
Happiness is a place called Charlottesville, Virginia - user982
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/27/happiness-place-called-charlottesville-virginia
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joveian
Near Charlottesville is one of the oldest (50 years) secular intentional
communities in the US, Twin Oaks [0]. And several others these days, including
a few trying to get started in Charlottesville. While Twin Oaks is not right
out side the city, Charlottesville is the closest larger city (amusing to see
it called a "big city" in the article :/) and some people find the rural
community isn't quite right for them and move to the city. While the city is
large enough for that to not have a much direct impact, it is small enough
that I suspect over the decades it has helped encourage a more community
minded approach.

Twin Oaks is an egalitarian (income sharing) community part of the Federation
of Egalitarian Communities [1]. There are quite a few other communities around
the US and the world as well [2]. The Seattle area also has quite a few
communities.

[0] [http://www.twinoaks.org/](http://www.twinoaks.org/)

[1] [http://www.thefec.org/](http://www.thefec.org/)

[2] [http://www.ic.org/directory/](http://www.ic.org/directory/)

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i_am_nomad
Ignoring the obvious link to current events: Charlottesville also has a lot of
wealth per capita. That kind of thing correlates strongnly with happiness.

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divbit
Hrmrmrmmmmmrm..... saw this on le reddit today about Charlottesville:

[https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/12/virginia-
uni...](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/12/virginia-unite-the-
right-rally-protest-violence)

"He said that they would not back down fr" ... article starts to get pretty
scary about here...

... side note ... I feel like my comment is at least semi-appropriate response
to this article (sans rhetorical styling), and yet feels a bit off-topic for
the website. I wonder if one could parse the site and split into 'social
articles' and 'tech articles' with some textual analysis / browser extension-y
magic..

to continue my point, I'm sure Charlottesville is usually a decent place, but
maybe needs a diversity education program or something before it is a /really/
nice place, idk.

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gremlinsinc
Provo/Orem has long been high on the happy cities lists..I really enjoy Utah,
sometimes it's not as progressive as I'd like politically but if you can get
past the 'red state' thing it's pretty nice. The people are nice'ish, lots of
Tech companies moving here left and right, beautiful landscapes, tons of
outdoor activities and things to do in the mountains...

Also read a study that introverts do better emotionally surrounded by
mountains than not.. (I'm originally from Dayton OH, which I remember as a
good place growing up but lived there from 2008 - 2014 and it's become a real
cesspool).

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thesmallestcat
SLC/Provo looks great but the inversion keeps me away.

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lancequid
Is this a vile attempt at irony given the deaths and injuries in
Charlottesville today?

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user982
Yes.

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DrScump
(July 2014)

