Uploaded on 2015-10-14 by wabisabistyle

*1. Safety 2. Political Stability 3. Sanitation Standards 4. Economy 5. Housing* **2. Why Do We Live Where We Live?** **Name the place you live and provide 5 reasons why you live there. Those reasons may not be related to the official livability criteria. Order them with the most important at the top of your list.** *I live about 20 miles outside of Ocala, FL, USA* *I live here because: 1. my home near Orlando, FL was flooded and my family and I were temporaryily relocated here while the flooded house was being rebuild. 2. I would stay here because of the great, smaller schools with excellent parent/teacher communication 3. Access to nature 4. Climate 5. Recreational opportunities* ![enter image description here][1] ![enter image description here][2] ![a natural spring we swim in. the water is 22c year round.][3] [1]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14446779497928265.jpg [2]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/1444678023925197.jpg [3]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14447579598026118.jpg **3. To what extend does your own place of residence fulfill your ideal livability criteria?** *At this stage of my life, with four school aged children, this area is fairly ideal. It is a safe and slow paced environment, where there is an emphasis on outdoor activities. But, I'm not sure if I will feel the same after my children graduate from school. I believe I will desire a more urban life with a larger more diverse population with increased job opportunities and better convenience.* **On a scale from 1-100 rate to what extend your place of residence fulfills your ideal livability criteria (i.e. the top-5 criteria you selected in Question 1).** *Thankfully, the area I live in fulfills 4 of the 5 of my livability criteria. We enjoy: 1. Safety 2. Political Stability 3. Sanitation Standards and 5. easy access to Housing* *My # 4. Economy - Does not fulfill my ideal livability criteria, but like the lecture discussed this is a paradox for me. The economy, especially in this rural area is slow and very resistant to change and growth.* **Provide also a general livability score for your city, using the same scale (1-100).** *I would probably rate my area an 80.* **4. What would you change?** *I don’t really believe I would change much, because I would have to give up the very reasons I enjoy where I live. If i were to change the economy of the area and draw more business, the area would also become more dense, which would mean sprawl where I live. It would also bring more children into the schools, which may take away from the small class size and excellent teacher communication we have now.* **Imagine that you were the mayor of your place of residence. Which would be the first measure you would take to improve livability?** *If I were mayor, I would make it a priority to take better care of the “historical” buildings in our downtown area and create a friendlier more livable downtown. I would encourage local entrepeneurs to open their businesses in the downtown area instead of in the strip malls, which don’t encourage walkability because of the distance between them. A updated downtown would also encourage local patrons to come and get to know their neighbors.* **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.** *This is a very, very difficult question for me to answer. Truthfully, I don't know many areas well enough to make a pragmatic decision. There are other cities and countries that I have visited, New York, NY, The Netherlands and Switzerland that I think would be wonderful places to experience. But, I know I would not be able to live in any of these place because they do not offer me certain criteria. Namely, cost of living and employment opportunities. My husband and I have seriously discussed moving our family to Atlanta, Georgia, USA.* **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.** *Atlanta, GA would fulfill those top 5 basic livability criterion for me, but other factors such as a lack of water recreation is extremely difficult for me to overcome. Obviously, my need for recreation is at the pinnacle of the needs hierarchy. I understand that this is a very 1st world issue and I am very fortunate to even be able to consider living or not living in a city because of its proximity to the ocean.*