Best cities to live in

Pittsburgh a old steel town is close to me 29 from the top. But notice how Australian and New Zealand cities fare. Envy.... guess it is good to have a great infrastructure. Notice US and Europe are lagging.

Reply to
Bill who putters
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There are various measures of the quality of cities, which one are you referring to?

Which Australian cities do you think have great infrastructure?

David

Reply to
David Hare-Scott

Adelaide looks too good to be true.

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Reply to
Bill who putters

The photo is just one new area of the CBD down by the river, the whole city isn't like that, the 'burbs are just the same sprawl of any city of Oz. However it is a nice place having been layed out before it was built unlike most cities that grew organically. It can be very hot in summer and the drinking water isn't good but it doesn't have earthquakes, cyclones or snow storms. It does have top class vineyards up the valley, friendly people and they host wonderful cultural festivals.

The full report is paywalled but they say this about the index:

"A rating of relative comfort for 30 indicators is assigned across five broad categories: stability; healthcare; culture and environment; education; and infrastructure. "

You furriners will have to understand that most of these issues are largely controlled by a combination of national and state governments (especially stability, health and education) not so much the local government who have little power. The Oz cities listed are all State capitals so the gov will put resources into them that other cities don't get. The individial city and its location has some influence on environment, culture and infrastructure. Obviously economic forces have a role too, richer cities tend to have better facilities, but Sydney and Melbourne are MUCH richer than Adleaide which still rates higher.

Sydney also makes it into the "Alpha+" rating as a global centre of power,

See:

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's sad that it is choking to death on cars and no real or potential State government has the courage or ability to deal with the issue. I grew up there and still love it dearly but had to leave.

David

Reply to
David Hare-Scott

Obviously economic

Oops. They don't rate higher, forget that.

D
Reply to
David Hare-Scott

Cities, schmitties, I'm a country boy and I want to see green hills and trees. The nicest city (town) I ever lived in is Castillon la Bataille. A town of 3,000 people, one hour east of Bordeaux on D936, where you can walk to any place you want to go. It has two outdoor markets a week, several restaurants, several bars, a Maison du Vin, and you are 20 miutes from St. Emillion. There was a little vegetable market nextdoor and a supermarket (hypermarché Champion)two blocks away. Everyday you can find the vieux garçons down by the Dordogne River playing petanque and discussing the state of the world, until dinner time. You can walk out of town in 5 min.

A 20 min. drive north of Castillon on D9 is Villefranche-de-Lonchat, which is just west of a small middle class resort at Lac Gurson, where two bedroom bungalows used to rent for $100/week. There is a bar next to the beach on the lake where I spent a lot of time.

Did I mention that French girls don't where their tops when sunbathing? My jaw was a sure giveaway that I was from out of town;O)))

Reply to
Billy

I will take the country life also. In the township I live has a population around 4,000 in a 40 square mile area. My township is also surrounded by other townships. The school district here around 200 square miles with about 10,000 students. The nearest closest supermarket is 10 miles away. Nearest McDonalds is 15 miles. I was born and raised in the concrete jungle and would never go back.

Reply to
Nad R

What great timing! So it's a 1000 km away, but it can't help the ratings.

Reply to
Billy

A sure fire way to start an argument is to claim where you live is better than some other place. I don't have that problem because I live near Baltimore - the City that Slurs.

All of the Australian cities have reasonably good infrastructures. The problem that is indigious to all countries the English colonized is that the blood bastards left it with poor infrastructures. (I wrote English so as not to include the Irish, the Scots, the Welsh, the Manx, etc.)

I love Australia and wish to retire there. But look at the roads that that span the continent. I drove the Nullarbor. It was a two lane black top road for 1668 km (1036 miles), and you can't drive after unless you want to risk totaling your car by hitting a roo.

The rail system in New South Wales is excellent and rivals any inter-city system I seen.

If you want to see the beautiful view in the world, take a side trip to Esperance in Western OZ.

Reply to
Dick Adams

I am confused. If they have reasonably good infrastructure (which is a matter of opinion) how is it they are affected by the nature of the colonial British who left them with poor infrastructure? Are you remarking that in the 110 years of independence the natives have compensated for their inadequate heritage?

Well that't the nature of the beast, very long distances to travel and low population densities except for right in the big cities. There are many thousands of km of such roads and not much tax base to build or maintain them. What price 3000km of roo fence? More important, because it affects many more people, look at the roads in Sydney. Traffic jams day and night every day. The city chokes on cars.

It's a pity the inter state system isn't used more but you aren't going to get much more patronage while travel time is many times that of flying and not much money saved and while people need their cars in their destination city they aren't going by rail (except for one or two trains where you can take your car). The intra-city rail systems vary between very ordinary and inadequate.

D
Reply to
David Hare-Scott

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