I have a complicated relationship with the “Coolest Neighbourhoods in the World” list, provided by Time Out magazine. On one hand, such lists are a godsend to dried-out columnists who have bled so much of themselves on the page over the years that they have become empty husks. Communities should be celebrated. People should have a list of places to visit outside the main tourist traps in major cities.
On the other hand, they represent everything that is wrong with our world. According to Time Out, the kind of neighbourhoods that made this year’s list included “homely, village-like enclaves with tight-knit communities to revitalised city-centre hubs and formerly dormant, industrial areas transformed into creati
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