South Carolina’s most charming city, Charleston, tops a new ‘coolness’ index. But what makes a city qualify as “cool”?
Some cities around the world are known for being hubs for millennials. Cities like Boulder, CO, have long been the top hipster hotspots in America. “This group of people, also known as hipsters, is a subculture of 20-to 30-somethings who position themselves as non-mainstream pioneers; free thinkers and non-conformist conformists” according to University of Oregon’s John Lacey, PhD.
The Creative Urban Institute came up with its list of the coolest small towns in the world. The ranking examined more than 600 cities with populations under 130,000 using 13 main factors: The amount of tech-based startups, festivals and events, coffee shops, microbreweries, high-speed internet providers, farm-to-table shops, mom-and-pop, street art density, instagramability, traffic, higher education, income and rent inflation.
Three American towns made the top 10 list. Truckee, CA, ranks as number nine, Boulder, at number six and Charleston, at number one. “Although Boulder tends to enjoy one of the strongest hipster connections in pop culture, it’s been comfortably beaten by Charleston, which tops the index with a score of 8.737. Its spread of microbreweries, coffee shops, startups, arts events, and, of course, gentrification, is unparalleled.”
The top 10 coolest small towns in the world, according to the “coolness index”, are: 1. Charleston, South Carolina 2. Mullumbimby, Australia 3. Oss, Netherlands 4. Santa Rita do Sapucai, Brazil 5. Chiang Mai, Thailand 6. Boulder, Colorado 7. Leuven, Belgium 8. Tiradentes, Brazil 9. Truckee, California 10. San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.