I have finally returned to New York after a full month in Europe, spending time in Portugal, Italy and The Netherlands. I have to confess to being in a rather negative frame of mind about the USA just now. I expect that has something to do with the broken politics and the steady stream of awful headlines relating to gun violence or Supreme Court rulings. Then there is the bias that comes from places always appearing at their best while we are on holiday and surrounded by family and conviviality. And July, with its humidity, is hardly the most conducive of times to make judgements about New York.
No doubt these factors all play a part. I am probably also influenced by a sub-conscious affirmation bias. Having decided with my wife to leave the USA next year, I am probably looking out for ways to make that choice appear smart, either by building up where we will be going or knocking down where I am. Recently I made a list of what I will miss when I leave. Apart from family and friends (and there are other family and friends in Europe), the list had precisely one item. Our New York Sunday mornings are like an oasis to me; they will be irreplaceable where we are heading. But I can’t think of anything else.
I keep trying to explain my relative preference towards Europe in different ways, to others and to myself. I sense that there has to be more to it than all these biases. The politics, horrible as they are, hardly affect our daily lives, at least most of the time. It is true that I am seeing Europe in a positive context, but I can argue that my life in New York is almost like a holiday too. I keep coming back to the notion of liveability, but have struggled to pinpoint exactly what factors contribute to the differences I sense.
So I decided to dig one level deeper, by directly comparing everyday experiences. Over the last week I have spent a lot of time walking in Dutch cities and towns. This morning I took a walk through Queens. By noting differences, my goal is to identify what might one place more liveable than the other.
To my surprise, it all started with tidiness. I am not a neat freak at all. I do the minimum to keep my environment tidy, my hygiene is poor, and I dress lazily. I don’t think I notice these factors very much. But in comparing my walk this morning with the ones in Holland, I conclude that the Dutch streets are clean and tidy while the American ones are anything but. In Queens, there is garbage everywhere. Some is legally left in bin bags by the roadside, but much else is just casually tossed away and seems to fester without ever being picked up. The result includes lots of unpleasant smells, especially at this time of year. I can’t help but feel that the New York rats must thrive on the filth too.
As well as the trash, the streets are just ugly. The few trees are not tended, and the pavements are of an ugly concrete, full of holes and weeds and rough surfaces that we must navigate carefully to avoid tripping.
In contrast, Holland is clean and organised. It is far from beautiful Unlike Austria, for example). The houses tend to be of austere dark brick and very functional. Nobody cares much for plants. Pathways are narrow. But all areas are tended. It is clear where pedestrians are supposed to be. There is very little trash. There are plentiful bins (segregated for recycling), and people take the time to use them properly, even for their domestic trash.
Then I made a link between the streets and the people. The Dutch people are clean as well. They are far from elegant and are known for poor dress sense (unlike Spaniards or Italians), but people turn themselves out decently. In Queens, in contrast, folk are often wearing ill-fitting track suits and look like slobs, with unkempt hair and flesh protruding from places where fashion would not indicate. In many cases, their gait is also rather lazy. I have never noticed this before today, but the difference was clear once I made the effort to observe it.
There is plenty of diversity in Holland, though not quite as much as in Queens. Between Amsterdam, Utrecht and Doesburg, I covered old and young, urban and rural and tourist and local. But everywhere people were neater. It helped that a smaller proportion seemed down on their luck or exhausted or physically impaired. In Queens there is sickness, obesity and obvious poverty to deal with.
Is it possible that the issue is Queens rather than the USA generally? I don’t believe it is. I think that all the cities and towns I have visited are similarly run down, dirty, ill-designed and full of people putting little effort into their appearance. If anything, Queens has more energy and less sickness than most places.
I suspect that transportation choices play a role here. More Dutch than US people walk; vastly more cycle; and those that drive use smaller cars. The cities have been designed to reduce car traffic and minimise street parking. There are plentiful green spaces, small and large. The public transport is great and the hubs are a delight to visit. Speed limits are low and are adhered to: that may be due to the efficiency of fines or simply that people are more respectful of each other and fewer are angry. In Holland I got a strong sense that everybody felt a part of a shared environment. In the USA (even more outside New York), the residence and the car are personal fortress and interactions with others are minimal.
Putting all this together, I wonder if what the Dutch have managed to create is something that can be described as civic pride. The local environment that people live in is decent and improving, and people feel motivated to play their part towards progress. There are written and unwritten rules (and the Dutch are not shy about sharing their opinions), but most people comply out of choice and from their own interest. While technology is used extensively to enforce the rules, often it is not really needed. By contrast, the streets in the US are manned by a police force acting more like an armed urban militia than as a community resource.
Civic pride sounds like a woolly sort of goal, but perhaps it can be the key to unlocking a happier and more effective society. It is possible to suggest some policies that could work to engender civic pride.
Urban planning is critical, and the Dutch are world leaders, stemming from their need to house a dense population on land prone to flooding. Utrecht is a good example of a city that has worked step by step to improve living conditions. Decent housing is a constant focus. The ancient centre has been restored intelligently. Transport and zoning initiatives have led to gradual progress over many decades towards a liveable blueprint.
That is for the physical infrastructure. Just as important is the human infrastructure. You cannot go around telling people to look after their environment and dress neatly. But you can work to make sure everybody has a place to live that they can feel pride in and an education to give them a chance of making a fair living. You can ask those with more wealth or salary or a wish for fast cars to contribute a bit more in tax. Well-funded public services can offer help to those with mental health issues.
Politically, have many parties keeps the agenda lively and compromise essential, as well as creating energy among the people and a sense of accountability for politicians. Genuine devolution to a local level is helpful. And a small country with a minority language that is part of the EU has every incentive to learn and to collaborate.
The result may be a country with civic pride, whether in city, town or village. Such a society engenders its people to pull in a common direction to make things better, rather than to hide behind the wheel or an SUV. Holland was the clearest example, but I can see something similar happening in Portugal too. Sadly, what I see in the USA is very different indeed.
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