My family lives in the US, I have lived my childhood there, as well as a good portion of my adulthood.
I know very well what kind of problems the US has, but I think a lot of US people have a very naïve view of Europe ("ah they just solved X, Y, Z there") when in reality nothing comes for free (and I don't mean money). Similarly, a lot of europeans have a very naïve view of Europe as well, pretty much by the same argument. They just do not realize the difference for the median person in the standard of living, they always concentrate on the same old tropes -- "but what about the poor, what about public transport, what about healthcare". Yeah, what about them? And what about the not-so-poor? Why is it that just mentioning these things, that allegedly Europe does better at, why is it that we can't consider anything else? A discussion about liveable cities should involve, well, standards of living.
Because honestly, on a societal level, why should we give a damn about the not-so-poor? Why optimize for the extreme that's already comfortable? Why not concentrate on the average case and on making the other extreme less awful? Who gives a shit if the rich can't buy a third sports car?
I know very well what kind of problems the US has, but I think a lot of US people have a very naïve view of Europe ("ah they just solved X, Y, Z there") when in reality nothing comes for free (and I don't mean money). Similarly, a lot of europeans have a very naïve view of Europe as well, pretty much by the same argument. They just do not realize the difference for the median person in the standard of living, they always concentrate on the same old tropes -- "but what about the poor, what about public transport, what about healthcare". Yeah, what about them? And what about the not-so-poor? Why is it that just mentioning these things, that allegedly Europe does better at, why is it that we can't consider anything else? A discussion about liveable cities should involve, well, standards of living.