Where's the sauce in a town/city that makes it great? (condo, home)

[ontheroad]

I was reading through the crummiest thread, and wonder what it takes to make a town/city feel inviting, full of soul, affordable but with amenities, and just plain "I'm home."

I'm mulling this one over!

[dweller]

The work center, or downtown, is COMPLETELY surrounded by high density, liveable, safe, urban neighborhoods with great restaurants and nightlife. Preferably, these neighborhoods are affordable and provide easy access to public transportation so as to facilitate people getting to work quickly. The schools should be at least OK.
Unfortunately, the American model for a city is to have a downtown where people work, then areas of slum and parking lots surrounding 65%-100% of downtown (with the remaining 0-35% of the areas around downtown being attractive or in the process of revitalization), then maybe some good neighborhoods once you hit the outer fringes of the city, and then surburbs with big highways and Applebees where most families live and send their kids to school. Its amazing, if you look at a map of a city and identify undesirable areas, they almost always partially encapsulate the downtown area where people need to get to work.
Montreal gets my vote for the top city in NA, although I haven't been to San Fran.
In Montreal, any area surrounding downtown was all completely liveable, with all the amenities I spoke of above. Each neighborhood was self-sufficient- you could walk right outside your door pretty much in any neighborhood and get what you need, or hop on the metro or bus to get to downtown quickly. Although Montreal schools aren't known for being fabulous, there were plenty of hipsters, ex-hippies, young professionals, etc, sending their kids to school in the city in pretty much any of the areas surrounding downtown. No need to live in a surburb, which are actually aweful to commute from given Quebec's poor highway infrastructure and the weather.
The worse areas of Montreal were actually the areas that were the farthest away from downtown on the island, namely on the east side.

[ontheroad]

Thanks, Dweller, for sharing your view. I think you hit something so important: how the inner city includes or excludes services that enable people to live fully within their neighbourhood.

Montreal may be designed more like old(er) world European cities. When I lived in Amsterdam, for example, I only had to walk around any one of four corners to buy: poultry, meat, fresh bread, greengroceries, sit at a cafe for a good cup of coffee, or drop by in the late afternoon at a brown bar for a pils.

I only had to go 15 minutes to any other service; and the tram was on one of 2 corners from my canal street.

Some larger US cities--NYC cames to mind--have some older communities that can be described this way. I have been to San Francisco many times, but never lived there and don't remember too many neighbourhoods like that,,,except perhaps the Mission, Haight.

I'd love to hear what other folks think and/or fear is the "sauce."

[FistFightingHairdresser]

Originally Posted by ontheroad

I was reading through the crummiest thread, and wonder what it takes to make a town/city feel inviting, full of soul, affordable but with amenities, and just plain "I'm home."

I'm mulling this one over!

Haddington, E. Lothian, Scotland:

The secret sauce is good neigbours, ability to walk to amenities, the outdoors.

I do not own a car. I am also near middle aged and a perfectly normal BMI. Fat Americans take note!

[ontheroad]

Interesting, FistFightingHairdresser (what a mouth full) , thus far we haven't really identified a secret sauce town in the States.

What does that say about this country? Speaking rhetorically, of course.

I've had Scotland on my list for ages--having a god-son in Edinburgh. I'll have to check the map for Haddington (E. Lothian).

Many thanks for sharing.

Originally Posted by FistFightingHairdresser

Haddington, E. Lothian, Scotland:

The secret sauce is good neigbours, ability to walk to amenities, the outdoors.

I do not own a car. I am also near middle aged and a perfectly normal BMI. Fat Americans take note!

[Ben Around]

dweller, you are so right!

on the road, re: San Francisco, my brother lives abour halfway between Nob Hill and the Tenderloin (interesting area!). On every block within 1/2 mile of his condo there is at least one grocery store, and tons of restaurants, coffee shops, pizza joints, etc. 3 blocks up the hill gets you to the California Ave. cable car, 3 blocks over and you're at the Powell cable car. The neighborhoods to the west of him (Russian Hill, etc.) are similar.

Talk about sauce!

[ontheroad]

Good to add some more sauce to San Francisco. I don't think we have many cities like it in the US--pity for us

Originally Posted by Ben Around

dweller, you are so right!

on the road, re: San Francisco, my brother lives abour halfway between Nob Hill and the Tenderloin (interesting area!). On every block within 1/2 mile of his condo there is at least one grocery store, and tons of restaurants, coffee shops, pizza joints, etc. 3 blocks up the hill gets you to the California Ave. cable car, 3 blocks over and you're at the Powell cable car. The neighborhoods to the west of him (Russian Hill, etc.) are similar.

Talk about sauce!

[BlueWillowPlate]

San Francisco is one of my favorite American cities. But it sure is pricey.
(So many places are, these days.)
I'd really like to get to Montreal some day, myself.
In our country of wide-open spaces, we are awfully dependent on cars.
For a great city, I agree on walkability, public transport, amenities, interesting architecture, cultural attractions.
But a city should be more than a boutiquey feeling.
I am interested in a can-do, progressive attitude, a reasonable amount of safety, and friendliness. I'm fine with high density, but I need green spaces. Tallahassee, Florida has some if not all of these attributes.
I tend to enjoy the youthful energy of university towns.

[ontheroad]

Some of my favourite towns are college driven. In particular, I think I was most at home in the Pioneer Valley (5-college area, UMass, Amherst, Hampshire, Holyoke and Smith). Northampton is the county seat and the area is just beautiful with small villages/towns within short distances of each other. I lived about 12 miles from the center of Northampton, and my town had 3 of the best commodities: a world-class library, a market that sold fresh food and a country store that made home-made baked goods. (I miss it!).

I can't think of too much it doesn't have, but like so many other areas that are either beautiful and/or desirable, the price for housing has skyrocketed

Originally Posted by cil

I tend to enjoy the youthful energy of university towns.