Uploaded on 2017-03-23 by Patricia Cazorla

Module 3 - compulsory Exercise: Livability Criteria 1. Which are your top livability criteria? 1. Environment 2. Health care 3. Safety 4. Housing 5. Education Now, I live in Leuven-Belgium. Leuven is a university city. It is located about 25 kilometers of Brussels. Leuven has around 100.000 inhabitants. Moreover, Leuven is the home of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, the largest and oldest university of the Low Countries and the oldest Catholic university still in existence. The University has 55000 students and 4500 doctoral students. 2. Why do we live where we live? When my husband and I decide to continue with our studies, we looked for a university in a small city, with a good ambiance not only about the environment but also safety and political stable. A place where we can move using public transport and non-motorized modes. A place where the education is free and high quality and where the cost of rent, food, clothes is affordable for us. Our house is in a very calmed neighborhood; our children can play in the street without concerns. There are supermarkets, schools, pharmacies, libraries, within a radius of 2km. Although the public transport service has a low frequency (one bus per hour), the University is to 5 km; then we go with the bike every day. Source: Google Maps, Image 2009. 3. To what extend does your own place of residence fulfill your ideal livability criteria? On a scale form 1-100, Leuven fulfills in a 75% my ideal livability criteria since properties are very expensive. Although there are not extreme weather conditions, the average temperature is very low, compared with Ecuador, and only two months per year we can enjoy of temperatures higher than 25 degrees Celsius. Another important factor is that we live far away from our family. 4. What would you change? Leuven is lasted by extended congestion periods. Traffic statistics show 22% in extra travel time1, what in average means 29 min per day or 111 h per year that people loses in traffic jams. In order to decrease the congestion level, I would limit the access to leasing cars (business acquires a lot of vehicles per year to justify its investments and to reduce taxes, they offer these vehicles to their employees with very convenient economic conditions, capturing passengers to the private car). 5. Why do we move? In case we decide to change our place of residence, we think to come back to Cuenca or to another Ecuadorian cities such as Ibarra or Yachay. Cuenca is an intermedia city, and the others are small cities. They are located in the Sierra of Ecuador. Yachay is a university city. Our family lives in Cuenca and our house is there too. Cuenca lies in the southern part of Ecuador in the sierra of the Andes, with elevation varying from 2350 to 2550 m.a.s.l. The urban area occupies 7059 Ha and has a population of 331000 inhabitants. Four rivers cross the city, namely Tomebamba, Yanuncay, Tarqui and Machángara. These rivers drain in the Amazon River watershed. The city is surrounded by mountains on all sides with passes to the west, south and east. Tourism, industry and agriculture are the principal sources of its economic development. The Tomebamba River divides Cuenca into two parts. At the top, corresponding to the old city, working and commerce activities are dominant since here lie relevant government and some educational institutions. In the lower part, corresponding to the modern city, dwelling activities are the most important. Besides, the urban area exerts a great attraction to regional level since there are localized major facilities such as the University of Cuenca, the Regional Hospital Vicente Corral Moscoso, and The Supreme Court of Justice, among others. Owing to the architectural wealth of its city center, UNESCO listed Cuenca as a World Heritage Trust site since 1999. The spatial cover of the public transportation on the urban territory is 77.5%, while the population cover is 92%.