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Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU): World's Most Liveable Cities 2005
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| dEsidEL |
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Asia-Pacific region boasts world's best -- and worst -- cities
Tue Oct 4,10:01 AM ET
SINGAPORE (AFP) - The Asia-Pacific region boasts some of the world's most liveable cities but also a number of the most wretched capitals on earth, according to survey results issued.
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Vancouver in western Canada topped the global list compiled by research firm the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
Melbourne came in second and three other Australian cities -- Perth, Adelaide and Sydney -- were in the top 10, with Brisbane at 11th place.
Also among the 10 best cities were Vienna, Geneva, Zurich, Toronto and Calgary -- making Canada and Australia the most liveable countries based on their representation in the top tier of the list.
Tokyo was ranked 16th and Auckland 20th along with Osaka, Kobe and Wellington. Hong Kong was ranked 41st while Seoul and Singapore tied for 54th place.
The EIU ranked 127 cities on the basis of five criteria: stability, health care, culture and the environment, education and infrastructure.
They were graded on a scale of zero to 100 percent, with zero as the best possible score. Vancouver scored a "1" while Port Moresby had a "66" grade.
"With low crime, little threat from instability or terrorism and a highly developed infrastructure, Canada has the most liveable destinations in the world," an EIU statement said.
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea's notorious capital, tied with Algiers for the dubious title of worst city to live in.
Other Asia-Pacific cities in the very bottom of the list were Dhaka, Karachi, Phnom Penh and Mumbai, which were ranked alonside Lagos, Abidjan, Harare, Tehran and Bogota.
Asia has "the best and worst of both worlds," the EIU noted.
"The proximity of Port Moresby to Australia highlights the two-tiered nature of liveability in Asian countries, with a number of well-developed urban centers next door to countries where less favorable conditions apply."
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source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2005100...es_051004140138
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1=: Melbourne, Vancouver
3: Perth
4=: Geneva, Toronto, Vienna, Zurich
8=: Adelaide, Brisbane, Copenhagen, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Oslo, Montreal
Source: EIU
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?!?!?!?
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1= Melbourne
1= Vancouver
1= Vienna
4 Perth
5 Geneva
6= Adelaide
6= Brisbane
6= Copenhagen
6= Montreal
6= Oslo
6= Sydney
6= Zurich
13= Helsinki
13= Stockholm
13= Toronto
Others:
19= Auckland
19= Honolulu
28= Paris
45= London
51= Dublin
51= New York
57= Washington
64= Athens
75= Beijing
130 Port Moresby
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Melbourne 'world's top city'
February 6, 2004
Melbourne has retained its position as the best city in the world to call home.
Often derided as Bleak City by Sydneysiders, Melbourne topped a survey of 130 cities, narrowly beating out the other four Australian capitals surveyed - because its weather rated the best.
Sydney lost ground because its crime rate was rated on a par with New York and London.
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) survey ranked Melbourne, Vancouver and Vienna as the best cities for expatriates to live, with Perth fourth and Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney equal sixth.
Geneva was ranked fifth, while Papua New Guinea's capital Port Moresby kept the title it took in the last survey in October 2002 as the worst.
"Melbourne pretty much top scored in everything," said survey co-editor Jon Copestake.
"But the difference between all the Australian cities is minimal. One thing Sydney had different to the other cities was a higher crime rate, and its climate. Its level of humidity was worse than Melbourne's."
Victorian Tourism Minister John Pandazopoulos said the award was based on a survey of a city's infrastructure, access, education levels, crime rate, focus on the environment, culture and events, its diversity and how connected it was with the rest of the world.
Mr Pandazopoulos said even Melbourne's weather rated better than Sydney's.
"It's a brilliant pat on the back for Melbourne, particularly for two years in a row," he said.
"We already promote ourselves as the world's most liveable city, we can continue doing that."
Mr Pandazopoulos said the award backed Victoria's record as the only Australian state in which international visitor rates grew for the past two years.
He said Melbourne was also a very affordable city, where people got value for money for great products, including top fashion and restaurants.
He said the government would continue to work hard to meet the balance of stimulating a vibrant economy and social standards to ensure Melbourne remained one of the world's best cities.
