City Rankings

I've been working on my term paper for my Planning Theory class nonstop for days and have grown weary. I have been investigating various city rankings that are out there, and believe me, they are endless. The highlight for me must have been the Thin Strips (TM) Cough and Cold Capitals Index from Triaminic (R) and Theraflu(R) Thin Strips (TM) - done by folks Novartis hired basically. In case you care, Bakersfield, CA is the city where most residents are reaching for cough and cold medicines disproportionately often. Environmental stressors apparently play a bigger role than weather or being in close proximity to others. Thanks, PR Newswire!

Even ones that seem initially reasonable can turn out to be a bit absurd. Look at the "Indicators and Data" section of the Kid-Friendly Cities report and try to understand what they are really assessing.

However, I did just come across the updated version of Mean Streets which is all about pedestrian safety. It's really well done, straight-forward, and interesting. Surface Transportation Policy Project does a good job articulating reasons why pedestrian safety has gotten worse and better in some cities (the Orlando stats are scary), considers race and age a bit more in depth than their 2002 report, and also looks at our government's funding priorities. Check it out.