Just in time for the winter Olympics, The Economist has rated Vancouver as the world’s most livable city. The Economist rates cities (presumably metropolitan areas or urban areas) “over 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.” There is no doubt that Vancouver is in a setting that is among the most attractive in the world. read more »
Portland
“First” vs. “Worst”
by Aaron M. Renn 01/17/2010
Taking on the Portland mystique is not easy – and likely I'll find out again with my most recent piece: Picture-perfect Portland?
But I'd also like to take a Midwest perspective that shows some surprising things. Let's compare Portland to a similarly sized and less acclaimed Midwest city, Indianapolis. read more »
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The Week New Urbanism Died?
by Wendell Cox 10/26/2009
It has been a bad media week for New Urbanism.
“The day that New Urbanism Died?” was the headline of the St. Louis Urban Workshop blog that detailed the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of Whittaker Builders, developer of the “New Town at St. Charles,” a premier New Urbanist community located in the St. Louis exurbs (beyond the suburbs). read more »
Portland and L.A: Not Exactly Long-Lost Brothers
by Andy Sywak 08/18/2008
One of these cities is the perennial Cinderella to urban planners; the other the ugly sister who always crashes the party. One is the well-planned "City of Roses" (no, not Pasadena), a bastion of mass-transit and controlled development along the Columbia River while its gargantuan sister to the south eschews all such enlightened principles.
That's the gist at least from this paean to Portland in the LA Times today about what the city could learn from its lithe Northern cousin. read more »
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