Uploaded on 2016-03-06 by jswee

1. Infrastructure 2. Safety 3. Housing 4. Transportation 5. Job Opportunities 2. I live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, the capital city of the country. I was born and raised in Ottawa, yet I have travelled extensively to other countries. After experiencing different cultures, I appreciate that my city has a great deal to offer in terms of livability. **3. To what extend does your own place of residence fulfill your ideal livability criteria?** Using the five criteria, Ottawa is a great city to live and raise a family. *1. Infrastructure* – Ottawa is the seat of the government for the country, has free healthcare (several hospitals), free dental for those who need it, some access to subsidized housing for those on limited incomes, many senior citizen dwellings, free city programs for many families, etc. I would rank Infrastructure as 85/100 *2. Safety* – Last year in Ottawa there were 7 homicides in Ottawa and nearly all of them were related to gang violence. That makes the statistic of .071 deaths per 100,000 people. Ottawa is a very safe city to live in. I would rank Safety as 100/100 *3. Housing* - In Ottawa, the vacancy rate for one bedroom rental apartments was 4.3% . A single family home average was $386,839. The average sale price for a condominium-class property was $247,205, a decrease of 1.3 per cent over January 2015. The decrease in condominium prices was the result of builders flooding the market with condo apartments, which have not been purchased by downsizing seniors as fast as builders expected. As a result the entire condo market price (including a home like mine which is a four bedroom condo row house) per unit has declined. I would rank housing access and affordability at 70/100. *4. Transportation* - A 2012 ranking of Canadian cities, in terms of their appeal to families, ranked Ottawa second in all of Canada in Reader’s Digest Best Canadian Cities to Raise a Family. Ottawa is known for its great public transportation,system (many buses and a currently expanding subway systems) that provides lots of access to family-friendly opportunities (community centres, libraries, sports facilities). We even have a unique transportation system for those with limited abilities (disabled, seniors) called Para Transpo. They have very low fares and pick them up and transport them door to door. According to Immigration Ottawa, it is one of the top cities that newly immigrating families choose to come and settle in for these reasons. I would rank transportation as 85/100. *5. Job Opportunities* - In February 2016, Ottawa posted an unemployment rate of 6.4 % which was up slightly from the previous year. Entry level job opportunities for youth depend on the job type (many service jobs available) while more specific jobs such as government or educational types are very difficult to get into due to the country's dual language policy (French & English competencies) I would rank overall job prospects as 70/100. **On a scale from 1-100 rate to what extend your place of residence fulfills your ideal livability criteria?** My residence livability scale is 80/100. Provide also a general livability score for your city, using the same scale (1-100). My city's overall livability score is 80/100 **4. What would you change?** I would change community involvement in decision making when related to development. Citizens are not often invited or aware of the opportunities to comment on plans for changes when it comes to land development. There also seems to be a lack of transparency at times as to how these decisions are made. Imagine that you were the mayor of your place of residence. Which would be the first measure you would take to improve livability? Opening up citizen consultation to see what innovative ideas or concerns they have. **5. Why do we move?** In this last part of the exercise we want you to name three places that you would select to move in case you decided to change place of residence. In addition, provide us with 5 qualities of these places that played important role during your decision process. Order them with the most important at the top of your list. *A) Nice, France* 1) Climate 2) Culture 3) Safety 4) Recreation Possibilities 5) Health care Nice, France has 300 days of sun per year, and as Canadians, it is a highly appealing location to have both sun and beaching communities. The culture in France is one that is prided upon amazing food, entertainment and socializing. It has little to none gun violence in general (discounting the recent terrorist events) and free health care to anyone visiting and needing sudden help. Canada being a biliingual country, there is a very limited language barrier as most Canadians have studied French. *B) Vancouver, BC, Canada* 1) Culture 2) Recreation Possiblities 3) Environment 4) Health care 5) Climate Having recently visited Vancouver, it is a visually beautiful city with an incredible amount of things to both see and do. It is a very artistic and creative community as well having a very high environmental consciousness as a city. It too has free Health care which is important to Canadian citizens. The climate is one of the most temperate in Canada, though it has a lot of rain, the temperatures are much more comfortable in the winter when compared to the rest of Canada. ![Sunset Beach, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada][1] *![C) New York City, New York][2]* 1) Culture 2) Safety 3) International Connections 4) Recreation Possiblities 5) Transportation New York city is a wonderful city of the Arts. It has such a wide variety of activities to particpate in that it would take years to see all of the offerings that it has. Since 9/11 the transformation of the safety of New York has been remarkable. I joke with others when I mention that the size of the New York City Police force is bigger than the entire Canadian army. Those numbers have made it a very safe and pleasant city to be in. The consideration of city planners to make it a pedestrian friendly city have also transformed the access to areas, such as the newly built Skyline (walkway in the air using abandoned subway tracks) and incorporating citizen voice in the planning process. Finally NYC is a hub to visiting many other places and visitors from around the world have it on their bucket list to visit. [1]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14573080878804124.jpg [2]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14573079097893191.jpg