As a Kiwi I either shouldn’t say this or I am already living there:D but I love Sydney. I would live there if it wasn’t full of Aussies (I joke, I joke).
Melbourne is way to hot in summer and way too cold in winter, but it is a beautiful place.
I found Brissy far too hot but also not very different from here…in other words far too “kiwi-like” (ok you can shoot me now). Of course that could be because Brisbane/Gold Coast is where Kiwis go to retire. Brisbane is Kiwis Florida 
Des Moines, Iowa: Although I think it’s too small to be considered a major city. Either way, it’s too boring.
Kansas City, Missouri: Oh, wait. I already live here. But once I manage to leave, I’m never coming back.
Los Angeles, California: Seems too polluted and crowded for my tastes. I wouldn’t mind visiting.
Orlando or Miami, Florida: Too humid and hot.
I would love to live in a city where you don’t HAVE to own a car, or you rarely use your car because the city has good public transportation or it’s easy to bike around in. A city where you don’t have to travel twenty to thirty minutes around for something good. All the good stuff in Kansas City is on the Kansas side. Missouri blows.
I hate hate hate L.A., but if circumstances required it, I would grit my teeth and make the most of it.
But you’d have to put a gun to my head to live in Houston. And probably pull the trigger, because only brain damage would induce me to make the move.
Of course by the time anything interesting happens here, I’ll be long gone. I think the best thing about Baton Rouge is that it’s only an hour from New Orleans. 
I stick by defending my home town of Tampa. The humidity/heat is worse here in BR. We don’t have the “ocean breeze.” Traffic in Tampa is definitely manageable (heaven, in fact) compared to the traffic here. And it seems, to me anyway, that Tampa has more going on. Gasparilla, great hockey, Cuban food, museums, a nice downtown area, Ybor City, a surprisingly interesting music scene (for blues fans). Of course you could also say Baton Rouge has Mardi Gras, great football, and Cajun food… but still. I don’t feel like I fit here.
Los Angeles would be the first city that comes to most people’s minds in this regard, but even here there are some neighborhoods that are very walkable. Still, if you were to just randomly pick any place in the city limits, chances are you’d be in a car-dependent neighborhood.
Ain’t it the truth. There are no major cities that I know of where I would live. If you know of any that have low crime rates, very little traffic, good but distant neighbors, no horns honking, drive bys, ambulances and things that make every city I’ve been to just too damned LOUD. Plus, right now I’m sitting here in the woods, perfectly quiet right now except for a little thunder and cool rain hitting the deck. Raindrops splashing in the pond and squirrels running for cover. Clouds rollin’ overhead. Pretty cool IMHO.
There are some nice cities to visit but LIVE. Man, that’s not living. Not for me anyway. Ditto “to each his own”.
t-keela, you might enjoy Iowa, where the largest city is Des Moines (which isn’t that large anyway). Iowa City is rather nice, but it’s a major college town. I’ve never lived there, only visited quite a bit because my sister lives there. Depending on where you live, you might hear a lot of ambulences because of the university hospital. And you might get stuck in a party neighborhood. But from what I’ve seen, it’s a friendly beautiful town where most people ride bikes to get everywhere.
Personally, I would never live in Iowa because it’s too small for my tastes (I love big cities), as well as too Mid-Western. But those looking for a more laid-back enviroment might like it.
Rabid Child I forgot to add. I don’t like the cold very much. The heat doesn’t bother me too much, but long winters are just too much. Why?
One winter in the Northern Rockies at high altitudes will get you there.
BTW My son just got back from Iowa. He’s an eagle scout and they attended a Grass Dance Festival there last month.
Hey, the OP said MAJOR cities. I can think of a few minor cities I might be able to tolerate for awhile. I could probably deal with San Antonio better’n any I can think of though. Lot’s of history and places to see OTHER than the tourista b.s.
Foods pretty good too. Close enough to slip into Mexico real quick. Pickup some tequila and a pretty senorita for the evening. Listen to a mariachi on the square. Some fresh grilled cabrito and a clean adobe w/ a balconi view on the plaza. Yeah I could do that for awhile.
Not exactly what y’all’d call city livin though is it? 
New Orleans was cool for a few month’s but it is the same old grind everyday. Too ffin loud, goddamned coonasses. Yelling all the time. God knows I love’em Hell I’m kin to some, but 24/7? No way in HELL.
and dozens more I could name. NwiH
Columbis, Ohio: it’s flat, ugly, and boring. Well, some of the residential neighborhoods are attractive, but it seems like a really big suburb, filled with strip malls and a creepy number of billboards for sex stores and strip clubs. What is up with that? I work in a horrible bland suburb of Chicago, and that’s what Columbus is like, on a much larger scale.
Mexico City: I LOVE Mexico City. I’m going there on Thursday, as a matter of fact! It’s, you know, completely fucked up, but it’s fascinating and colorful and it never stops going. It’s like New York on LSD.
Mexico City: dirty and polluted and downright dangerous to your health.
Moscow: Gray and depressing, even post communist
Cairo: See “Mexico City”, or, as a friend described it, “Moscow with flies”.
Anyplace in Texas: Hate Texas and Texans. Too hot, too buggy, too snaky, and that’s just the women.
Tokyo: Congestion like the worst head cold you’ve ever had. Traffic from hell. Teeny tiny apartment living. $50 watermelons.
