The World’s Greatest Large Urban Parks

20 05 2010

Image provided by Flickr user djKianoosh

Anyone that knows me knows that I love lists.  I have already posted several entries regarding various list including America’s Most Walkable Major Cities and America’s Drunkest Cities.  Well, I have another list for you courtesy of  Infrastructurist: The World’s 10 Greatest Large Urban Park.   At first glance, the list does have many of the usual suspects: Central Park, Hyde Park and Stanley Park.   However, there were some very surprising entries, perhaps the most surprising being the rather small Luxembourg Gardens in Paris.  Anyways, take a look at the list.  It doesn’t necessarily go into too much detail but is a fun read and includes some great aerials of each park.


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America’s Drunkest Cities

8 02 2010

Men’s Health has compiled a list ranking cities in the United States on their level on intoxication.  Interesting.  And while you’re first guess for the drunkest may be New Orleans or Las Vegas, the winner is actually Fresno, California.   Reno, Nevada and Billings, Montana round out the top 3.  The least intoxicated city in the States?  Boston, Massachussetts.   As soon as I read the list, I just had to know how it was possibly compiled.  According to U.S.A. today, the list “drew upon such data as death rates from alcoholic liver disease, booze-fueled car crashes, frequency of binge-drinking in the past month, number of DUI arrests, and severity of DUI penalties.”

Drunkest Cities:

  1. Fresno, California
  2. Reno, Nevada
  3. Billings, Montana
  4. Riverside, California
  5. Austin, Texas

Least Drunk Cities:

  1. Boston, Massachussetts
  2. Yonkers, New York
  3. Rochester, New York
  4. Salt Lake City, Utah
  5. Miami, Florida

While the list shouldn’t be taken too terribly seriously, it does provide some solid insight and some real surprises.  You can check out the full list over at U.S.A. Today.


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6th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey: 2010

2 02 2010

Demographia International recently posted their 6th annual housing affordability survey which compares the median household income to the median housing prices in various metropolitan areas throughout North America, Australia, New Zealand and the UK.  The survey splits the cities into three different categories (the numbers represent the ratio between the median housing price and the median household income):

  • Affordable (< 3.0)
  • Moderately Unaffordable (3.1 – 4.0)
  • Seriously Unaffordable (4.1 – 5.0)
  • Severely Unaffordable (> 5.0)

The most affordable cities were generally those that have high crime rates and a high degree of vacancies.  These include such places as Detroit (1.6), Indianapolis (2.2), and Cleveland (2.4).   However, some less devastated regions throughout United States and Canada still fit into the affordable category including Atlanta (2.1), Houston (2.9) and Dallas (2.7).

On the opposite side of the scale, Vancouver ranked as the most unaffordable metropolitan area at a whopping 9.3 ratio.  Sydney was second at a 9.1 and the Sunshine Coast down in Australia rounded out the top 3 at a 9.0.  Interestingly, while New York City and San Francisco may have the highest cost of living, their higher income levels somewhat make up for this giving them a ratio of 7.0.

A lot of this isn’t anything new, however it does provide an exceptional and entertaining reference for anyone looking to move sometime in the near future.  You can find the full pdf on the Demographia International site.


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America’s Most Walkable Major Cities

26 07 2009

For those that are unfamiliar with walkscore.com, the site allows a user to enter an address and they will be a ‘walk score’ for that address out of 100.  What exactly is this ‘walk score’?  An addresses walk score is determined by the number of many different types of shops, restaurants, institutions and cultural venues that are within a solid walking distance of that particular address.  The sites scores are not perfect (I even noticed the omittence of one of our major book stores here in Toronto), but it does give a general idea for how walkable different neighbourhoods are whch can help individuals make key decisions such as where to live.

Recently, the site unveiled its rankings of the 40 largest cities in the United States based squarely off their walk score.  The results are not particularly surprising, but are definitely interesting.  As one can expect, the denser cities usually offer greater walking opportunities whereas the more suburban based ones typically have far fewer of these opportunities.  It’s all a matter of personal taste, but if you are the type that enjoys having many conveniences within walking distances, a far more walkable city typically makes more sense.  The top 5 cities are as follows:

  1. San Francisco (86/100)
  2. New York City (83/100)
  3. Boston (79/100)
  4. Chicago (76/100)
  5. Philadelphia (74/100)

For those interested in seeing the complete list, you can click here.


