Ask HN: Raising Kids in the City? Where?

Re:Ask HN: Raising Kids in the City? Where? by toomuchtodo on Wednesday April 23, 2025 @04:33PM (#43776356)

Have you considered Barcelona? It is, arguably, one of the most kid friendly cities in Europe and is very pedestrian friendly. If your employment or financial arrangement can support it, it is hard to beat (imho). Spain has a digital nomad visa, renewed one year at a time unless you apply from in country while on the tourist visa (within the 90 day visa), in which case it is a three year term (with one renewal before able to apply for permanent residency at five years).

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Re:Ask HN: Raising Kids in the City? Where? by damnitbuilds on Wednesday April 23, 2025 @05:02PM (#43776591)

Barcelona has some pedestrian areas but to call it "very pedestrian friendly" when it is mostly small blocks divided by busy roads is a stretch.

And I fear its anti-tourist movement is really an anti-foreigner movement.

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Re:Ask HN: Raising Kids in the City? Where? by toomuchtodo on Wednesday April 23, 2025 @05:05PM (#43776609)

https://www.sidewalkchorus.com/p/barcelona

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Re:Ask HN: Raising Kids in the City? Where? by damnitbuilds on Thursday April 24, 2025 @02:09AM (#43779754)

Ah yes, the planners' great idea of mixing cars and people on the same street.

I don't know why we wasted all that money on totally unnecessary sidewalks and bike paths.

Oh yes: It. Does. Not. Work. For. Pedestrians.

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Re:Ask HN: Raising Kids in the City? Where? by toomuchtodo on Thursday April 24, 2025 @09:51AM (#43782820)

Has not been my experience with two children under 10. YMMV. I would pay much more than I pay today for the walkable and bicycling I’m able to have when in BCN (vs say, Chicago).

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Re:Ask HN: Raising Kids in the City? Where? by damnitbuilds on Thursday April 24, 2025 @11:26AM (#43783924)

You trust the lives of your under-10s to the good behavior of cars driving down your street?

I would not do that.

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Re:Ask HN: Raising Kids in the City? Where? by toomuchtodo on Thursday April 24, 2025 @02:50PM (#43786106)

In Barcelona? I do, and have never had a problem like I had in the US where I was afraid someone wasn't paying attention and was going to hit them (with multiple near misses). Call it urban planning, call it people in a European city taking more care, whatever the root cause, that is my anecdotal observation. You can always compare vehicular pedestrian deaths in the US to those in Europe if you're looking for something more data driven.

Exactly How Far U.S. Street Safety Has Fallen Behind Europe, in Three Bombshell Charts - https://usa.streetsblog.org/2020/10/10/exactly-how-far-u-s-s... - October 10, 2020

Trends in pedestrian fatalities per capita [graphic] - https://lede-admin.usa.streetsblog.org/wp-content/uploads/si...

Shifting Gears: How Driving Cultures Influence Pedestrian Safety Across Continents - https://medium.com/@noamaital/shifting-gears-how-driving-cul... - Jan 8, 2024

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Re:Ask HN: Raising Kids in the City? Where? by damnitbuilds on Friday April 25, 2025 @03:01AM (#43790961)

We are not discussing general accident figures on normal streets.

We are discussing the comment you replied to: "the planners' great idea of mixing cars and people on the same street." which was in reply to a link discussing that idea.

And you wrote that you thought that was safe for 10-year-olds. Which it is not. A street with pedestrians and cars on it is called a "street" and is not a safe place for any pedestrian, let alone a 10-year-old. Which makes it a stupid, dangerous idea, but one that is cheap for the planners to implement, hence its popularity.

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Re:Ask HN: Raising Kids in the City? Where? by schnitzelstoat on Thursday April 24, 2025 @09:38AM (#43782638)

I live in BCN and just had a kid but I want to move out of the city to be able to have a car.

It's been quite stressful relying on public transport to have to take the baby to medical appointments etc. and when the child is older there is no public transport to the nearby castles, calas etc. that you might want to visit.

The city is also quite dirty and there is a growing homeless problem, some areas of the city like El Raval are downright dangerous too.

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