Uploaded on 2017-03-09 by Angel Luis Baldo Gomez

MOST LIVEABLE CITIES TOP FIVE Based in personal experience: - Valencia (Spain) - Berlin (Germany) - Oviedo (Spain) - Madrid (Spain) - San Diego (USA) WHAT MAKES A CITY LIVEABLE - Safety, healthiness... (basic Maslow) - Availability of work (productive activities) - Socialization (leisure activities) - Quality of urban fabric and natural surroundings (physical support for activities) - “Genius loci” (hard to explain, related both to phenomenology and potentiality) CASE STUDY: OVIEDO - Basic needs are achieved in most of the areas. - Alike most spanish mid-sized cities, the main problem in Oviedo is unemployment. - Average social life is of a high quality standard, given the Spaniards natural tendency to it. In addition to this, the Asturiano enjoys sharing quality time having cider with friends on a weekly basis. - The city itself is home to many beautiful and high quality cityscapes, being its surroundings close and easily accessible. - The history of this town founded by two monks in 8th century speaks of one of the main courts in Europe comparable with Charlemagne’s capital of Aachen, head of the Kingdom of Asturias during IX and X a.C. After a thousand years of oblivion, the Industrial Revolution and the coal of its underground allowed the birth of a wealthy class which promoted local factories of steel and tin, along with the rise of finances and arts. The sense of belonging to all these is very strong within its inhabitants, empowered by the rivalry with “nemesis” town Gijón.