Cleanliness in world cities

[bhchao]

What do you think are the world's cleanest and dirtiest cities, based on your travelling and living experience?

Here are the cleanest based on my experience:

1. San Francisco - except for Tenderloin District, Chinatown. Clean areas include the Embarcadero, North Beach, and parts of Fisherman's Wharf. Area north of Golden Gate Bridge heading into Marin County is very scenic and exceptionally clean, like Sausalito.

2. Hong Kong - It's been a while since I last been in Hong Kong in '84. But I still remember the city being very clean, especially the subways. Assume it is still the same now. Also you have the laws today prohibiting spitting on the ground.

Dirty cities:

1. Taipei - Based on my recollections, horrible traffic congestion, air pollution, and occassional dog excrements lying on the ground in the area in Taipei where I used to live. I remember 天母 however being much cleaner than other areas in Taipei. Also the area surrounding the American Club and the Grand Hotel is exceptionally well-kept.

2. New York - I can't imagine New Yorkers being able to live in such a great city and yet tolerate the garbage that can be seen overflowing from trash cans. In New York, garbage cans are put on the sidewalk in front of buildings. The condition in my opinion is worst in the Lower East Side, Chinatown, and Midtown West from 7th and 9th Avenue between 38th and 49th Streets. Even Greenwich Village has its foul smells depending on which residential area you are in. Flushing is quite dirty too.

Some of the cleanest areas are South Street Seaport, Financial District, Fifth and Park Avenues, and the Upper East Side (especially in the shopping areas on Madison, Park, and Lexington Avenue). Gramercy Park is also very tidy.

I heard Tokyo is an extremely clean city despite its high population density. Heard a lot of negative comments on Mexico City.

Vancouver is supposedly quite clean too.

[Ian_Lee]

Actually city cleanliness is directly related to the homelessness problem. Since Hong Kong doesn't have a homelessness problem (all those beggars are actually professional beggars that are from outside of Hong Kong), so cleanliness can be upheld.

Of course, pollution is a problem. But that is also from outside of the territory which is not under government's control.

MTR is still clean -- but not the cleanest. If you have a chance to hop on the KCR -- West Rail section, the station, platform, train compartment is spotlessly clean. Right after you use the bathroom, a worker will go inside and clean it -- even more frequent than the bathroom in the HK airport (which is rated the best in the world).

When I was a kid, I hesitated to use the bathroom outside of my home. But now I leisurely use them when I have the need.

Other than Singapore, not too many predominantly Chinese city can achieve that sanitary standard.

[roddy]

Actually city cleanliness is directly related to the homelessness problem

Really? How do the homeless afford to produce all that rubbish?

[Song You Shen]

1. San Francisco - except for Tenderloin District, Chinatown. Clean areas include the Embarcadero, North Beach, and parts of Fisherman's Wharf. Area north of Golden Gate Bridge heading into Marin County is very scenic and exceptionally clean, like Sausalito.

Well, I live in Marin County and work in San Francisco. I agree that Marin County is pretty clean, and parts of San Francisco is pretty clean, but San Francisco is not nearly as clean as Seoul, Korea was when I was there (a year ago). Also, there are parts of the Philippines that are extremely clean, like Makati and Bagiou (located near Manila). Many places in Japan are squeeky clean as well. But I'm sure there are other places that top the cleanliness list... I just haven't been to those places yet.

Youshen

[Ian_Lee]

Roddy:

Do you notice how those homeless accumulate all those garbages?

They took the garbages from the garbage can, then wrapped them up into numerous plastic bags, and then loaded them all onto the shopping wagons taken from the supermarket.

And somehow a few days afterwards they "dispersed" them all around -- definitely not properly into the garbage cans.

And in all North American cities, the filthy smell of urine -- by the homeless -- pollute the air in downtown streets at the night time.

Anyway, I don't know about the homelessness problem in London. But London is very dirty IMO.

[skylee]

When I was a kid, I hesitated to use the bathroom outside of my home. But now I leisurely use them when I have the need.

I like the word "leisurely" here ...

[百變星君]

Yeah, I'd like to know which are the most polluted or least polluted cities. I lived in Los Angeles for awhile, which has a bad reputation for pollution, but it's actually much better than its reputation insists. On the other hand, Beijing is supposed to be much cleaner now because of the preparations for the 2008 olympics, but the air in Beijing can get really really dirty sometimes, and the waterways are downright disgusting. I do see improvements, but there's still a long way to go. I just hope that they really do get this city cleaned up before the whole world descends on it in 2008.

