Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The most livable cities

economist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 300 posts

Re: The most livable cities

#61

Post by usrbinbash »

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.

Where I live, public transport is a breeze. Roomy, punctual, good serving frequencies, clean, constantly improving (more stations, modernizing vehicles). I don't have to concentrate on driving, I dont have to worry where to put the vehicle when its not in use, I have not been in a traffic-jam for year. And they cost less than owning a car.

Re: The most livable cities

#62

Post by mypalmike »

burntoutfire wrote: post #54
mypalmike wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Apart from tiny tourist part of Las Vegas, are they really that different? I've walked around Las Vegas to see how the real city (not the tourist part) looks like, and it was just an endless grid of streets with condos, houses and mini-malls at intersections. Is Seattle different?

Yes, just like Las Vegas and NYC, Seattle is just mini malls and intersections. (Ok I couldn't help myself from sarcasm there.)

Re: The most livable cities

#63

Post by Gordonjcp »

bergenty wrote: post #39
LeonidasXIV wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cars make cities worse for everyone, whereas public transport makes cities better for everyone, even people using cars because there is less traffic. I enjoy biking, public transport and the density to support a nice shopping/bar/party street within walking distance, but what do I know, living in the second most livable city.

I enjoy biking and hiking in the woods (not city streets), driving cars and living 20 minutes away from a major city so I can go to shops/bars/parties when I feel like it. I also like gardening and farming, wood and metal working and generally doing all kinds of projects involving metal casting, glass blowing, pottery making etc. I would never be able to do comfortably living in a city. The only downside to car cultu…

> The only downside to car culture is environmental concerns that I really hope electric cars fix.

They won't fix it, because we still need to make cars.

If you get an older car that you can repair yourself and keep going long past its point of planned obsolescence, and convert it to run on a cleaner fuel like propane, then your ecological impact will be a lot less.

Re: The most livable cities

#64

Post by DeathArrow »

I haven't seen what are the criteria for livability. I am not aware of the process used to apply those criteria. I am not aware of the credentials of the people/company who made the top.

So I don't care about such a top.

Re: The most livable cities

#65

Post by pmkiwi »

creativenolo wrote: post #25
camillomiller wrote: post #13

what is living well? Why are these lists always so skewed toward such a normative view of liveability? Zürich is a beautiful and well-organized city, for example, but every single time I've been there I've found out that its quiet translates into a boringness I've seldom experienced anywhere else. For me, a man in his late thirties who has no plans to have kids and form a normative family, it's a living nightmare.

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.

creativenolo: former child :)

Re: The most livable cities

#66

Post by [deleted] »

bergenty wrote: post #46
isubasinghe wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[deleted]

Re: The most livable cities

#67

Post by Gordonjcp »

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?

> 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 six hour drive it's literally a completely different language.

Re: The most livable cities

#68

Post by angrais »

DeathArrow wrote: post #48
loycombinate wrote: post #30

Haha most livable if you’re a white German speaking European

Quoted post unavailable.

What? In my experience, Germans don't refer to their ethnicity as German.

Besides, what if they are mixed race? Those who claim to have German ethnicity certainly could be other than white.

Quite a surprising take there @DeathArrow ...

Re: The most livable cities

#69

Post by fumblebee »

Anyone else notice that the text labels on the image "Vienna waits for you" aren't embedded as part of the image itself, but rather distinct divs overlaid, meaning you can highlight/copy/etc. the text.

Is this common? / any ideas on why they've done it this way? It's cool, but surely adds unnecessary complexity and require testing to ensure it displays as expected on different devices.

Re: The most livable cities

#70

Post by martindbp »

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…

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.
Post reply on HN