Just a quick post to pass on a lovely bit of google autocomplete research (discovered via @LarryFerlazzo) about what Americans think of other states. You can hover over a map and see what the top autocompletes were for “Why is [state] so…..
By: pwbaker
It prompted me to do some similar research for Philly (where I live). “Why is Philadelphia so…” resulted in:
- disgusting
- damned dirty
- resistant to modernity
- significant
- centered on traffic engineering when it is one of the great walking cities in the world
I’ve grown very fond of Philly, so I felt out of synch with the stereotypes – except the last one. I’ve often wondered about that myself. Why do we have freeways carving through the streets making it hard for pedestrians to cross? The priorities seem curious, if not awry.
I’ve stopped driving since we moved to the city, like many other residents. Apparently 44% of my center city neighbors walk to work – the highest rate in the US. I don’t know how that compares with other countries, but I’d have thought that was a pretty high rate for any city center in the world. Does anyone know?