Your favourite things about your city (2013, crime, houses)

[SophieLL]

This is a thread about positive things, we could do another ones about the least favourite things about your city (i know i would have a lot to say in that one, too), but its not this one.

So, here, people from all over, could you post the things you love about the city you live in? I think its a good thread for people interested in cities, maybe to learn things we didnt know about the place, and it could increase our curiosity for cities all over the world. I know i wanna read what people here have to say about their cities!

My favourite things about BA:

-Vibrancy: something is happening all the time, the constant buzz of the city. I find this city fascinating and surpising, it is VERY lively and full of soul.

- People: despite what is said about the rudeness of people here and in the big cities in general (wich can be true in a superficial view) i find that, here, you can find people from all over the country (and from other countries as well), from different backgroudns, origins, cities, all in all, different people, and, mostly, once you get pass the crazyness and the rudeness this city makes you develop in order to survive, people want to make friends and is willing to share and connect. And thats wonderful.

-The stunning beauty of some places: sometimes im walking around and find a spot i ve never seen before and im stunned at how beautiful it is. Some architecture that remind you of Paris, but with the particular latin american sunny flavour of BA, some squares, streets, old houses. Beauty is all over and, after 2 years and a half of living here, im still discovering amazing places i didnt know before.

-The immensity: this city is huge, and, therefore, full of places i yet have to find, tons of neighbourhoods i ve never been in, and a lot of beautiful corners i sure never seen. Its wonderful to live in a place that it feels yet to be discovered, its like the capacity of wonder never ends.

-Cultural life: millions of theathers, film cycles, museums, music, theres something for everyone. If you wanna go see an homage to Bolaño 10 years of death, or wanna see an obscure Durrenmat play, if you wanna go listen to Jazz fusion music, or brazilian dance, or a tango show, if you wanna go see werner herzog movies, or a cycle of hollywood oldies, whatever the hell you want, it happens here. If you love art and literature, this is the city to be. And a lot of it its free, too, or very inexpensive.

-City with more bookstores in the world: enough said

-The coffee culture: the culture of drinking a coffee in weekends while you are alone, with your SO, with friends, its very extended. There are a lot of wonderful cafes and bookstores in where you can stay for HOURS drinking your coffee. No one will ever tell you to hurry up or leave cause thats how it is here. Going to spend 8 hours in a cafe while you read a novel alone its perfectly normal here, and i LOVE it.

-How walkable it is: since the traffic is sometimes so insane, this city is amazing to walk. The weather allows you to walk all year (winter here are warm), the sun is abundant, the nights are full of people walking so no danger in most parts. Going walking on a sunday its an amazing plan for me, love to walk this city!

-How accepting it is of public affection and gay couples: gays couples having public displays of affection are perfectly normal here, this is a gay friendly city. Also, a city in where making out with your SO in front of everyone is normal stuff. Love is in the air

-Never a dull moment: a lot of things can be said about Buenos Aires, except that is boring. Even when theres a crazy protest going on, there is always gonna be room for laugh, cause, hear me out, in this city theres NEVER a dull moment.


I dont think im done, cause im probably forgetting many things so i will edit when i think of more.

what are your favourite things about your city??

[The Postman]

Boy, it would take awhile. I'll be brief. I just moved from Perth to Melbourne, Australia, and this is one of my favourite cities. It really is one of the liveable cities in the world. I like how it's big enough but doesn't feel too overwhelming, how there's so much culture in the city, variety of entertainment options e.g. live music, lots of parks, walkable, very diverse and multicultural (I just discovered there was an Uyghur restaurant here!), good public transport in the inner areas, pretty mild climate, people aren't as unfriendly as Sydney in my experience. How it's vibrant and up and coming...

[Ameriscot]

I don't live in a city. I live along a road of 3 coastal communities with a small town 10 miles away.

-gorgeous scenery - mountains, forests, sea lochs, amazing gardens and varieties of flowers
-lack of crime
-very friendly, helpful people
-peaceful
-open-minded population
-clean air, delicious water
-location quietly 'semi-rural' yet less than 1.5 hours to Glasgow and the international airport
-the evidence of history everywhere - historic buildings, ancient megalithic sites
-....and the accents and language are pretty cool as well!

[dunno what to put here]

I like the shops, the restaurants, the entertainment, the architecture. I like how it's an open-minded place with big festivals to celebrate the city's diversity and tolerance - such as the West Indian Carnival (largest outside London) and Gay Pride, 2013's being the biggest yet. I like the close proximity to some of the UK's most beautiful natural scenery, I like how it is varied topographically, with lots of hills and steep streets (seems like wherever you go, it's up or down a hill). I like that it's a clean place with little litter (seriously one of the cleanest cities in the UK from my experience, especially compared to litter-strewn Manchester and Birmingham). I like how it's easily walkable with an ever-improving cycle infrastructure. I like how varied and resilient our economy is. I like that our city has such a young population with loads of university students who make the city feel so alive and thriving at all times. I also really, really like how we don't have a thick, in-your-face Yorkshire accent - there are loads of people coming here from elsewhere in the UK, many stay, many leave after university, but they have helped dilute the accent a lot.

