S.F. on list of best places to live
‘Outside’ magazine cites hometown for progress
Outside magazine has once again singled out its hometown in its annual “Best Places to Live” issue, this time naming Santa Fe as one of the country’s smartest towns for investment in adventure sports assets.
“This isn’t homerism or pride,” said Nicholas Hunt, assistant editor of the Santa Fe-based outdoor lifestyle magazine. “Santa Fe is worthy of the list.”
The publication cited the city’s use of its natural resources to boost the local economy and attract adventureloving residents for its ranking. The issue that hits newsstands this week lists Santa Fe along with, in no particular order, Reno, Nev.; Crosby, Mont.; and Bentonville, Ark.
Santa Fe has frequently appeared in previous town rankings by Outside, although its presence on the list has been spotty over the years.
In 2017, Outside recommended Santa Fe as one of the 25 best cities to live in the United States, but the New Mexico capital had failed to appear on the magazine’s best towns list for five years after 2012.
“We don’t want our readers to feel like we’re shoving Santa Fe down their throats,” Hunt said Monday. “We don’t typically try to have the same towns. Obviously the best town one year isn’t going to suck the next.”
Beyond avoiding favoritism, Hunt said the magazine each year used different criteria and experts to spread out the types of towns highlighted. For this year’s best town rankings, Outside looked at “six habits of
highly successful cities,” including urban renewal, waterfront revitalization, natural resource exploits, craft breweries, spread out suburbs and technology hubs with outdoor areas.
“I do feel that Santa Fe is changing and growing younger and more diverse and embracing its outdoors,” Hunt said. “Santa Fe exemplified so many of the trends we looked at.”
The editor said that while Santa Fe was recognized for a focus on creating an adventure-friendly lifestyle, the city was strong in categories including craft breweries, urban renewal such as its redevelopment of the Santa Fe Railyard and bringing technology hubs and the outdoors together, including the new Descartes Labs headquarters. In the end, Hunt said the thread linking these trends is focusing on a proactive view for a town.
Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber said this
article is just one form of recognition for the way Santa Fe is making a mark.
“A lot of the things they highlighted in other cities, we’re doing here,” Webber said. “When you stop and see what others say about us, it should remind us … the shape of the land is an amazing part of Santa Fe.”
As he advocates for increased trail renovations and physical activities programs, Webber said continuing to focus on adventure sports and nature-inspired tourism assets is important.
“We really need to focus on what makes our environment so special,” Webber said. “A sound ecology, a sound environment is also an important part of a sound economy.”