St. John’s not great for young people: study

Youthfulcities places St. John’s dead last in Canada in appealing to youth

A recent study outlining how “youthful” Canadian cities are has found St. John’s at the back of the pack when it comes to youth-friendly cities.

The study was released by Youthfulcities — a think tank formed in 2012 that rates cities around the world on their appeal to younger people.

St. John’s ranked dead last in the ranking, with Toronto coming out on top.

According to the survey, 21 per cent of the city is made up of young people and although house rentals are more than $1,000 cheaper than in other major cities, there are a few factors that make St. John’s unappealing to youth.

The survey points to a lacklustre public transit system as one of the problems, with only Moncton, N.B., coming out worse when it comes to public transit.

Environmental concerns are also something the survey raps St. John’s on the knuckles for. The survey says St. John’s has the highest number of vehicles per capita.

The survey suggests a public bike share program is something that could be used to “help reduce St. John’s car dependency.” The survey says high youth unemployment also makes the place less appealing for youth. The survey suggests a dedicated youth employment centre as something that could help spur things along to encourage young people to set down roots.

There are some questionable metrics cited as a reason the city isn’t great for young people.

St. John’s ranks last in food and nightlife across the 13 cities surveyed, despite a vibrant restaurant scene led by places such as Raymonds and Mallard Cottage and a nightlife scene highlighted by George Street, and an expanding Water Street selection, including the Black Sheep.

While the city ranks highly for its music scene, it’s among the bottom of the pack when it comes to creative arts, film, fashion and sports.

The city also does poorly in diversity, according to the survey, lagging behind only Halifax on that metric. The survey suggests offering ballots for voting in municipal elections in more languages than just English as one way to engage with newcomers to the city and help them become engaged in local politics.

St. John’s is also listed as the second most dangerous city, behind only Edmonton, which crime data from Statscan suggests is the least safe city in Canada.

St. John’s does very well when it comes to access to education, with Memorial University’s lower tuition rates helping place St. John’s second on that scale, behind only Moncton.

St. John’s is also second when it comes to access to financial services, with the survey pointing to a high concentration of banks in the city as a good thing.