What Makes Some Great Cities So Appealing?

Thinking about our choices of favorite cities we noticed a few things they seemed to have in common and it surprised even us. Maybe you’ll figure out what they are?

Great cities make you feel welcome and leaves you wanting to be there.

The first thing that struck us is that most cities that we really enjoy visiting are clean. Very little litter. Trash really says a lot about the livability of a place and so does graffiti. If the locals don’t care how their city looks they can’t be happy living there.

Graffiti, just like cleanliness, speaks with a load voice. In many cites graffiti is ugly and nasty and says that this is not a nice place to be. Sometimes it’s threatening. There are cities where much of the graffiti is actually street art and that actually lightens the mood in a place.

That leads to the next characteristic – friendliness. I think the attitude that keeps a place clean is also the same attitude that lifts people’s spirits and makes a city seem friendly. It doesn’t take long once you are in a city to feel that difference. We’ve been in cities where all you had to do was act a little lost and people would come up to you asking if they could help. Not all cities are like that.

Mass transit is another big deal and just like cities are different so is what you find on mass transit. In Singapore the trains and stations are spotless and the riders friendly. More than once young people not only offered us seniors their seat but were insistent. In New York – not very likely.

There’s more we could add but let us know what you think?