If everybody had an ocean
Chico would be ideal if it were next to an ocean or other large body of water. My only ongoing rant about my adopted hometown is a seasonal one. By this time of the year, I'm wilting under the 100-degree days and dreading the 80-degree nights we'll be getting in another month.
Civilized life has the best chance of flourishing at temperatures of between about 50 and 80 degrees. What comes to mind is Santa Barbara without the sundowner winds that make it a fire trap or Fort Bragg without the constant fog that makes it depressing.
If extreme global warming were to melt all the ice in the world, the ocean level would rise a couple of hundred feet, putting Chico at the edge of an enormous inland sea. That would be all right, although I would prefer an actual ocean with its distinct tides and turbulent breakers.
More placid bodies of water are too likely to atract boats with outboard motors and water skiiers. I wouldn't want Chico to be next to a supersized version of Clear Lake, a place you go by as quickly as possible on the way to the ocean from Chico.
My idea of a perfect coast line is a blend of sandy beaches and rocky promontories, with trees growing right up to the edge of the cliffs. With such a coast so close to the mountains and Bidwell Park linking the two, Chico's natural setting would be matchless.