Not much has changed since the last time I reported on the Liveability report from The Economist Intelligence Unit in 2007. Vancouver is still the best place to live overall according to the 2009 ranking:
Vancouver, Canada
Vienna, Austria
Melbourne, Australia
Toronto, Canada
Perth, Australia
Calgary, Canada
Helsinki, Finland
Geneva, Switzerland
Sydney, Australia
Zurich, Switzerland
I’m finding the Mercer’s 2009 Quality of Living survey much more useful as it provides a special ranking for hubs with the best infrastructure. Note that Mercer’ survey is meant to be used as a comparison tool to determine compensation packages for companies with personnel abroad. Yet, as usual, it is fun to make a list of the cities where you would want to live next, right?
Here are the Top 5 cities in each region, according to the Mercer survey:
Americas
Asia Pacific
Europe
Middle East & Africa
Vancouver
Auckland
Vienna
Dubai
Toronto
Sydney
Zurich
Port Louis
Ottawa
Wellington
Geneva
Abu Dhabi
Montreal
Melbourne
Dusseldorf
Cape Town
Calgary
Perth
Munich
Port Elizabeth
I owe a big apology to all my loyal readers for keeping you in the dark over the last 3 months. Since my last post I travelled to Mexico twice, shared the stage in San Francisco with some of the authorities on the “geoweb”, travelled to Corsica, the French Riviera, Lake Como, St. Moritz; and managed to launch PlanetEye.com where I lead the Technology team. Intense to say the least. But the most recent issue of Monocle has me burning the proverbial midnight oil and finding energy to start posting regularly again. Thanks for your comments while I was away.
The Monocle Global Quality of Life Index may one day graduate to adopt a scientific methodology that considers a larger spectrum of cities around the world, but I’m happy to settle for their current coverage and play the my-city-is-better-than-yours game, using the tidbits of quick facts they’ve compiled. For those who don’t buy the magazine here are the top 10 cities:
Copenhagen, Denmark
Good looks, brains, perfect proportions, a sunny disposition and a sense of humour are always a winning combination…
Munich, Germany
It combines a strong economy with rich cultural offerings. The city’s workforce is highly [...]
I’m sure is not because Monocle released their most liveable cities report just a month ago, but now is The Economist releasing their Liveability rankings with the article Where the grass is greener. While Monocle’s report came in the form of a wonderful edition, perfectly written and documented, the Economist Intelligence Unit barely delivers a table with the rankings without much analysis behind. True, Monocle used criteria such “fair balance of sunny and warm days” and “availability of drinks after hours”, but the overall delivery convinced. According to The Economist
The survey takes over 40 factors into consideration which are weighted across five different categories: Stability; Healthcare; Culture & Environment; Education; and Infrastructure. Across the survey a mixture of quantitative and qualitative data are used, which are combined to give an overall Quality of Life Index rating.
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However I wasn’t able to find such factors anywhere, not even after paying for the full report. Anyway, this are the top 10 according to them, nothing that we haven’t seen before:
Vancouver, Canada
Melbourne, Australia
Vienna, Austria
Perth, Australia
Toronto, Canada
Adelaide, Australia
Sydney, Australia
Copenhagen, Denmark
Geneva, Switzerland
Zurich, Switzerland
Still, I never get tired of ranking cities and feeling a bit proud on behalf [...]
Hyper-connected to the rest of the world through an ample offering of long-haul flights, low crime rates, great education and health system, fair balance of sunny and warm days, plenty of ways to stay informed, availability of drinks after hours, good public transit, lots of green areas and a will to keep them green. This is the method behind the first Monocle Quality of Life Index.
For international flight connections it would be Paris but for an airport it would have to be Munich. On crime it would be a Japanese city – either Tokyo or Kyoto would do. Zürich and Helsinki would be our key contributors for hospitals and schools while Sydney and Honolulu offer the best weather. [...] For a good night out we’d want to be resident in Madrid, Tokyo or Barcelona and for getting home we’d opt for Munich’s public transport and Copenhagen’s bike network if we were sober enough to pedal home ourselves.
With a well documented rating behind each one of the cities in the list, it is going to be hard to argue that they’ve done their homework, but it still feels very subjective. In any case, [...]
Continuing with the annotation of the special report on cities by The Economist. If you haven’t, please read part 1 first.
Failures at the top: concludes that the single most important factor contributing to the success of a modern city is its government. All great cities, or cities that have gone through important renewal were characterized by influential thinkers taking the lead with passion.
In the 1980s Chicago lost companies, jobs and people, and seemed destined to languish in gradual decline in much the same way as Cleveland, Detroit and Pittsburgh. But energetic government led by a mayor, Richard Daley, whose ambitions start and end with his home town, has truned the city round.
My post on big city refers to the efforts of Mayors in some of the largest cities around the world, but I believe in the ability of the common citizen to commit her energy to improving our city life. If you don’t believe it, just check the manifesto for global cities in which I account of a small group of bloggers in Pittsburgh contributing great ideas to turn their city round.
In place of God: explores the soul of a city, an elusive concept that some [...]
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