[stevesimmons]

I don't buy into this critique at all... I live in two cities in Europe. I like our size of houses. I like not needing to own a car. I like that in both of the cities I live in there are 8 supermarkets within ten minutes walk. I like that I never have to think about healthcare costs. I've never felt the need for air conditioning. And when I see Americans' lives, they seem full of crappy stuff that I have no need for, food that's positively unhealthy. Not to mention guns, etc, etc.

[pjc50]

I think it's valid to question whether and how GDP translates into happiness, but America (as a whole) does just have .. more and bigger.

We will eventually start cottoning on to air conditioning as people realize it's a bidirectional solution that can warm you in the winter. The need is genuinely less than the US as Europe is both further north (New York is the same latitude as Lisbon) and currently benefiting from the Atlantic evening out the temperature.

[soco]

I don't have AC so by the above measurement I'm poor. But I have a heat pump which circulates chilled water through the floors. So which way should we compare now?

[NooneAtAll3]

something I keep failing to understand in Europe is lack of central heating

US has an excuse of suburbia - but what's the deal with compact pedestrian european cities?

[pjc50]

District heating only works if the whole district is built at once with it in mind, it's not really viable to retrofit. And the compact cores were often built before the industrial era.