I also like how there are loads of 4x4s on the roads. Polluting the Earth FTW!

[P London]

Originally Posted by dunno what to put here

I like the shops, the restaurants, the entertainment, the architecture. I like how it's an open-minded place with big festivals to celebrate the city's diversity and tolerance - such as the West Indian Carnival (largest outside London) and Gay Pride, 2013's being the biggest yet. I like the close proximity to some of the UK's most beautiful natural scenery, I like how it is varied topographically, with lots of hills and steep streets (seems like wherever you go, it's up or down a hill). I like that it's a clean place with little litter (seriously one of the cleanest cities in the UK from my experience, especially compared to litter-strewn Manchester and Birmingham). I like how it's easily walkable with an ever-improving cycle infrastructure. I like how varied and resilient our economy is. I like that our city has such a young population with loads of university students who make the city feel so alive and thriving at all times. I also really, really like how we don't have a thick, in-your-face Yorkshire accent - there are loads of people coming here from elsewhere in the UK, many stay, many leave after university, but they have helped dilute the accent a lot.

I also like how there are loads of 4x4s on the roads. Polluting the Earth FTW!

So you don't have a thick in your face Yorkshire accent?

Originally Posted by dunno what to put here

festivals to celebrate the city's diversity and tolerance - such as the West Indian Carnival (largest outside London) and Gay Pride, 2013's being the biggest yet.

Looks better than the Notting hill carnival, too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygpS-5xhnFg

[dunno what to put here]

Originally Posted by P London

So you don't have a thick in your face Yorkshire accent?

I hope not! I don't think I do. Nah, definitely not. I'm not a commoner.

[LindavG]

What I like about my city (Maastricht):

- Mix of modern and ancient architecture
- Very multicultural (many international students, popular tourist destination)
- Border town, very close to (French-speaking) Belgium and Germany
- General attitude to life: laid-back, easy-going, social, tolerant
- Clean, organised and safe
- Not too big (~ 100,000 people) but still enough to do
- Great University with unique educational system (Problem-Based Learning)
- Plenty of parks and green space
- Fascinating history dating back thousands of years

[Catbelle]

I live in a town not far from Madrid, the things I like are:

-People: nice people and helpful, I think the town is quite welcoming.

-Gastronomy: regional plates are yummy, tapa culture is very famous here, one of the best in Spain, big variety of international food.

-Safe: a safe town, and I hope it continues like that!! I've heard about some crime and rapes during my life but in general terms I think it's quite safe.

-Well connected: we have buses every time, trains to the Capital City every 15-30 mins, High Speed Train lines to Barcelona for example.

-Clean: you can't see rubbish on the street grounds, it never smells bad.

-Open minded: modern town and open minded.

-History: very important in the past with a lot of History, the town is Arabic but unfortunately the War destroyed a lot of rich monuments.

-Green areas: a lot of parks, the second most green town in Spain, the last years we have a lot of bike paths too, quite a good idea, people do a lot of sport here. Walkable.

-Good tap water!

[Ariete]

Turku, SW Finland.

- I like that the centre is compact, and the most parts of the city is within a biking distance. And except for the immediate centre, it's also very bike-friendly.
- Extremely walkable, thanks to a wide-street grid plan
- Affordable housing compared to Helsinki
- Good size, 180k inhabitants within city limits, and 300k in the urban area. Not too small to feel claustrophobic, but not too big and chaotic
- Excellent restaurant scene
- The riverfront is a unique and beautiful "living room" during the summers
- Decent public transport and the two other main urban areas (Helsinki and Tampere) are accessible by train in 2 hours, with trains leaving every hour
- The people are nice, liberal, international and open minded
- The city has 1000 years of interesting history
- Good parks, a beautiful archipelago and a very green city as well
- 4th most immigrants of all Finnish cities
- has a long history of being a domestic trend-setter

[viribusunitis]

Originally Posted by Ariete

Turku, SW Finland.

- I like that the centre is compact, and the most parts of the city is within a biking distance. And except for the immediate centre, it's also very bike-friendly.
- Extremely walkable, thanks to a wide-street grid plan
- Affordable housing compared to Helsinki
- Good size, 180k inhabitants within city limits, and 300k in the urban area. Not too small to feel claustrophobic, but not too big and chaotic
- Excellent restaurant scene
- The riverfront is a unique and beautiful "living room" during the summers
- Decent public transport and the two other main urban areas (Helsinki and Tampere) are accessible by train in 2 hours, with trains leaving every hour
- The people are nice, liberal, international and open minded
- The city has 1000 years of interesting history
- Good parks, a beautiful archipelago and a very green city as well
- 4th most immigrants of all Finnish cities
- has a long history of being a domestic trend-setter

I have to agree on all of those points except the one about the restaurants... I love Finland and especially Turku, but the restaurant scene is really disappointing...