I'd really like to know more about pollution in chinese cities. For instance, which cities are the cleanest? The dirtiest? I certainly don't want to sound like I'm bashing China for it's pollution record, though. It seems to me that pollution is just one of many hard to avoid "growing pains," that China has to go through right now.

The dirtiest city I've seen in China would have to be Datong, a coal mining center in Shanxi. I think Qingdao in Shandong is one of the cleanest cities I've seen in China, but the most surprising was this "little" city called Mianyang (http://www.mianyang.gov.cn/) I stopped by in Sichuan (It's right near Chengdu). Mianyang is squeeky clean!

Still, it's hard to get a "clear" picture of all this.

[bhchao]

And in all North American cities, the filthy smell of urine -- by the homeless -- pollute the air in downtown streets at the night time.

Well I was walking at night once between 8th and 9th Avenue on 21st Street in Manhattan, and saw a guy jump out of his car and urinate by the sidewalk while talking on his cellphone. I was flabbergasted by the theatrical show.

I don't think the homeless should be held responsible for most of the dirtiness found in many cities, although they have their share of contributing to the mess. It probably has more to do with the lifestyle and quality of life habits of the city's residents.

I think affluence is more directly tied to an area's cleanliness. For example the Upper West and East Sides of Manhattan are one of the cleanest areas in the city, especially those brownstone residential areas from 62nd to 86th Streets on the Upper West Side. You hardly find homeless in these enclaves. One of my favorite places to dine with my friends whenever I visit NY is Amsterdam Ave because of the area's cleanliness.

On the other hand Chinatown and the area directly below Canal Street are very dirty, but do not seem to have a homelessness problem.

Probably a good solution would be to have cities pay homeless people to clean up trash. That way you kill two birds with one stone by alleviating both the homelessness problem and the cleanliness issue. To complement that, impose fines on people caught littering. By cracking down on quality of life nuisances, a city's cleanliness can be upheld in the same standard as Singapore and Hong Kong's

Pardon if this is a dumb question, but what happens if someone is caught weeing on the streets in Hong Kong? What's the penalty?

I think Qingdao in Shandong is one of the cleanest cities I've seen in China

Love to visit Qingdao and Dalian in the future.

[skylee]

Pardon if this is a dumb question, but what happens if someone is caught weeing on the streets in Hong Kong? What's the penalty?

I found this on the internet -

閉路電視成功捉後巷小便

民政事務總署自2003年12月起，在旺角洗衣街及花園街的後巷裝設了閉路電視監察系統，監視衛生情況。監察人員在檢視錄影帶時，發現經常有人在該後巷小便，食環署人員遂在該處加緊巡視。結果發現兩名男子在旺角洗衣街及花園街的後巷隨地小便，乃採取突擊行動，即場拘捕兩人。但拍得片段，並非用作呈堂證供。

涉案兩名男子在北九龍裁判法院認罪，各被判罰款1500元。

根據《公眾潔淨及防止妨擾規例》，任何人士在公眾地方大、小便均屬違法，初犯最高可被罰款五千，再犯更可被罰款一萬。2003年至2004年4月共有50宗在公眾地方小便檢控個案。

資料來源：蘋果日報2004/5/28

[wix]

bhchao, you have obviously never been to India!!!

[paul62tiger]

not been to too many places but bangkok is dirty, smelly and nasty.

Car fumes make the air unbreathable and the streets are full of rubbish.

For a land of smiles some of the people are a bit off too.

[Ian_Lee]

Actually the sanitary in Old Delhi is awful (New Delhi is a little bit better).

I recalled that in the '80s when I took a tour there, my wife was dressed in a bright color skirt. When we got off the toru bus in some sections in old Delhi, suddenly I found there was a big dark spot on the back of her skirt. When I came closer, I found out that was a cluster of dozens of flies!

And in the moning when we were on the tour bus, we found out a "fabulous view" that there were many guys taking off their trousers, squatting on the sidewalks with their butts facing outward. What were they doing? They were doing what should have been performed in the toilets!

[Jose]

This reminds me of an article I recently read in the BBC News website. Apparently, the Indian government wants to eradicate such "open defecation" habits by 2010. They've begun by targeting politicians!

This is the article -> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4742929.stm

An extract for those in Mainland China:

Village council candidates in India should be allowed to stand for election only if they have a toilet at home, the rural development minister says.

In a letter to all chief ministers, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said the toilet rule should be set out in law.

He said too many elected members "do not have toilet facilities in their own houses and defecate in the open".

Mr Singh said this activity was the main cause of the high incidence of diarrhoea in rural areas.

'Change behaviour'

Mr Singh told the BBC that more than 65% of India's rural population defecated in the open, along roadsides, railway tracks and fields, generating huge amounts of excrement every day.

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