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March 23, 2005
find myself a city to live in
How do you judge a city? It seems every week there's some study, adding together 300 datapoints about places, and coming up with a list of 'most livable' cities. Does a countries' debt have an effect on living? How about percentage of GNP on military spending? Cost of a green pepper? Air quality? Humidity?
I've boiled it down to just two elements that I think reveal a lot about a city, plus a few niceties.
So, the big two:
Is there good street food?
Are there gates on the public transport?
The first implies either a good indiginous food culture, or at least appropriated from immigrants, accessible to all. It also indicates some amount of living outdoors. I find it's a good indicator of culture in general.
The second goes to the heart of the matter - does the Government trust you? Installation of gates on the metro or railways means that someone is scared - of lost revenue, of free movement, of the general public.
So how do some example cities do?
London
food: yes - fish & chips (for a start)
transport: yes - gates everywhere
Helsinki
food: ish - a grilli culture emerges after 11 at night
transport: no - there is one gate in one station, but when used they don't collect fines
New York
food: yes - every countries' street food available
transport: yes, gates
Los Angeles
food: not really - drive thru isn't exactly street food
transport: no gates (and one of the best bus systems I've come across)
Berlin
food: yes - a vibrant currywurst scene
transport: no gates!
The supplementals:
Are there maps on the bus stops?
Or in other words, is public transport actually usable.
Does a river run through it?
For some reason I've always preferred cities with rivers, then ones with water around them, and worst of all, those with no water.
How would you judge a city?
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