What makes a city or region a great place to live? Certainly climate and proximity to stunning scenic vistas are important, but they are beyond our control. Of the things that are within our control, what most contributes to livability? If there is more than one factor, how would you rank them?
I hope the many experts who read this will all present their answers. It would be helpful, though not essential, if your answers were:
- Quantifiable
- Available through some published database
- Outputs rather than inputs
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But these are guidelines. I invite all possible answers.
Well, it’s different for each place.
– The people that live in that place determine the things that make a place livable, else they migrate to a place that has those amenities/qualities of they can afford to.
– You then plan to preserve those identified things that are preservable (keeping mom close likely isn’t achievable via policy) and seek to obtain what was lacking per the needs assessment.
Alternatively, one can also look at Tiebout sorting and determine which area experienced the most in-migration from other places (total increase – natural increase) and then survey the newcomers to figure out the preferences that made the new place desirable enough to migrate.
Needless to say, certain ideologies value certain things over others and use different variables, so if one is looking at aggregated rankings, a weighted scale by ideology is likely appropriate too, in order to avoid heavily weighting certain minority scores.
DS
For me livability is related to the freedom to do what I want without a lot of trouble or having to do a lot of things I don’t like. Livability also means opportunities to use my talents and gifts to accomplish useful work.
I like to breathe, run, ski, sail, swim, bike, motorcycle, design and build things, meet and worship with Christians, learn new things and use what I know for useful purposes. Air that is clean and the proper temperature, humidity, and speed for the activities I like is important.
I don’t like to be stuck in traffic or wait in line or waste time shopping in stores that don’t have what I want at reasonable prices.
People make a big difference. “The streets are safe in Philadelphia. It’s only the people who make them unsafe.” said Frank Rizzo, ex-police chief and mayor of Philadelphia.
I don’t like to be around prejudiced people like the ones in Detroit when I lived there in 1967. I like to have honest, competent people working for me in government, and serving me in restaurants and stores.
I like to have respect from people and that includes valuing my time and contributions enough to pay me sufficiently to meet my family’s expenses.
I have lived in cities and towns in Alabama, California, Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, Texas and Washington. I have lived in apartments, dormitories and houses. Now I prefer to live in a detached house with garage and workshop where I can do metalworking including welding.
If I were to try to quantify livability, one measure would be how long does it take to go from where I live to where I do something I like to do? Another measure would be the ratio of time I have to spend doing things I don’t like to the time spent doing the things I like.
Of course these things will be different for everyone because people like to do different things.
Technological advances can change livability dramatically. If one likes to watch sports events or listen to music or other spectator entertainment one can live almost anywhere on earth and be entertained by television, radio and the internet. If one’s job is entirely information related it is possible for many people to telecommute and live almost anywhere.
People behaving badly can reduce livability drastically. Some countries which have been invaded or taken over by dictators have become very unpleasant places to live.
I am not an expert and I don’t know if any of this rambling will help you, Randall. I suspect that people’s different preferences and different living conditions within regions and cities might be greater than differences between cities and regions. For example, cowboys would probably rate Bozeman and Laramie above San Francisco and New York City. Fashion designers would rate New York City higher.
When I googled “livability index” there were 899 hits. Good luck, Randall.
Of the things that are within our control, what most contributes to livability? If there is more than one factor, how would you rank them?
Pedestrian oriented streets
Mixed use developments
Bike paths on every street
Cars banned from most streets
Plentiful condos in dense neighborhoods
Good light rail
Of course all of this is complete BS.
Only planners dream of that kind of crap. Real people have lives to live and simply need:
1. A wide choice of living wage jobs
2. A wide choice of affordable (average house
OOPS, that seemed to have been truncated. Here is the rest:
3. Low crime.
Good schools
Low commute times
Good, low cost stores
Government that places basic services first.
Transportation money is spent reducing people’s travel time (from door to door) while keeping costs per person-mile low.
Taxes that are low, fairly distributed (no special interest abatements) and spent wisely
Protection from incompatible neighborhood development.
Last, but not least: planners that plan for what people want, instead of some insane planner’s theology.
Thanks
JK
The most important livability factor that is easily quantifiable is cost of housing versus income.
Other cost of living factors such as cost of goods and taxes versus income would come next.
The average person concerns themselves with schools to some degree which can quality can be judged through standardized tests and college entrance.
Commercial trading opportunities are talked about more often than planners realize. The number of reatil stores and restaurants bring quality of life up to many.
Parks are a good measure. Acres per capita and how intensely those parks are developed.
Livability is often focused on leisure activities and instead should focus on costs. More disposable income means more leisure activities.
More disposable income and cost of housing versus income and directly related to the number of talented people residing in an area. These people usually have the most choices and are the most mobile so they move to areas that are nice. In short the most talented people earn the most so they get to live in the best places, that doesn’t make those places better or worse, it is more of an indicator.
Seats on the 50 yard line are unaffordable by most people, that doesn’t mean they are not the best seats in the stadium.
Choice
The choice to live in a low density or high density neighborhood. To drive a car use transit or ride a bike, without being punished by Government through taxes and regulations, if I don’t want to conform a planners standard. To only pay for my decisions and not have to subsidize a lifestyle, that I ‘m not living.
Freedom and Choice