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There seems to be a bias against urbanity/density in these "stress tests," in general. I could understand if the results focused on cities that had the highest unemployment, or the most crime, but the common thread linking the top rated cities seems to be density.
There are studies indicating that density does relate to stress. I remember a test where they placed mice in a more crowded environment and they become more tense. Granted we're not mice, but our natural environment wasn't particularly dense. Living in densely populated cities is, I believe, fairly recent in our evolutionary history.
Granted people here seem to like density, but this could be due to demographics of this site. Those demographics are likely younger than the population as a whole among other factors. So they don't necessarily say anything about average human nature.
The NYC area is #3, more people are stressed than others, I'm a very laid back person, if the NYC area was filled with people like me it would be at the bottom of the list.
There are studies indicating that density does relate to stress. I remember a test where they placed mice in a more crowded environment and they become more tense. Granted we're not mice, but our natural environment wasn't particularly dense. Living in densely populated cities is, I believe, fairly recent in our evolutionary history.
Granted people here seem to like density, but this could be due to demographics of this site. Those demographics are likely younger than the population as a whole among other factors. So they don't necessarily say anything about average human nature.
I think cars and suburbs are newer...Density is what allowed stuff like the black plague to happen. I imagine ancient Egypt was pretty dense too.
I think cars and suburbs are newer...Density is what allowed stuff like the black plague to happen. I imagine ancient Egypt was pretty dense too.
You have a bit of a point, but I'm thinking more in human history terms. Possibly cities from 1850-1950 were denser than today, uncertain, but I'd imagine cities today are denser than in 1400. There are more people and there's also the issue of food distribution. Before about 1800 you didn't have trains so I think feeding a large city would've been harder. So cities of a million was a huge thing then and I don't think the ones that made it were that much smaller in area than now. Also before the elevator high-rise apartments were somewhat impractical.
Still I have heard of pretty tightly packed ancient cities in places where land was at a premium or for defense purposes. Even then I have my doubts those cities were as crowded as those in the 20th-21st century.
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