francisco, where row houses that were once mass-produced to appeal to the middle class have become multi-million-dollar 'luxury' homes almost entirely from the total unavailability of that kind of housing and living style elsewhere.

The equivalent mid-density construction is basically nonexistent in new construction today because of exclusionary zoning. It's only recently that some states have started forcibly re-legalizing this sort of thing by overriding local zoning codes, and it will still take decades at best for new construction to really catch up.

Re: The most livable cities

#42

Post by isubasinghe »

bergenty wrote: post #14
sascha_sl wrote: post #10

The fact that there isn't a single dutch city in the top 10, but 3 in car-infested Canada tells me that I have very different standards for "livable".

I love “car-infested”. Taking public transport and living densely is my version of hell.

What is wrong with public transport? I understand in America it's not great, but having frequent, reliable, fast, clean & safe public transport is amazing. Public Transport in a lot of Western European countries are like that with the exception of the DeutscheBahn (DB is hell).

Re: The most livable cities

#43

Post by jonasmst »

It might be rendered poorly at my end, but what's the idea behind the first chart? I'm not able to make sense of it. It seems to present the same thing (city liveability index) three times, and all the cities are just thrown on there in no particular order. Honolulu is even off the charts, which indicates that there's some intention of an axis somewhere, but I can't tell what it is. Edit: Ah, it was missing a world map rendered in the background. Now it makes sense.

Re: The most livable cities

#44

Post by piaste »

drstewart wrote: post #26
martindbp wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> how all of the diverse cities of the USA Have you perhaps considered that they're not very diverse? NYC and SF are a bit different yeah, but other than that they're all remarkably similar. Honestly it's a significant factor in why I decided to move back to Europe. It always bothered me when Americans claim that the US states are as diverse as separate countries in e.g. Europe. No, just no. You are blinded by the fa…

>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?

Unlikely, as foreign visitors invariably point them out uncoached.

Re: The most livable cities

#46

Post by bergenty »

isubasinghe wrote: post #42
bergenty wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love “car-infested”. Taking public transport and living densely is my version of hell.

What is wrong with public transport? I understand in America it's not great, but having frequent, reliable, fast, clean & safe public transport is amazing. Public Transport in a lot of Western European countries are like that with the exception of the DeutscheBahn (DB is hell).

I just find waiting in a station, having to account for schedules, the annoyance of having to deal with bags and luggage and sitting close to people in that setting not all that enjoyable.

Re: The most livable cities

#49

Post by mypalmike »

burntoutfire wrote: post #27
martindbp wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> how all of the diverse cities of the USA Have you perhaps considered that they're not very diverse? NYC and SF are a bit different yeah, but other than that they're all remarkably similar. Honestly it's a significant factor in why I decided to move back to Europe. It always bothered me when Americans claim that the US states are as diverse as separate countries in e.g. Europe. No, just no. You are blinded by the fa…

> Have you perhaps considered that they're not very diverse? This. Being a European, after seeing NYC, SF and Las Vegas, I passed on an opportunity to go for a week-long business trip to Seattle. Even though I had the time, I imagine Seattle being just mostly more of the same (an uniform, boring city consisting of XX century architecture built on a grid) and absolutely not worth the trip. Americans speaking about lar…

This being hn, I'm struggling not to be sarcastic about how similar Seattle and Las Vegas are.

Re: The most livable cities

#50

Post by peoplefromibiza »

blfr wrote: post #35
exitb wrote: post #23

> Other cities affected by the contagion of war, such as Budapest and Warsaw, saw their stability scores slip as geopolitical tensions increased. Meanwhile, kids in American schools are getting shot at, but yeah, Warsaw is definitely less livable than any large US city.

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.

> Mass shootings are rare

Yeah, but...

Typical (Median) Annual Death Rate per Million People from Mass Public Shootings (U.S., Canada, and Europe, 2009-2015)

    United States — 0.058
    Albania — 0
    Austria — 0
    Belgium — 0
    Czech Republic — 0
    Finland — 0
    France — 0
    Germany — 0
    Italy — 0
    Macedonia — 0
    Netherlands — 0
    Norway — 0
    Russia — 0
    Serbia — 0
    Slovakia — 0
    Switzerland — 0
    United Kingdom — 0
Using the median analysis, the United States is the only country examined that shows a propensity for mass shootings. 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.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/mass-shoo...

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