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And the Award for the Most Livable City Goes To…

10 06 2009

Photo courtesy of Flickr user gordmckenna

Photo courtesy of Flickr user gordmckenna

I for one do get a bit tired of the constant barrage of most livable city rankings.  The criteria is often incomplete, but there is no question that they are at least somewhat interesting.  The most recent rankings comes to us from the Economist.  And like the past couple of years, Australia and Canada dominate.  This year, Vancouver takes the cake as the most livable (perhaps due to the fact that it’s now a bit more affordable than it has been for a while?).  But there are some very strong contenders in the top ten including Vienna, Melbourne, Toronto, Perth, Calgary, Helsinki, Geneva, Sydney and Zurich.

For those who do not know much about these rankings, the most livable city rankings base their scores (out of 100) off the typical day to day lives within these cities and our interaction with them.  Criteria includes such things as infrastructure, cost of living, urbanity, etc.  As a Canadian, all I can say is really proud of how our cities rank.  One other interesting note is the lack of American cities in the top ten.  Finally, the bottom 10 cities is rounded out by several African and Southeast Asian cities.  To see the top 10 and bottom 10, click here.  For those that want to see the full list, it looks like you may need to pay more.


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Toronto: 4th in World for Culture

29 10 2008

Washington based magazine Foreign Policy recently placed my current hometown of Toronto as 4th in the world for culture.  The magazine recently ranked many of the world cities in various categories including business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience and political engagement.  Of all these categories, Toronto’s highest ranking was in cultural experience in which it only placed behind Paris, London and New York.  That is certainly a lofty placing and speaks volumes for Toronto’s incredible cosmopolitan atmosphere and high volume theatre scene.  In other categories, Toronto didn’t fare nearly as well (26th in business activity and 24th in political engagement), however Toronto ranked 10th overall of 60 cities, one below Seoul and one above Washington D.C.

Check out the full study here


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Who’s Your City Place Finder

26 09 2008

A while back, I mentioned I was reading the book Who’s Your City by Richard Florida.  After finishing the book, I must say it was one of the most enjoyable books i’ve read in a long time.  For those who have never heard of the book before, it is a book that describes how where we choose to live is one of the most important decisions in our life.  The book mentions a ‘place finder’ on it’s website which helps  individuals  decide on what city is most ideal for them.  The concept is very simple.  Say, you have a short list of cities you are thinking of perhaps moving to.  The place finder allows you to rate each city from 1 to 5 in 20 different categories including obvious criteria such as the job prospects and climate and less obvious ones such as leadership.   Perhaps the only problem is you need to have done your research on each and every city you compare.  Yet, it helps simplify what can be a very difficult decision.  You an find the link to the Who’s Your City Place Finder below:

Who’s Your City Place Finder


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Top U.S. Cities for Young Professionals

8 08 2008

Recently, Forbes posted their official rankings of the top cities in the United States for young professionals.  Some of the more obvious choices topped the list, yet the most obvious one of all (New York City) ranked fourth.  But in the end, the most shocking position is perhaps often-forgotten Milwaukee sitting high at number 9.  As a young professional in my twenties hoping to move to the United States sometime in the future, I found this article both extremely interesting and informative.  Unfortunately, it was quite noticeable to me that cities in Florida fared by far the worst with Tampa ranking at the bottom in 40th, Miami at 39th and Orlando at 37th.  The top 5 and the link to the article are below.  It’s defintely worth a look!

1) San Francisco

2) Boston

3) Houston

4) New York City

5) Minneapolis

Top Cities for Young Professionals


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10 Best Restaurant Cities in the World

9 07 2008

@Tokyo Lights, Papa le Pew et sa petite Famille (Flickr)

This is an interesting list posted on Foodandwine.com. Some very obvious and not so obvious cities make the list. Without further ado, the ten cities are as follows:

1. Tokyo
2. Paris
3. New York City
4. London
5. Barcelona
6. Sydney
7. Madrid
8. Chicago
9. Stockholm
10. Vancouver

A list like this obviously needs to be taken with a grain a salt, however I can contest having visited New York City, Chicago and Sydney that the food was almost always really good.
The full, original article can be found here


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