Prague. Venice. Rome. Paris. These are some destinations that perennially make "ten-most-romantic cities” lists. I just looked at three such sites, and all four cities were consensus picks. Vienna and Lisbon each made two of the lists.
What are some of the things they have in common?
Strong sense of place anchored by historic preservation
Lively, walkable, diverse downtowns
Compact development patterns
Extensive and well-used public transportation
Great public spaces for lively human interaction
Parks and quiet places mixed in with urbanity
Great traditional neighborhoods with a strong sense of community
Welcoming to people of diverse cultures
Sound familiar? These are the characteristics of smart growth and sustainable communities, exactly the elements we want more of in America’s towns and cities. My NRDC colleagues and I just concluded a sustainable communities planning retreat, and these were among the concepts that came up repeatedly.
People fall in love with these cities, and in them, in part because they are so conducive to nourishing the human spirit. And, as I have pointed out on more than the odd occasion, these characteristics support environmental sustainability, too.
So today, let’s celebrate romantic places, and make more of our cities and communities more worthy of the label.
Move your cursor over the images for credit and license information. This post was adapted and updated from one I wrote last year, featuring a slightly different list of cities.
Kaid Benfield writes (almost) daily about community, development, and the environment. For more posts, see his blog's home page.
http://www.copenhagenize.com/2010/11/worlds-most-liveable-cities-2010.html
Monocle Magazine's list of the World's Most Liveable Cities. Here's the top 20 for 2010.
01 Munich
02 Copenhagen
03 Zurich
04 Tokyo
05 Helsinki
06 Stockholm
07 Paris
08 Vienna
09 Melbourne
10 Madrid
11 Berlin
12 Sydney
13 Honolulu
14 Fukuoka
15 Geneva
16 Vancouver
17 Barcelona
18 Oslo
19 Montreal
20 Auckland
We'll always say that the bicycle is the most important and effective tool in our liveable toolbox. It's interesting to consider that all the cities in blue have respectable levels of Citizen Cyclists gracing their streets and cycle tracks.
The cities marked in orange are working at increasing levels of bicycle traffic. At the very least we hear a lot about them in internet buzz. The three remaining are probably thinking about it, considering it, working a bit at it, but we don't feel the vibrations too often on the bicycle culture Richter scale.
Point? Bicycles feature prominently on the urban landscape of liveable cities. They are an integral part of the fabric of many of these cities.
http://www.copenhagenize.com/2010/11/worlds-most-liveable-cities-2010.html
Monocle Magazine's list of the World's Most Liveable Cities. Here's the top 20 for 2010.
01 Munich
02 Copenhagen
03 Zurich
04 Tokyo
05 Helsinki
06 Stockholm
07 Paris
08 Vienna
09 Melbourne
10 Madrid
11 Berlin
12 Sydney
13 Honolulu
14 Fukuoka
15 Geneva
16 Vancouver
17 Barcelona
18 Oslo
19 Montreal
20 Auckland
We'll always say that the bicycle is the most important and effective tool in our liveable toolbox. It's interesting to consider that all the cities in blue have respectable levels of Citizen Cyclists gracing their streets and cycle tracks.
The cities marked in orange are working at increasing levels of bicycle traffic. At the very least we hear a lot about them in internet buzz. The three remaining are probably thinking about it, considering it, working a bit at it, but we don't feel the vibrations too often on the bicycle culture Richter scale.
Point? Bicycles feature prominently on the urban landscape of liveable cities. They are an integral part of the fabric of many of these cities.
