Over the past year, our lives have changed. A lot. The pandemic hit us hard and it influenced every possible aspect of the way we live, behave, interact with others. And it impacted our housing needs. Especially those living in the city will know that spending a lockdown in a tiny apartment, lacking green, light and air, isn’t exactly a very joyful experience. Therefore, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that people have been feeling the urge to move to bigger places, preferably with an outdoor space and a bit of quiet. After all, once you have to start doing everything at home, your needs change.
All of that means our perception has changed too. We look different at things now than we did a year and a half ago. And while city life might still seem appealing to a lot of people, we do have other demands. When looking for a place to live, suddenly, we’re very aware of the fact that that street is very noisy during daytime. And whereas before we were willing to take public transport to reach a park, we now want one just on our doorstep, because well, you never know when lockdown might be back.
Green, calm and local
Just like every year, Time Out polled city-dwellers all over the world to find out which are currently the coolest neighborhoods in the world. 27.000 of them gave their opinion, resulting in a list with no less than 49 neighborhoods (https://www.timeout.com/coolest-neighbourhoods-in-the-world) all over the place. And after all we’ve just been talking about, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that most of them are pretty green and laid-back. People are clearly looking for some peace in the city.
And according to Time Out, Nørrebro in Copenhagen clearly has it all. “However you define ‘cool’, Nørrebro has it. This diverse district, on the northern side of Copenhagen’s lakes, is a dazzling blend of historic landmarks, ultramodern architecture and food and drink joints to make this famously gourmet city proud”, Time Out’s journalist Sorcha McCrory writes. So if you’re looking for a new place to live or simply searching where to go for your next holiday, look no further. The top three is completed with Andersonville in Chicago and Jongno 3-ga in Seoul.
