The perfect city

[dimondpark]

Originally Posted by homebucket

The perfect city doesn't exi-

Yessir

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by muppet

Paris-Chongqing. Plonk it where Rio is.

Many thanks in advance.

Rio could be my perfect city with more rail transit, less poverty/inequality, and an effort to clean up those illegal dumping sites on its inland waterways.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by JManc

I'm in Seattle right now and it's ticking all the right boxes.

Seattle has the best climate and natural scenery in the U.S., IMO. Also great economy and not horribly expensive.

But demerits for isolated location, cold people and blah urban form/housing stock.

[DCReid]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Seattle has the best climate and natural scenery in the U.S., IMO. Also great economy and not horribly expensive.

But demerits for isolated location, cold people and blah urban form/housing stock.

"Not horribly expensive"? I'm not sure what you are comparing it to. If you are comparing to NYC of SF, no but Chicago and many other US cities, yes.

There is no "perfect" city as the definition of "perfect" varies for each person. There are ratings for livable cities however, with European cities usually dominating the charts, along with Canadian and Australian cities.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global...bility_Ranking

[MolsonExport]

Vancouver's scenery with Montreal's culture and (former) rock-bottom prices.

[Wigs]

Montréal is still an ideal Canadian (and North American) city to be, warts and all

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by DCReid

"Not horribly expensive"? I'm not sure what you are comparing it to. If you are comparing to NYC of SF, no but Chicago and many other US cities, yes.

Seattle's economy & culture is most similar to Bay Area, so to me, it has fairly reasonable home prices. You aren't paying $2 million+ for a crapshack like in parts of Silicon Valley, yet the economic opportunities, scenery and cultural vibe isn't wildly dissimilar.

[edale]

Seattle is consistently cloudy and rainy for like 7 months out of the year. People bemoan the grey winters of the Rust Belt, but somehow the PNW gets labeled as the best climate in the US?

To me, the best city in the US would be: Chicago's core + DC's neighborhoods + San Francisco's setting + New Orleans' vibe.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by edale

Seattle is consistently cloudy and rainy for like 7 months out of the year.

That's my dream climate. I love moderate temps and lush surroundings. To me, England, Northern France, Benelux and West Germany have an ideal climate.

And I have no problem with grey days. Much better than endless sun, requiring year-round sunglasses, sunscreen, hat, etc. To me, Phoenix is the most unlivable climate in the U.S.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Seattle's economy & culture is most similar to Bay Area, so to me, it has fairly reasonable home prices. You aren't paying $2 million+ for a crapshack like in parts of Silicon Valley, yet the economic opportunities, scenery and cultural vibe isn't wildly dissimilar.

This is true. Seattle is very expensive but you get more for your money than the Bay Area and to the Bay Area, Seattle is "affordable" which seems crazy for 95% of the rest of the country. I could easily leave here.

[hipster duck]

I've never visited but I'm very intrigued by the setting, climate and architecture of Trieste, Italy, which was the former main port of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Since it's in Italy, I'm guessing the food and wine is also amazing, while the home prices are probably low.

I'm not sure what kind of career one can have in Trieste, though.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

I've never visited but I'm very intrigued by the setting, climate and architecture of Trieste, Italy, which was the former main port of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Since it's in Italy, I'm guessing the food and wine is also amazing, while the home prices are probably low.

I'm not sure what kind of career one can have in Trieste, though.

I've heard it's quite nice from people who worked at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intern...vanced_Studies

They're also perhaps notable for hosting a lot of scientific journals, at least in physics...

[Maldive]

3D

[azliam]

Originally Posted by Crawford

That's my dream climate. I love moderate temps and lush surroundings. To me, England, Northern France, Benelux and West Germany have an ideal climate.

And I have no problem with grey days. Much better than endless sun, requiring year-round sunglasses, sunscreen, hat, etc. To me, Phoenix is the most unlivable climate in the U.S.

Yet there's just as many people living there than in Seattle. Thank God it never gets dark and we never see a cloud in AZ.

[Centropolis]

The "Bay Area" was my perfect city over the years - worked there temporarily, had multiple job/ transfer offers there with different companies I worked for - just couldn't make the numbers work after living in the midwest my entire life and having young kids as an environmental professional (ironically) but not a tech guy.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by edale

Seattle is consistently cloudy and rainy for like 7 months out of the year. People bemoan the grey winters of the Rust Belt, but somehow the PNW gets labeled as the best climate in the US?

7 months of cloud and rain is a bit dramatic.

Count me in as another one who generally prefers the PNW climate (technically Mediterranean, bordering on Oceanic) to mostly anywhere else in North America. Maybe a bit further south, like coastal Oregon & Northern California are probably closer to ideal though. The Northeast & Great Lakes meanwhile are a close second for me.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

I've heard it's quite nice from people who worked at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intern...vanced_Studies

They're also perhaps notable for hosting a lot of scientific journals, at least in physics...

Interesting. Sitting on the hillside patio of an Art Nouveau villa overlooking the Adriatic discussing theoretical physics with a colleague over good espresso is definitely somebody's version of heaven. Other than the physics discussion part, it checks most of my boxes.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

7 months of cloud and rain is a bit dramatic.

Count me in as another one who generally prefers the PNW climate (technically Mediterranean, bordering on Oceanic) to mostly anywhere else in North America. Maybe a bit further south, like coastal Oregon & Northern California are probably closer to ideal though. The Northeast & Great Lakes meanwhile are a close second for me.

The PNW climate - especially in a city that's in a bit of a rain shadow, like Victoria*, is very good.

Living in Vancouver, the climate really only got to me from late September through Christmas. In October, especially, the eastern half of the continent is just much more pleasant with Indian summers and the vibrant fall colours.


* Victoria would be my favourite city to live in Canada, but it's extremely expensive (even by awful Canadian standards) with very few good job opportunities (even by awful Canadian standards).

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

Interesting. Sitting on the hillside patio of an Art Nouveau villa overlooking the Adriatic discussing theoretical physics with a colleague over good espresso is definitely somebody's version of heaven. Other than the physics discussion part, it checks most of my boxes.

The Adriatic and Aegean climates are, so far, my favorite local climates in the world.

[pdxtex]

If I could put Toronto in Honolulu, that would be good.