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View Full Version : Sydney 'one of the greatest cities'


Gumleaf
April 22nd, 2008, 05:16 AM
Tuesday Apr 22 13:49 AEST


Sydney is one of the world's greatest cities, with residents finding it a "pleasant, clean and charming" place to live, new survey results show.

A global survey of urban lifestyle trends in 14 cities interviewed 8,500 people, 630 who live in Sydney.

Results show the harbour city is among the top three of the world's "easy to live" cities, praised for low levels of population density and closeness to nature, with residents reporting they are optimistic and not very stressed.

The Veolia Observatory of Urban Lifestyles examined the relationship between city dwellers and the places where they live, questioning residents from Alexandria in Egypt, Beijing, Berlin, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Lyons (France), Mexico City, New York, Paris, Shanghai, Sydney, Prague and Tokyo.

Chicago and Los Angeles were the other two cities ranked in the top three "easy to live" cities.

"The research found that Sydney is a pleasant city to live in," Veolia Environment, which conducted the survey, said in a statement.

"(Sydney) is clean, relatively quiet and liked by residents.

"Sydneysiders claim to be satisfied with their living conditions, housing and area. In particular, they appreciate the cultural and leisure activities the city offers, the diversity of the people, and have an above average opinion of the city's safety and cleanness."

Furthermore, survey respondents associated Sydney with the word "happiness".

The survey found Mexico City "frightening", with residents reporting negative feelings about safety and urbanisation.

Tokyo was labelled "cold", appreciated for its convenience but lacking friendliness.

In Australia, surveys were conducted with people living in the City of Sydney, aged between 15 and 70.


©AAP 2008

Triple7
April 22nd, 2008, 02:09 PM
As a New Yorker during the academic year (9 months), I say... Pfffffffffttt. :P

Nah. Just kidding. New York City is expensive... in every way possible. Tourists are frequently in my way. Driving is slow; you can't turn without having to wait for slow-walking pedestrians to cross first. Walking is sometimes faster. You have to look both ways before crossing a one-way street. Curbside parking is scarce and garage pricing is gouging. It gets cold during the winter and hot during the summer. Neighborhoods are varied though, from housing projects to rich areas. The Subway is dirty, and fares keep going up (it's become so weird that there's a calculator (http://www.metrocardbonuscalculator.com/) to avoid having uneven amounts of change. It's crowded and busy, but there are 8,000,000 residents. There's Times Square and the Empire State Building for tourists to visit and Central Park for everyone to enjoy. Yankee Stadium, Madison Square Garden. NYC's a mixed bag.

I've never been to Sydney, but I've heard a lot of good things and the survey results are another.

Bobby
April 22nd, 2008, 02:48 PM
Yesim