Uploaded on 2016-03-13 by biancanasser

a. Transportation: a good plan of transportation in a city, in my view, is the most important point when you think about livability. Specially in public transport, this should be very well organized by the administration of the cities. Nowadays, it is very commom people spending hours and hours trying to deslocate themselves from their houses to their works or schools. b. Infrastructure: infrastructure is also very important for a good quality of life. Even in the cities (besides the rural area), we can identify people living without potable water, sewerage system or eletricity. One of the concerns of urbanists nowadays in Brazil is about infrastructure. In the southwest and south of th country, almost everyone in the cities have access to infrastruture. On the other hand, in the north or northwest of the country, more than 80% of people still do not have this quality of life. c. Health care: having access to good hospitals, vacines, public awareness campaigns and good food provide livability for people who live in the city. d. Housing: government programs, access to good houses (chance to pay for them) and the place where people can build their houses, it is an important issue for livability. e. Safety: people need to feel safe to be able to realize their activities (as work or study) and also for entertainment. 2. Why do we live where we live? ![PUC Campinas][1] ![Taquaral lagoon][2] Today I live in Campinas - Brazil, a metropole very important in my state. The most important reasons for my housing being here are: a. Proximity to my university (PUC - Campinas); b. Greater job opportunities; c. Access to various needs of my daily routine (doctors, shoppings, entertainment, etc); d. Housing: good places to live. e. Infrastructure. 3. To what extend does your own place of residence fulfill your ideal livability criteria? On a scale from 1-100 rate, my city fulfills 50 of my ideal livability criteria. Even with good health care and infrastructure, I do not feel safe in my city. Transportation is also a problem here, because the plan of public transport is still out of date. Some new plans are being developed but still in the beggining. 4. What would you change? First of all, I would improve the public transport characteristics of the city. I would also change the development plan (encouraging mixed usage of the buildings, for example) and as consequence, would improve safety and quality of life in all sectors of the city. 5. Why do we move? When I think about a place to move in I think in Sligo (Ireland), Curitiba (Brazil) and Santorini (Greece). These are three cities that when I've been, I could imagine my life there. First because these are cities where I believe that all types of people have good quality of life. People can go to work, to school or shopping without big corcerns. I also feel that in these cities, the proximity to the nature and the quality of education, health care and culture will provide for my children and my family a good future. Sometimes, we just think about big cities and job opportunities when we choose a place to live but, we should consider all characteristics that are sometimes "hidden". [1]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14579071181692172.jpg [2]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14579071706842435.jpg