# Which city is the most liberal in the world?



## Matematik (Apr 7, 2012)

Amsterdam is stereotyped as the ultimate liberal city, and that was once true, but conservatism in the Netherlands in general has grown a lot in the past 10 years or so, and Amsterdam as a city is becoming more conservative day by day. I feel it is a city very much trying to tone down its ultra liberal past and reinvent itself as a more refined, historic destination.

Whereas the Dutch were once highly proud of their liberalism, I think they're becoming tired of and starting to find their rep as party central somewhat tedeous.

Likewise, San Francisco is liberal by US standards, but by world standards, I'm not so sure... No doubt the city is definately very liberal, but there is definately an undercurrent of big business conservatism that perhaps isn't so pronounced in other major liberal cities around the world.


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## Chrissib (Feb 9, 2008)

Berlin is very liberal on social issues, but on economic issues very leftist.


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## Robi_damian (Jun 15, 2008)

Deleted.


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## Robi_damian (Jun 15, 2008)

^^ London is very liberal, save the areas with loads of Muslim immigrants (sometimes also E Europeans). Also, Madrid strikes me as very liberal. Tel Aviv would be a third option for me.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

:lock: :lock:

city vs city is not allowed on SSC AFAIK.


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## Pavlemadrid (Nov 30, 2006)

The only ultraliberal "comunidad" of Spain is Madrid.


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## sweet-d (Jul 20, 2010)

Mecca


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## Jay (Oct 7, 2004)

Pavlemadrid said:


> The only ultraliberal "comunidad" of Spain is Madrid.


Barcelona is also very very liberal. 


I would say Amsterdam, and many other western European/Scandanavian cities. 

In North America, Toronto, Vancouver, San Francisco and NYC would be on that list.


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## isaidso (Mar 21, 2007)

Montreal and Amsterdam.


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## SO143 (Feb 11, 2011)

new york and toronto


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## -Corey- (Jul 8, 2005)

San Francisco, New York City, Amsterdam, Toronto, Buenos Aires, Tel Aviv..


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## Dralcoffin (Feb 27, 2010)

Jay said:


> In North America, Toronto, Vancouver, San Francisco and NYC would be on that list.


Boston and Seattle/Portland should be on that list as well.


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## julesstoop (Sep 11, 2002)

Define 'liberal'. I think that's more difficult than denouncing a city as being 'liberal'. 
In the US 'liberal' might, for instance, mean 'not (religiously) conservative at all' whereas in Europe it might mean 'with the least amount of government interference'. Certain states in the US are still struggling with accepting homosexuals and naturally tanned folk as equals, whilst some Europeans might retardedly consider enforcing our 'free' culture upon non western immigrants to be a 'liberal' cause.


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## Bricken Ridge (Feb 16, 2008)

what exactly do you mean by liberal? a "coffee" shop in every corner and being able to smoke pot in public? able to rally without a permit? residents living on welfare and food stamps? a population of mostly atheists? free love and people sleeping with multiple partners? trade unions everywhere? culturally diverse and tolerant? no gun control? free health care? if so, tell me one and I will stay clear.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

In any case, Amsterdam is a city heavily wronged by the "liberal" stereotype as it applies to it. Those disgusting scenes of "De Wallen" (or Red Light District as known in English) are more a circus than a business. I had the city did a good job cleaning parts of the area, and the prevalence of Eastern European and Russian mobs on the sex trade and of North African gangs on drug trade has been attracting attention of law enforcement.

Outside those major areas, Amsterdam is reasonably clean, tidy and free of obnoxious tourists coming on stag parties. But it is also a city of those in the extremes of income distribution: many poor/low income people and many rich households, but far fewer middle class one that have migrated to nearby towns.


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## Kiboko (Nov 30, 2011)

Matematik said:


> Amsterdam is stereotyped as the ultimate liberal city, and that was once true, but conservatism in the Netherlands in general has grown a lot in the past 10 years or so, and Amsterdam as a city is becoming more conservative day by day. I feel it is a city very much trying to tone down its ultra liberal past and reinvent itself as a more refined, historic destination.


Sad, but true. The Netherlands is developing from an open tolerant trading society towards a closed one which is characterized by xenophobia, navel-gazing and misplaced nostalgia. The citizens don’t realize the prosperity of this country depends on interaction and trade relations with other countries. They assume that the wealth is a matter of course so they become very lazy. Meanwhile the position of the Netherlands is overtaken on all fronts by other countries, but instead of taking action the people prefer to put their head in the sand and try to cope the problems by hiding behind newfound nationalist traditions. Unfortunately the country is heading off a cliff, but nobody wants to see that.


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## Dr_Cosmo (Nov 8, 2010)

Jews Stream Back to Germany:
Thousands of Israelis and Diaspora Jews Seek Citizenship - Jewish Daily


Quote:
Berlin’s Jewish population jumped in 2008 to an estimated 50,000 from 6,000 in 1990, amid an overall population today of 3.4 million. The surge in Jewish population reflects, in part, a huge influx of Russian Jews. Many of them have at best a weak sense of Jewish identity thanks to the long Soviet era, during which this was suppressed. But an estimated 15,000 Israelis reside in Berlin, drawn there to work and study, and to enjoy the city’s freedom, cheap rents and exciting intellectual life. For these mostly younger Jews, the experiences of their grandparents and great-grandparents seem a distant trauma. *“I fell in love with Berlin, its freedom, its great space”* said Maya Nathan, a 33-year-old Israeli student with a German passport.


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## AdelJaber (Mar 30, 2012)

Tel Aviv is definitely one of the most liberal cities in the world. Aside from all the other usual criteria for being considered "liberal" (gay friendly, environmentally friendly, etc), it's probably one of the few cities in the Western world that feels somewhat anarchic (and I mean "anarchy" in the most positive sense of the word)


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## erka (Apr 26, 2003)

This must be Beyrouth, Tripoli or Monrovia (Lebanon, Libya or Liberia). As long as you don't define liberal this thread is city vs city and therefore nonsense.


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## hoosier (Apr 11, 2007)

Bricken Ridge said:


> what exactly do you mean by liberal? a "coffee" shop in every corner and being able to smoke pot in public? able to rally without a permit? residents living on welfare and food stamps? a population of mostly atheists? free love and people sleeping with multiple partners? trade unions everywhere? culturally diverse and tolerant? no gun control? free health care? if so, tell me one and I will stay clear.


THE HORROR!!! Equality, healthcare available to those who need it, and strong workers' rights to retard the abuses of corporate overlords.

I would much rather live in a city where everyone owns a gun, minorities, gays, and atheists are persecuted, the air and water are dirty (because regulations are liberal), and the poor have no healthcare and live on the streets until they die.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

^^ Most of the things you cited are not a responsibility of city governments in most of the developed World, but of higher or national legislative/regulatory bodies.


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## Taller Better (Aug 27, 2005)

Suburbanist said:


> :lock: :lock:
> 
> city vs city is not allowed on SSC AFAIK.


Indeed. This thread has come up in the past and always leads to squabbling.


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