Melbourne beats Vancouver again for world's most livable city

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      Vancouver's reign as the world's most livable city remains a thing of the past.

      Our West Coast metropolis came in as the third most livable city in the world for a second year in a row, according to the Economist magazine's 2012 rankings.

      However, Vancouver, which slipped to number three in 2011, did remain the highest ranking Canadian city on the list, with a score of 97.3. Toronto followed closely behind, coming in fourth with 97.2. Calgary tied with Adelaide, Australia with 96.6 for fifth position.

      Melbourne, Australia remained on top for a second year in a row, with a score of 97.5. Meanwhile, Austria's capital city, Vienna, came second again as well with a score of 97.4.

      The Economist Intelligence Unit noted that the unchanged status of the top tier "may primarily reflect renewed stability as some economies begin to recover from the global economic crisis of a few years ago, although the continuing crisis in the euro zone and tighter fiscal budgets may have also slowed planned improvements, meaning that scores have remained static rather than moving up or down."

      The top ten was dominated by Australian and Canadian cities, four for Australia and three for Canada.

      The only other Canadian city to make the list was Montreal, which came in at number 16.

      The Economist's top 10 most livable cities are:

      • Melbourne
      • Vienna
      • Vancouver
      • Toronto
      • Calgary (tie)
      • Sydney (tie)
      • Helsinki
      • Perth
      • Adelaide
      • Auckland

      Although Vancouver had topped the list for nearly a decade, the city lost points for petty crime rates, availability of quality housing, and congested road networks.

      The highest-ranking Asian city was Osaka, Japan, at number 12. Tokyo, Japan, came in at number 18 and Hong Kong at 31.

      The top American city was Honolulu, Hawaii, which tied with Amsterdam for number 26.

      The opposite end of the list was rounded out by cities such as Tehran, Iran; Karachi, Pakistan; Algiers, Algeria; Lagos, Nigeria; and Dhaka, Bhangladesh. Conflict in these regions contributed to many of their low scores.

      The survey evaluates 140 cities based on five factors: stability; healthcare; culture and environment; education; and infrastructure.

      Earlier this year, Vancouver didn't even make the list of most livable cities when the Economist held a contest for innovative ways to reinterpret their data. Melbourne, Vienna, and Vancouver were all excluded from this reconfigured list, which only examined the biggest and most geographically diverse cities, with the integration of a new added category: spatial characteristics.

      You can follow Craig Takeuchi on Twitter at twitter.com/cinecraig.

      Comments

      13 Comments

      election

      Aug 16, 2012 at 1:20pm

      it was based on economy, wages,jobs,culture, friendliness
      climate,entertainment ....Vancouver would be dead last

      Buzzkill

      Aug 16, 2012 at 2:38pm

      @ Election - If it was based on stupid you would be king of the world.

      Nunya Biznis

      Aug 16, 2012 at 7:25pm

      The worst thing about vancouver is that it is in the governmental region known as British Columbia, Canada. The place where your 2 voting choices are totally iNept DiPshits or lying, cheating thieves. + what election said

      greggron

      Aug 16, 2012 at 7:51pm

      Another bronze..lol

      The Settler

      Aug 16, 2012 at 8:08pm

      I've lived in Vancouver for 6 years and Melbourne for 5 years. I'd choose Vancouver hands down...though I can say many good things about Melbourne...like...ummm, they have some cool buildings and an excellent market (Queen Vic Market) it's their smugness that kills it....Hey Melbourne...GET OVER YOURSELVES!!, you're NOT Brooklyn or Berlin...hopefully now they'll at least upgrade that airport...it's a pretty bad introduction to the worlds most livable city!

      LK-Wright

      Aug 16, 2012 at 8:14pm

      Amen, election. Vancouver is overrated. Period!

      Aki

      Aug 16, 2012 at 9:06pm

      Travel some, check out other cities and you'll agree with election. Vancouver should be lower down the list, much lower.

      Aussie Fan Boi

      Aug 17, 2012 at 12:07am

      Speaking as someone who lives in Adelaide (born and bred), regularly visits Melbourne and has clocked up a reasonable amount of time in Vancouver in the past 16 months - Vancouver is a clearly better city than Melbourne for so many reasons. I would however put Adelaide somewhere further down on the list but still in the top 10,

      Vancouver Watcher

      Aug 17, 2012 at 12:30am

      Guess why we are in thrid place? Traffic congestion! And who were the brains behind it all? Mayor Moonbeam and his moonlight dancers!

      3D in 2D

      Aug 17, 2012 at 5:21pm

      There are never any real cities on these livability lists... I'm assuming that 'livable' means 'banal, useless, and leisurely'. Give me NYC over any of these 'lovely' cites.