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The most livable cities

economist.com

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Re: The most livable cities

#81

Post by burntoutfire »

mypalmike wrote: post #62
burntoutfire wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.)

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.

Re: The most livable cities

#82

Post by angio »

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).

In my experience americans love to talk about diversity, but hate spending time with people of a different socioeconimic class.

So something like the London tube, where millionaires sit next to people that have been unemployed for the past 2 decades sounds like hell to them.

Re: The most livable cities

#83

Post by dewey »

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.

Which public transport system is your assumption based on? I used many public transport systems (Mostly Europe and Asia) and usually you don't have to account for schedules if you are in a city as trains / subways / busses just arrive every few minutes.

The rare case where you have to take a lot of luggage can always be covered by taxis. In no way is that more annoying than finding parking, sitting in traffic, taking your car to maintenance etc.

Re: The most livable cities

#84

Post by DeathArrow »

tut-urut-utut wrote: post #60
DeathArrow wrote: post #48

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.

You are confusing Europe with the US, Canada and Australia.

Being German is akin to being Maori or Aboriginal.

Re: The most livable cities

#85

Post by EdwardDiego »

pmkiwi wrote: post #56

So Auckland dropped 33 places just because of few Covid cases ? It is true that we had a peak of Covid cases this year, but it was never really massive by international standards. At the same time, Auckland is pretty dead for a while now, especially the CBD. Traffic is not that bad, but we haven't recovered at all from Covid. We will see in the next few months if cruise ships and tourists are back or not.

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

Re: The most livable cities

#86

Post by nonrandomstring »

fumblebee wrote: post #73
nonrandomstring wrote: post #53

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…

> 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.

That's awesome. To qualify my comments, I've also seen some of that change. New shops I've noticed filling in are

- a bike repair shop

- a "slow living" craft shop

- a tailors/upholsterer

- a fishmonger (haven't had one for 20+ years around here)

But in my town (city >300k) the decline has been significant with large chains, banks, clothing and brand retail shuttering up.

I do my best to support local trade and petit commerce. The ability to use cash and just browse in spare time is a factor.

Re: The most livable cities

#87

Post by mypalmike »

burntoutfire wrote: post #81
mypalmike wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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.

Re: The most livable cities

#88

Post by jiggawatts »

Loic wrote: 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…

These lists also often ignore the weather, which makes a huge difference to what most people consider to be "livable".

Nordic European winters are horrible, and no amount of amenities can compensate.

Re: The most livable cities

#89

Post by bildung »

Jabbles wrote: post #74
peoplefromibiza wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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, th…

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. Other ways to display this data would be: - group Europe into 1 - split the US into states - display error bars - take 95% lower bound assuming a normal distribution https://www.evanmiller.org/…

> 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.

Re: The most livable cities

#90

Post by sime2009 »

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.

The problem with cars is the huge negative effect it has on city planning and neighborhoods. It is not really about cars vs public transport. It is about cities built for cars vs cities built for people. I live in the Netherlands and have lived many years in a big western style modern city (Melbourne). It is day and night.

Neighborhoods for cars:

* Noise

* Pollution

* Dangerous for all, especially children and cyclists

* Discourages simple outside exercise like walking or jogging

* Forces car ownership. You can't do anything without a car.

* Massive amounts of space are required for roadways, parking etc.

* Sprawl. Everything has to be spread out.

* Anything immediately outside your home is unpleasant.

Neighborhoods for people:

* Quiet

* Less pollution

* Safe. Children can play outside and go to the park or shops by themselves, or visit their friends by foot or bike. (I sent my 7 year old to get a couple things from the supermarket last week.)

* Biking and walking is pleasant

* You don't need to buy a car

* The neighborhood isn't full of ugly car parks.

* neighborhood is compact, making biking and walking much more viable.

* more space for public green areas

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