Uploaded on 2017-08-28 by William A. McIntyre

I. Five most livable cities 1. Melbourne 2. Singapore 3. Paris 4. Sydney 5. Rome II. Five characteristics that according to your opinion make a city livable. 1. Transport (internal and external) 2. Convenience of resources (groceries, goods, services, information) 3. Cost 4. Housing availability 5. Aesthetics/Culture III. Describe the status of your own city in terms of the five characteristics that you listed above. Propose how your city should/could be transformed in relation to these characteristics in order to be more sustainable. a. My city of Santa Cruz, CA, USA has in my opinion a medium livability, transport is difficult, as it is a costal town separated from the main California valley, and only accessed by 3 arterial roads (the most important of which experiences regular flooding and landslides during rain. Housing availability is low, as it is a popular college/beach town, and this also affects its affordability. However, its culture, and convenience of resources is quite high, as it is a popular town, it has a variety of food, goods and services, catering to residents, tourists and college students. Overall, while cost of accommodation is high, the cost of living can be low. b. The city can improve by resolving it's housing crisis. Creating more high density urban housing will bring down hosing costs, secondly, to counter the current transport problems and future problems, should more housing be built, expansion of arterial roads must be undertaken. Furthermore, a more robust public transport system within the city would allow for parking to be placed outside the CBD, facilitating greater urban spaces, less CBD traffic. Lastly, updating the walkability of the city would further reduce strain on transport infrastructure, Santa Cruz is a very walkable city, but currently these paths are not well known, defined and are sometimes unsafe due to poor lighting.