Phoenix: jesus christ with an air conditioner, what the hell were those people thinking?
Oh yeah. I was thinking only US before.
Tel Aviv. Damn, is that an ugly city. When I lived in Jerusalem I went down to Tel Aviv one day to do some shopping and sightseeing I can’t even say how glad I was to get back to J’lem at the end of the day. It was like, a jillion degrees with a jillion percent humidity and all of the buildings are made of concrete. Nice!
The Mediterranean is nice though. And the downside of living in J’lem is that everyone there is insane. Oh well, at least it’s not an ugly pit.
Damn dude…WTF happened to you that you’d just fuckoff a whole state full of folks from every walk of life and lifestyle you can imagine. It’s not all one color and kind down here ya know.
Just because I don’t like lots of people at one time doesn’t mean I don’t like people. Kinda like cold winters, I just don’t like LONG cold winters Or digging ten feet of snow from in front of the house. That doesn’t mean Alaskans are fucked up. They just appreciate the differences. Granted there are a lot of folks down here that are fucked up. But that’s everywhere nowadays.
Ah well, I guess you can’t love everybody, hmm? Maybe we can get our next President to invade them ignorant rednecks. It’s their fault the world’s in all this shit. Goddamned Texicans…and that ffing Bush. I hate ALL them SOB’s.
Damn, I feel better now. How 'bout you Chefguy. regards, t/k
Just wondering: why is it necessary to include the people in your hatred? That’s a pretty hateful attitude.
Detroit <shudders>.
Please understand that I was born in Manhattan and grew up in the Bronx during the worst years, from 1965 until I left for college in Boston in 1982. I saw the graffiti, had necklaces snatched, saw the buildings burn, saw homelessness spread, saw the garbage, had the heat turned down to 55 degrees in my school, had my Dad attacked by racists in his school in Bed-Stuy, the works.
Two years ago we went to my cousin’s wedding in Bloomfield Hills, MI, and took a side trip to Detroit.
It scared and depressed the hell out of me.
ATLANTA
Can you people spread out into the hinderlands even more? Seems like suburbs full of small town white folks that fear the minorities (gays, blacks, latinos) in the city. Can you really be a major city if you can’t even drink alcohol at Sunday brunch?
ORLANDO
“Welcome to Orlando, please lower your intelligence at the city limits.” “Orlando, Home of the world’s biggest…”(insert whatever you like here, they seem to all over the billboards in the city) Does this city have a sign code at all? The religious right looks like it is making this city its new headquarters. Scarey!
Detroit, for the omnipresent urban blight. At least Rust Belt cities like Cleveland, Buffalo and Pittsburgh still have vibrant, healthy inner city neighborhoods; slums are the exception, not the rule.
Most cities in the deep South - Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama. They’re hard on the eyes, with sign regulations that allow anything and everything.
Most citiies in Texas, except Austin and maybe some parts of the DFW metroplex - again, anything-goes sign regulations, and in Houston’s case, no zoning whatsoever. El Paso, Amarillo and Houston are the ugliest of the ugly, IMHO.
Here are some images of Amarillo I took during a road trip through there last year. Texans seem to like their high-rise signs and billboards, and they like 'em BIG.
Salt Lake City - Really, it’s the omnipresent Mormon culture. US cities that are dominated by one religion, with conservative practitioners at that (SLC, Buffalo, many Southern cities, Colorado Springs) are something of a turn-off.
Winnipeg - Can’t leave the Canadians out.
Houston and Dallas - too sprawling, too hot
L.A. - too much smog, too spread out, too much emphasis on superficial qualities
New Orleans or Baton Rouge - too hot
Seattle - too rainy
Detroit - too ugly
Orlando - too fake
Chicago - too hot in summer, too cold in winter. Disgustingly filthy lake.
Any of these might be okay to visit for a short time, but I’d not want to live there.
Youngstown, OH (ok, not a major city, but awful enough that it has enough nastyness to fill a really big city anyway)
Detroit
Brussel
Best places: Charleston, SC Tampa, FL.
Finding Pittsburgh more liveable by the day (Maybe I’m just getting numb)
It takes quite a bit to make me dislike a place, but I’d avoid Denver, given any choice. It’s been a long time since I’ve been there, and things may have changed, but the place was ugly, smelly, and smoggy. The people seemed to be cold and impolite, while lacking any sense of urgency.
On the other hand, you’ll get me to leave Boston when you show me a place that’s exactly like Boston, with better weather and no racism.
I would not want to live in Chicago. Last time I went up there, we stupidly got up there around rush hour. We were stuck in a traffic jam that went from freaking Joliet all the way to the city proper. I think we were at a standstill for about an hour and a half. Then when we finally started moving, it took us nearly two more hours to get into the city. Granted, we went up so I could run the Chicago marathon, so there were probably, what? 50,000 extra people in the city, not including the people who drove up not to run, but for the spectacle. Either way, that totally turned me off ever, ever, ever living in Chicago.
Oh, yeah, and the weather changes. The day before the marathon at 5 p.m. it was nice and warm - about 70 degrees. Then a big wind blew up, and two hours later it was only 40 degrees. The morning of the marathon, it didn’t get above 35 degrees until around 9 a.m. when I’d already been running for two hours in my short and T-shirt (I didn’t come prepared very well). It stayed that cold until well after we had left. It was absolutely miserable.