What is your favorite city and why? (crime, houses)
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1) right now Miami, increasingly urbanized (it has only about a century of history, "Rome" wasn't built in a day), pleasant temperatures year round, US low effective tax rates, no state income tax, relatively close to Europe and Latin America, in and close to great sun/water vacation spots.
2) New York City, if I could afford to live in the upper east side.
3) San Francisco, if it were on the other side of the US, also cost is a factor;
4) Montreal, lived there for a year many years ago, great city, but was losing out to Toronto as a business center.
I have lived in the Los Angeles area, personally cannot fathom a description of Los Angeles as a city, but that was many years ago, maybe it has changed, maybe there are highly urbanized neighborhoods that I did not experience.
In Europe:
1) Rome, but Italy's very high effective tax rates and other fiscal insanity are a deal-breaker;
2) London, if I could afford it;
3) Paris, been there for only a week, but my impression was that it lives up to its reputation.
It's very difficult for me to choose one, and that's why it is that I live a pretty vagabond lifestyle - I rarely live in one location for more than a couple years.
My three perennial favorites overall would be San Francisco, Los Angeles, and London. I haven't been to Hong Kong or Tokyo but will go before too long here, and I'm under the distinct impression, from everything I know of them and what I've been told by friends and former residents of those cities, that I would likely absolutely love them. I've been told the same of Sydney and Melbourne by many Australian friends.
4) Montreal, lived there for a year many years ago, great city, but was losing out to Toronto as a business center.
Toronto has only continued to boom and grow, but I fear it hasn't been investing enough public money back into itself to sufficiently deal with that growth (infrastructure, public spaces etc). It's still improved dramatically and solidified its position as the financial and corporate centre of Canada. Montreal stopped the hemorrhaging years ago, and although it never actually lost population, it's now back to steady growth at a modest clip, and the two cities no longer differ significantly in terms of unemployment or office vacancy.
In all fairness, despite my homer comment earlier, my real favourite city in this world is Prague, Czech Republic. It has just an amazing vibe, laid back but urbane culture, sense of style, and of course character in its built form. The history and character of the Czech people also really speak to me, I feel a certain kinship with and attraction to this people, which is why I've learned quite a bit of their language although I have no personal connection to the country otherwise.
Lots of Chicago fans here. I also think Chicago is great, but it has always struck me as a rather unfriendly city, and the problem of violent crime and gangs really takes away from its livability. It's also a very racially segregated city, and there are many neighbourhoods that are like war zones - burnt out and crumbling areas with tons of vacant lots, abandoned buildings and sky-high rates of violent crime. I don't like living in or visiting a city where half the place is off-limits because of racial boundaries and/or the fear of being victimized by predatory criminals.
If Chicago could deal with its crime issues, improve the many blighted neighbourhoods that mar the urban landscape, and improve race relations so that white people would feel comfortable visiting or even living in black or Hispanic areas and vice versa, it would be a much better city. New York has managed to accomplish a lot of these goals, and is a better city as a result.
It's impossible to compare and rank them properly. So in no specific order:
Berlin: my hometown, great city, lots to do, vibrant, unique history, great diversity of districts, mindsets and people, green city with lots of trees, great nightlife etc... Actually, I also hate plenty of things but who doesn't have a certain love/hate relationship towards the hometown?!
London: "capital of the world" possibly along with NYC, vibrant, very diverse, interesting architecture, remarkable sights and monuments, different districts with life on 'their own', unique history...
Barcelona: mild and decent weather for most of the year, "La Barceloneta"-the seaside, friendly people in contrast to the rest of Spain (IMO), beautiful old town, good nightlife etc...
Amsterdam: a "small" big-city, e.g. not as huge as London or Berlin, very "young" city, open-minded people, pretty "grachten" (canals), vibrant nightlife
Rome: the "Eternal city", the most impressive, historic monuments and sights of any European city, quite cheap (e.g. food, accomodation), atmosphere at the "piazzas" in a mild summer night etc...
Sevilla: old town, sights, atmosphere, great street life etc...
honorable mentions: Hamburg, Nice, Copenhagen
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