Comments on: World’s Best Cities?

By: Runescape

Runescape — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 05:29:28 +0000

The cities of the United States have generally terrible social equity and poor infrastructure.
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huh? there are plenty of very livable cities in america and I’m really surprised that none of them are on the list.
The one trend that I’ve noticed between the cities on this list is that they’re all somewhat mid-sized and located in generally more socialist countries..
I think the reason NYC, Chicago and LA didn’t make the list is because of the extreme wealth inequality and crime which are all normal for a massive sized city…

By: Mrugank Desai

Mrugank Desai — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 08:58:21 +0000

I am surprised not to find cities like Singapore or Hong Kong. Any ideas on why they are not in the list? After living and working in Germany for the last 5 years, I can strongly say that German cities are great when it comes to infrastructure (not only the cities mentioned in the list). Though one sure needs to know the language to really get around, truly enjoy the city and bond with the people.

By: Michael Wells

Michael Wells — Fri, 08 May 2009 22:48:46 +0000

It would be interesting to compare this list with creative class cities, also with interesting/ exciting cities. Zurich may be liveable but dull compared to NYC or London, for example. I looked back at “Flight” and there’s a ranking of countries but not world creative class cities.

For my hometown Portland, it’s probably ranked about right given its size, and tied with Barcelona ain’t bad.

By: Adrian Mohareb

Adrian Mohareb — Fri, 08 May 2009 21:45:27 +0000

I’m pretty surprised that Stockholm ranked below Ottawa, having lived in the latter for seven years and having moved to Sweden from there (granted, well outside Stockholm). While cost of living probably plays the largest role in this, I didn’t find Ottawa’s housing options very cheap, and public transit and infrastructure in the two cities can’t compare. Stockholm feels like a city; Ottawa seems to wish to continue to shun that title, and seems content to be a place with a lot of people that’s not really a city. Though I recognize that the five days I’ve spent in Stockholm is not enough to judge it adequately.

Maybe in the end, it’s simply that Ottawa wasn’t my city, at least, not at this time. And I’ll agree with you that different cities make it up the list, depending on what appeals to you.

That said, it seems that one should learn German if they want to live in the best cities, which I can believe, and have been considering following up on. So far, Berlin is at the top my list of cities, because of the vibe, the history, the ease of access, and the reasonable costs. But I have only been to one of the top nine, so I am not positioned to judge.

By: Nashvilian

Nashvilian — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:39:11 +0000

I can’t tell from the article what the population limitation is on a city to be considered for ranking. Anyone know?

By: David

David — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:07:11 +0000

That should be “does not use”.

By: zb

zb — Fri, 08 May 2009 15:47:37 +0000

The Economist publishes a similar list, where Vancouver is consistently #1.

By: Justin Ritchie

Justin Ritchie — Fri, 08 May 2009 14:18:29 +0000

I’m not surprised the top 25 has no American cities. Having grown up in the US I can say that it is a great place for economic growth but I wouldn’t want to live there. The cities of the United States have generally terrible social equity and poor infrastructure. A few European cities come to mind when I think of a massive divide between rich and poor (Paris for one) but they aren’t on that list either. Hence my move to the University of British Columbia this fall.

By: David

David — Fri, 08 May 2009 14:17:15 +0000

It’s all about the selection of indicators and how they are measured. Obviously, the Mercer list does use the same indicators as how bright a city is at night.

By: Rue

Rue — Fri, 08 May 2009 12:46:16 +0000

If only I could speak german, I would deffinetely live in Bonn. It’s cosy, small, but close to big cities like Köln. Also it’s not so far from other Europien countries.. Just great city! Amsterdam would be the second best.