The past week we learned about different measures of Standards of
Living. We focused and talked a lot about the Human Development Index, which
was the statistic of how developed or undeveloped a country is – Gini
Coefficient which was the measure of inequality and income distribution per
household – the Human Poverty Index which took into account factors such as
hunger, and ability to provide basic needs such as shelter and clothing, and
there was also a presentation on gross national happiness, which focuses on the
overall happiness of a country by taking into account factors such as: economic
wellness, environmental wellness, workplace, social, and political wellness.
Today we are going to take into account all these measures of the
standards of living and we’re going to expand it into the real world, and talk
about the best and most livable cities in the world. We will also
discuss why these cities are ranked to be the most livable, how they compare
internationally, and take a look behind the scenes of the best city in the
world.
When determining the best cities, economists take into account how
tolerable a city is. Some potential factors are: crime levels, threat of
conflict, quality of medical care, levels of censorship, temperature, schools,
and transportation links in the city such as buses, metro, etc. and how
efficient these transportation methods are.
The
Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EUI) livability rating
quantifies the challenges that might be presented to an
individual’s lifestyle in 140 cities worldwide. It assigns each city a score
for over 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories:
stability, healthcare, culture, environment, education and infrastructure and
they take these into consideration to determine the well-being of a city.
Professor Rob Adams, Director of City
Design for the City of Melbourne, says livability is about choice and
access.
- “A city feels livable if
its citizens have choices – the choice to walk instead of drive for
example. Walk-ability is probably one of the basic
indicators of a livable city.”
By all these measures, surely Melbourne
is indeed livable – it is certainly walk-able, with functioning
hard infrastructure.
The listing here is dominated by Australasia, and Canada. Melbourne,
Australia takes first place as the most livable city in the world for the past
3 years, at a rating of 97.5 / 100, and just behind it we have Vienna, Austria,
and then 3 of the top 5 cities are Canadian cities; Vancouver, Toronto, and
Calgary which is very positive for Canada once again. As noticed, there is a
very little amount of European countries which really surprised me, considering
that during the past week, most presentations consisted lots of European
countries to have the most developed, and happiest origins to live in, but
apparently they are not all the most livable countries, which really got my
attention – this is most likely due to the fact that although a country may
have a high HDI rank, different factors such as crime rate or transportation
may be lower compared to other cities, and that affects their ranking in terms
of ‘livability’.
Half of the cities are in Australia and New Zealand, three are in
Canada, and two are in Europe. One thing most of these cities have in common is
that they’re all medium-size cities in prosperous countries, with relatively
low population densities. It’s an equation that leads to low crime rates,
functional infrastructure and plenty of recreational activities for residents.
This also helps the cities in terms of crime, congestion, and public transport
efficiency.
On the bottom of the list we have very undeveloped, dangerous, unstable,
cities that are primarily located in Africa and the Middle East. Countries such
as Syria, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nigeria are home to cities which would be
considered unstable, and dangerous and also because there's lots of war going
on there and conflict was responsible for many of the lowest scores.
Australia was a country with one of the highest HDI’s, and it also
proves that it is a very well rounded country overall due to its consistency of
having one of its cities as the most livable city in the world, and 3 others in
the top 10.
Maybe some of you are surprised that not a single American city is top
10. Regardless of the fact that the United States is a very rich and developed
country, it doesn't have the most livable cities. But this is most likely
because, aside from the fact that most cities look really nice to live in, such
as Los Angeles or Miami, the lack of efficient healthcare, crime rates, and
ability to own guns which causes lots of risks and threats is a problem. Also,
high poverty rates, and cost of living are factors as well. These are some
factors that really influence how livable a city is, and clearly these factors
are affecting cities in America very negatively.
Above, is a snapshot of Melbourne, Australia. You can notice that it
looks like a stable city from the top, with an attractive skyline, a nice river
flowing around the city center, and although you cannot see it in this picture,
there are numbers of beaches just minutes away from the city center.
Some things that make these cities stand out and that give them a
jump start is the ability to host major events such as the Fifa World Cup, or
Olympics and they gain lots of revenue towards the city and are able to make
changes internally. But just because you host a major event, won’t
automatically fix all the economic problems, but it might certainly give a
country, and its cities a boost.
After doing my research and reading a lot about Melbourne I realized
that it is very clean, there is great temperature and weather, great skyline,
there is a nice mix of new and old buildings, loads of great eating places, it
is very diverse and there’s lots of variety – and all these factors make the
city very attractive, so that’s one thing.
There are also three main modes of transportation: Trains, trams, and
buses. These are all very essential for a city to be considered 'most livable',
because basic, and efficient transportation within the city is the key to
access the city's infrastructure. There is also a free tram that circles the
entire city and stops at major areas such as the beach, key areas for tourists,
and University students have access to free transportation to-and-from
University. People also use walking, bicycles, or a car as methods of transportation.
Melbourne is also planning on constructing another skyscraper into their
skyline, which would make it the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere
and this project is expected to be finished in 3-4 years. So as we can
see, Australia is continuously investing in the future and expanding their
economy.
Every year Melbourne hosts a major tennis event; the Australian Open and
they gain lots of revenue from that, especially through sponsorship. They also
have lots of beaches just a few minutes away so that is very appealing,
especially to tourists.
Speaking of tourists, we’ll talk about immigration. Australia is an
immigration-friendly country, and is the second most immigrated country in the
world, just behind Canada. It is also very diverse and multicultural. It
has one of the highest standards of living in the world, subsidized language
lessons to foreigners, employment support, and comprehensive healthcare
services. Sydney, the capital of Australia, and Melbourne are the two main
cities of immigration for Australia.
Here is a video and it will help us learn why Melbourne is one of the
most immigrated cities in the world, and why this city has been considered the ‘most
livable’ city in the world for the past three years.
Investment, business, innovation, creativity. As said in the video, this
is the ingredient to reach out to the world; ; and this ingredient is what
helps this economy to keep going and expanding continuously with immigration,
and innovation with the current residents. In the video, it also talks a
lot about opportunity for business, so that may be very appealing for residents
outside of Australia to try and invest in a new life, in a new country.
After learning more about the city, we realize that factors such as
opportunity for business, great quality of medical care/education, employment
opportunities, low crime rate and other measures, help determine how livable a
city is, and because of such high quality of living - Melbourne, Australia is
the most livable city in the world for the third straight year.
- Mati Jankowiak
