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A post about the best city I've lived in (so far).

What should a good city provide? Safety? Utilities? Support for business and housing? Decent transit options? Culture? Scenery? All of these and more? Or should it rather lower taxes and keep hands off, because "governments don't do things efficiently anyway"?

Coming up with a wish list for a good city is not trivial. First, people's expectations are shaped by their experiences, and definitions of what is important, even what is good, are subjective. For instance, if someone lived their entire life around terrible roads, they might assume that's a standard everywhere and just accept it. Likewise, if someone had never seen a pothole, they may never consider raising it as a concern. The same can be said for having decent tap water, clean air, you name it. Second, cities are complex, so learning how they differ can be difficult because accounting for all the variables takes time. As such, it is easy to dismiss city features we see during shorter stays due to assumptions that either "it's always been that way" or "it can work only locally, rather than being universal."

Because of these challenges, my wish list for a good city wasn't clear even after a couple of years of moving between places ranging from fewer than 20,000 to over 10 million residents. But the moving continued, making the list and the far-reaching role of cities' management more evident. Then, a decade later, I ended up somewhere that gave me excellent initial impressions, and even after a few years of living there, I am still amazed. Welcome to Leuven.

Still, unveiling the magic formula of what makes a great city is impossible in one sentence or photo. From afar, Leuven's charm is well hidden:

It does not have sea and hills nearby (unlike Dundee), and Leuven's modest riverfront cannot compete with cities with larger rivers, such as Bratislava or London. Those are the characteristics that indeed can't be changed (in a reasonable time). However, many others can be, and that's where Leuven excels. So, let's get closer and focus on what's there to like.

I like cities with landmarks, and Leuven has me covered with a mix of old and new:

There aren't any vivid skylines like in Shanghai, but Leuven has some remarkable older buildings that are well-cared for, like its 15th-century Town Hall.

Landmarks, be it buildings or public art, help form a place's identity, are good meeting spots, and their easy-to-recognize features make navigating the streets easy.

Regarding navigation, Leuven's streets are pedestrian-friendly and well-adapted for cycling; one can get almost anywhere within a 15-minute bike ride.

As such, running errands, exploring, and finding eye-catching corners is a piece of cake.

Then, there is the safety part. The streets are supervised, but not to a point that it would be constraining or over-the-top. I never run into any issues here.

Leuven also has loads of greenery. Easy-to-reach parks make for pleasant places to chill, abundant trees along streets make getting somewhere much nicer, and even rural-like scenes are still within that 15-minute bike ride.

And should one want to escape the city entirely, the local train station offers frequent connections to many places around the country.

The positive features above are not to be taken for granted; however, they are also not unique to Leuven. Many cities are pretty, clean, safe, with accessible amenities, and have developed urban mobility options. Moreover, Leuven is not 100%; the efficiency of the traffic lights and the waste collection method leaves something to be desired. And the strange Belgian attitude toward open-water swimming is sadly here as well. Yet, Leuven takes three steps to offset those downsides, and that's where the magic happens.

1) Active Improvement

As mentioned, city features can feel like something that was there before and can't be changed. But Leuven improves its neighborhoods at a rate that is impossible to ignore. Just during my time here, I've seen streets completely rebuilt to make them better. Here are a few Google street views to illustrate what I mean:

These examples are from before I moved here because the most recent changes have not yet been captured. The city refreshes itself faster than Google updates its coverage. I saw widening sidewalks and bike paths, replacing parking lots with trees and flowers, adding more benches to sit on, and playgrounds for kids to play. Elsewhere, they just added concrete blocks to regulate the traffic to make cars go slower, before they can commit to a more permanent and greener solution. Like the example here:

Some could say that slowing cars and removing parking hinders the mobility praised before, and therefore, it isn't good for a city. I disagree: A) there are other ways to move than driving, and B) staying in a place with fewer and slower cars is significantly quieter and safer for anyone outside the vehicle. So, unless you want to live only indoors with permanently closed windows, regulating car traffic is the way to go. I already wrote about it (e.g., here, here and here), so I won't discuss details in this post.

All this was about existing neighborhoods, but there are also many freshly finished ones, and they look fantastic, too. It is, among others, because they are surrounded by parks.

The parks aren't static, either. Similarly to the improvements of the streets, local parks are getting better with new exercise equipment. One can find pump-tracks, parkour obstacle courses, calisthenics rigs, basketball courts, skate parks... and these facilities motivate participation. How do I know? Because I tried running. Understand, I am not a runner. I hated running in elementary school, and besides occasional sprints to catch a connection, I never did it since. But here, witnessing people enjoying the wood-chip-paved running paths was contagious, and since they are accessible for free, it left me with no excuses. I am still anything but a runner, but experiencing how the city supports people to be active makes me happy. There are also genuinely impressive playgrounds:

2) Events for Everyone

The city invests in events a lot, and what's more, locals can join most of them for free. Since the last category ended with playgrounds, let's pick it up with activities for children that the city organizes. The adverts for lessons or courses I can recall, perhaps because I wish I could access them as a kid, were for dirt jumping, wheelie, tree climbing, and archery. There's a wealth of others, though. Thankfully, I didn't have to be jealous that I was too old to join because the city also organizes activities for other age groups. Sightseeing from a kayak? Yes, please!

With all these options and bikes as preferred transit by many, the majority of residents look noticeably healthier than in some other regions where I lived. But let's stay with events: if I don't want to participate actively, there are many cool sporting events to watch.

During the short time I've been calling Leuven home, there were UCI and WDSF World Championships and multiple WC qualifiers. It allows residents to see many legends in person, just because they live here.

Besides sports, there's culture:

Fancy a rock concert in a medieval square? Or rather, calmer tunes in a garden?

How about an open-air movie screening?

Here's a light festival with projection mappings:

Or, how about acrobatics performances?

Funfair, anyone?

Or maybe get blown away by some electronic bangers at a different square?

The point is, there is always something interesting going on. And since it is free, it is as accessible as it gets. Now, I imagine people who grew up here must read this section like, "grass can be green. Isn't that fantastic? Listen, they have green grass here!" But bear with me. Seeing a city organizing attractive events for folks of different backgrounds to have fun together is not something I am used to. During the last concert I attended, youngsters half my age danced next to a group with grey hair and wrinkled faces, also partying as if there was no tomorrow. Everyone could be themselves. And instead of rifle-wielding guards, there were "care crews" ready to assist if something didn't feel right, and to make it more inclusive, e.g., provide earplugs to those more sensitive to loud music but still wanting to participate. That is a world of difference! Grass can be... You get the message; I cherish it.

3) Supporting Residents

People who want to contribute to making the city a better place to be, both community and environment-wise, have their backs covered. If someone wanted to host a street party for neighbors, the city helped. If someone wanted to replace a concrete bed in their driveway with grass, the city offered to remove the concrete for free. They also gave away free flower seeds for window pots. Still, initiatives also help individuals. There was a subsidized plant sale, a 'picnic day,' when people in parks got locally sourced snacks, and the other day, the city gave a candle to locals who felt lighting one would help them. It might be a small gesture, but if someone has dark times, every little helps. It just goes on.

To conclude, Leuven actively makes its people happier and healthier. What more could you ask from a city?

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Thanks for reading!