#livability

[victusinveritas]

[leapdayeveryday]

This was blowing up on the Blue Sky Waukesha TikTok so I thought I’d share it here.

[noumenalroom-deactivated20221021]

AURA: Aarhus University Research on the Anthropocene

Feral Atlas: The More-Than-Human Anthropocene

Feral Atlas invites you to explore the ecological worlds created when nonhuman entities become tangled up with human infrastructure proje

http://feralatlas.org/

[humblevictory]

What happened when Oslo decided to make its downtown basically car-free?

It was a huge success: Parking spots are now bike lanes, transit is fast and easy, and the streets (and local businesses) are full of people.

[urbangeographies]

THE WORLD’S MOST LIVABLE CITIES?

On Tuesday, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) unveiled its 2019 Global Liveability Index, listing the top 10 most livable cities in the world. Vienna remained the most livable city for 2019 out of 150 cities surveyed. Australia and Canada dominate the top 10 with three cities each, while Osaka, Tokyo and Copenhagen complete the list. 

The Economist’s index ranks 150 cities around the world, giving them a ranking across 30 factors, which is then used to created a weighted score between one and 100. To rank the cities living conditions, the index examined the quality of healthcare, education, infrastructure, stability, and culture. 

Of the 30 indicators of the composite rating, however, only four of them are quantitative. The rest of them are subjective ratings, so there little objectivity in this index. According to some experts, the index is really just a marketing tool to help executives to understand a city’s living conditions.

One wonders if that is why no U.S. city made it higher than No. 22, with Honolulu ranked as the nation’s top performer. What about Portland, Oregon or Austin Texas, medium sized cities reputed to have a good quality life? This map depicts the top 10 livable cities in 2019. 

Sources:  American Geographical Society, Guardian, Deutsche Welle, Reuters, CNN, FOX, Global News

Graphic Source: Bloomberg

[thedailycourtney]

Columbia, MO | 2019 Top 100 Best Places to Live | Livability

Located about halfway between Kansas City and St. Louis, Columbia is a vibrant, youthful city that is home to the University of Missouri and the quintessential college town.

I didn’t grow up here, but it’s where I grew my roots. I fucking love this town.

[terrinakamura]

Walking through any Seattle neighborhood, you'll see "For Sale" signs. 🏡 There has been ferocious competition to buy homes that have been on the market. At one point 92 percent of homes for sale had multiple offers. 🍁🍂 . . According to the realtor Redfin, multiple bids in Seattle have dropped to 22 percent, which is "sort of" good news for buyers. But the median price is still high at $733k (648k e)! 💰 . . There's been a proliferation of new "townhome" -- construction -- homes that have small footprints and occupy multiple floors. I think townhomes became one answer for making home buying more affordable. 💸 . . 👷‍♀️ Builders of townhomes mostly don't take into consideration the architectural style of the neighborhoods in which they are built. So you can be walking along a street and see a row of Seattle bungalows, and plopped down in the middle you'll find a three+ story "box" with two entries. 🏘️🏘️🏘️🏗️🏘️🏘️🏘️ . . Beside being more affordable, townhomes increase density. Two townhomes can occupy the space of one single-family house. 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦So the thinking behind them is good. So why do so many of them look so bad? . . Somewhere out there I know there must be a developer who has considered making their townhomes aesthetically fit into a neighborhood. I just haven't found one yet. 🌇🏘️🏚️🏠🏫🌆 . . Is this happening in other cities or countries? 😟 . . #livability #trees #autumn #neighborhood #density #development #residentialarchitecture #urbanarchitecture #realestatetrends . . #verizon #pixel2xl #bettermatters #pixel2xlphotography #pixelphoto #googlepixel2xl #pixelperfect (at Capitol Hill Neighborhood) https://www.instagram.com/p/BrcKdPuFN6W/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1cboax2nqrx5b

[atlantathecity]

Growing up in Downtown Atlanta 

If you can walk a half mile with a child from your home and arrive safely at an actual destination, you’re doing well. Atlanta needs work.

By October 2017, my wife and child and I will have lived in a two bedroom apartment in the Fairlie-Poplar district of Downtown Atlanta for seven years.

When our son was born, we were living in a condo in Virginia Highland, a few miles northeast of here. The experience of walking around that neighborhood’s busted sidewalks with a baby in tow — and trying to cross Ponce de Leon Avenue safely to get to the Publix grocery store — was frightening and maddening. The frustration of it all made me want to study urbanism and start writing about the city, spurring my ATL Urbanist blog.

We moved to Downtown to have better sidewalks and transit access, but living here ended up giving me a front row seat to some of the worst decision making (and frankly, abuses of power) the city has to offer, which got me interested in following politics. I fell in with some like-minded people and we formed ThreadATL, an advocacy group.

I write and photograph and advocate for a better city because our elected officials don’t seem to understand (or care) that it’s too damn hard to get around without a car and with a kid. In the suburbs you would expect that trouble. In the center of Atlanta, you expect better. And if it’s hard for my family — and we do actually own one car, but use it as little as possible — I can’t even imagine how awful it is for a family that truly can’t afford one and that lives in a less walkable, transit-served area of the city than the one we call home.

Atlanta residents: vote well in the city elections this November and never be shy about holding leaders to a standard that produces great urban neighborhoods for all ages and abilities. Children are the litmus test. If you can walk a half mile with a child from your home and arrive safely at an actual destination, you’re doing well. Atlanta needs work on that front and we won’t get results by just assuming our leaders will do the right thing.

As our son has grown up in apartments in the center of the city I feel like we, as parents, have grown up as well in regard to our understanding of the problems faced by families trying to get around urban places without a car. And we’re ready for Atlanta to grow up too. We’re ready for it to become a city that is as welcoming to walking families as it should be.