Uploaded on 2017-05-16 by Fiona Nixon

1 Top livability criteria 1 safety 2 job opportunities 3 sanitation standards 4 transportation 5 environment 2 Why do we live where we live Singapore 1 opportunity for service sector enterprise 2 convenience high density means efficiency 4 safety freedom of movement 6 vision centralised control overrides special interests 5 environment clean and green 3 My place's fulfilment of livability criteria 1 safety 90 high personal safety but at the expense of personal freedom 2 job opportunities 70 reducing in all but the service sector 3 sanitation standards 95 clean and safe (recycled) water and streets 4 transportation 95 cheap, efficient and well-connected with a growing network 5 environment 85 clean air, patches of parks and greenery 4 What would I change? I would improve the urban environment of the 80% of Singapore's resident population who live in government managed HDB estates. The first step would be to reprioritise the design of the estates away from cars toward people. Many estates are organised around on-grade parking lots or low-rise parking structures which are ugly to look at from the apartments and disruptive of street life. Increase the provision of safe pedestrian and cycling infrastructure (reliant on shading and chanelling of breezes), leisure facilities (fenced playgrounds, shaded pocket parks, community gardens), landscape of high quality (materials and execution), remove pedestrian bridges and create shared roadways, reintegrate functions that have been zoned out (commercial, healthcare). Hopefully the rise of the shared economy in transport and new technologies in driverless vehicles can separate people from their cars, the culture of prestige and apparent convenience may be hard to overcome though, and a car-free community may be considered less livable! 5 Why do we move? Melbourne 1 hometown community, shared culture 2 education for my child 3 job opportunities networks 4 green environment parkland 5 housing variety and value Barcelona 1 urbanity streetlife, cafes 2 culture art and design, liberalism 3 connectivity into Europe and Asia 4 food freshness and variety 5 housing variety and value Boston 1 education self-improvement 2 opportunity business 3 culture history, education 4 climate just for a break from the heat! 5 variety change of perspective