Best cities in the world to live - CGK & KeithMel will be pleased :)

[nickbot]

According to a survey by the Economist, Vancouver is the best place in the world to live, followed by Melbourne. Considering that two of our most prolific SQTalkers, CGK and KeithMEL live in YVR and MEL respectively, I thought this was pretty topical news for the forum!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4306936.stm

Best wishes,

nickbot

[KeithMEL]

Thanks for the tidbit, nickbot. Ooh and a certain city is ranked below Melbourne. *coughSYDNEYcough*

But, all jokes about Queensland aside , I'm surprised not to see Brisbane up there in the top 10 - it's usually rated pretty highly in similar lists. Since this list had 'provision of goods and services' as one of its criteria, I'd have thought BrisVegas would rank much higher than Adelaide. *no offence intended to the South Australian members/lurkers of this forum*

[nickbot]

I'm pretty impressed to see that 4 of the top 10 best places to live are in Australia mate,...oh, and three of them are in Canada - seem like the two places to be!

[SQflyergirl]

I'd agree with Melbourne, shame I spent many a night of the almost 10 years I was there wantonly

ne'er been to YVR, but i hear it's nice too

[singaporu_kooku]

Hmm.. as much as I like Melbourne, number 2 seem a bit overrated. Infrastructure and its management is a bit crap. I wonder if they include the water crisis and public transport delays and management. On the other hand, I love Vancouver though... and I think, they deserve it.

[yvrcnx]

This news is actually from October 2005. And if I remember correctly Vancouver has since lost it's position, though I think it's still a wonderful place to live.
I just came back from a trip to the interior of British Columbia.
It's beautiful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MFjKqy5-Jw

[sporadic]

Where's Singapore? It's nice enough, except for the weather, which can be pretty disgusting at most times

[KeithMEL]

Hmm.. as much as I like Melbourne, number 2 seem a bit overrated. Infrastructure and its management is a bit crap. I wonder if they include the water crisis and public transport delays and management. On the other hand, I love Vancouver though... and I think, they deserve it.

We used to be number 1 and so I think number 2 might well be slightly less overrated?

I think someone warned a while ago that the mess with public transport we're currently experiencing might well be our Archilles' heel.

I think the water crisis is common across the country yet 4 of our cities made it to top 10. Now that I think about it - that might be why Brisbane didn't make the top 10 - because of stage 5 restrictions? Not as severe in Melbourne... yet.

Anyway, the survey was based on very specific criteria.

[YK@HKG]

I visited Melbourne in January this year and it's a very nice city to live. Well, I managed to get a job offer there, only to turn it down I was there for the Aussie Open and it was simply fantastic

[SQflyergirl]

Interestingly was looking at the "bottom" 10 in the list - of which I've been to Harare, Phnom Penh and Karachi.

Harare actually used to be a really nice place to live until unca Bob decided he'd have a go at seizing all the land - a real shame, as it really was nice.

Phnom Penh - if you have some money, it's actually quite nice. But if you don't, then yes, it's quite miserable

Karachi - again, if you have some money, and know where to buy stuff, is also perfectly acceptable - very nice in winter too.

[KeithMEL]

I visited Melbourne in January this year and it's a very nice city to live. Well, I managed to get a job offer there, only to turn it down I was there for the Aussie Open and it was simply fantastic

Glad to hear you had a nice time. PM me next time you're here and I'd bring you down the little laneways with nice cafes and bars in every nook and cranny that tourists normally miss.

Sorry to hear you wouldn't be living/working in MEL then.
I hope the rain at this year's Open didn't get to ya.

[jhm]

The ten cities (including Geneva etc) may be the best places in the world to live (based on crime rates, transport infrastructure etc) but there's a reason why people choose to live (and party ) in London, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong etc.

[KeithMEL]

The ten cities (including Geneva etc) may be the best places in the world to live (based on crime rates, transport infrastructure etc) but there's a reason why people choose to live (and party ) in London, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong etc.

Very true. If there's a 'Most Exciting Cities' poll I bet the top 10 list would look very different and many of those on the current top 10 list would be royally trounced.

[nickbot]

Eeek, sorry that link was so outdated - it appeared as a featured story on the front page of BBC News, so I scan read it and thought of CGK and KeithMel before reading in depth!

[Lobster]

It is a bit wierd it is still the most emailed story today even though it is still out of date. I wonder what has suddenly brought it to peoples attention. Probably the Vancouver Tourist Board started a campaign to get everyone to email it to keep it at the top.