The London-based EIU assessed the level of hardship for expatriates in the 130 cities, using 12 factors including housing, education, recreational activities, health, climate and terrorism.
Cities were rated one to five in the 12 categories, with one meaning there was no hardship and five indicating extreme hardship.
Melbourne received the perfect one in each category, including its unpredictable weather, to give it an overall score of one.
The other Australian cities were all given a two for climate, while Adelaide also received two for housing, Brisbane and Perth scored two for transport and Sydney for its crime. Port Moresby received five for crime and an overall score of 80.
While Perth was given an overall mark of 1.1, Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney scored 1.2.
The heightened terrorist threat only had a minimal impact on western cities, even those in the United States, largely because of newly developed security measures.
The highest ranked US city was Honolulu in 19th on eight points, while New York was 51st with 16 and Washington was the lowest of 16 American cities in the survey at 57th, mainly due to a higher risk of terrorism giving it an overall score of 19.
London was equal 45th, along with Los Angeles, Madrid and San Francisco.
Kuwait fell the most places, dropping from 87 to 97 because of the war in neighbouring Iraq, while Harare suffered the greatest actual drop in living standards as a result of ongoing unrest and slid eight places to 118.
The Iraqi capital Baghdad was not included in the survey.
- AAP
This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/02/06/1075854028808.html
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Vancouver and Melbourne top city league
Vancouver: A great place to live, the EIU says
If you want to live abroad, Vancouver and Melbourne are the places to do it, a survey has revealed.
The cities came top of 130 surveyed by the Economist Intelligence Unit for the level of hardship they pose to expatriates.
And Australian cities overall scored particularly highly in the survey, with all five the country's urban centres surveyed ranked near the top of the table.
Europe was also well represented among the top 10 places.
The top US city, Honolulu, ranked 21st, with Boston, at 28th, the highest ranked city on the US mainland. Canada, in contrast, sneaked three cities into the top ten.
The UK cities of London, 44th, and Manchester, 50th, gained only a mid-table rating, with Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea bottom of the list.
Australia shines
The EIU's study gave each city a 'hardship rating' based on a number of factors including health and safety, culture and environment, and infrastructure.
Among US cities, Honolulu's rating was boosted by its "favourable climate, good housing stock, low risk of crime and the widespread availability of recreational activities", the EIU said.
Washington, at 57th, was dragged down by the "increased threat of terrorism".
In Europe, the EIU identified a divide between cities in the west and east of the continent.
Many EU cities were rated highly, while the highest hardship rating in Europe was seen in Belgrade in Yugoslavia - mainly due to the legacy of the war.
"Non-EU cities, particularly in central and eastern Europe, where infrastructure is poorer and health risks tend to be greater, drag the European average down slightly," Friday's report said.
The EIU found that cities in the Middle East and Africa generally rated poorly, with special factors boosting individual cities.
Dubai and Abu Dhabi both fared better than other places in the region due to the high standard of accommodation within expatriate compounds in the United Arab Emirates.
The city which came out the worst in the survey was Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea.
The EIU said expatriates in the city needed to take "extreme security precautions both personally and with their property".
"Education and health indicators are poor, corruption is rife and high humidity makes the climate oppressive all year round."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2299119.stm
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| drgoodvibe |
Conclusion?
Guess people shouldnt be complaining so much about Toronto, and or Canada. Hrmmmm???
:thepirate |
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| cono_sur |
| quote: | Originally posted by drgoodvibe
Conclusion?
Guess people shouldnt be complaining so much about Toronto, and or Canada. Hrmmmm???
:thepirate |
...or Australia. |
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| Jayx1 |
but did they take civil liberties into account?
Ive always said that we have one of the best countries in the world. The problem is that we are ruining it with big brother laws.
monetarily we do very well here. Freedomwise? not so much.
Add civil liberties to the mix and im sure we'd slide down quite a few notches. |
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| Moral Hazard |
| quote: | Originally posted by Jayx1
but did they take civil liberties into account?
Ive always said that we have one of the best countries in the world. The problem is that we are ruining it with big brother laws.
monetarily we do very well here. Freedomwise? not so much.
Add civil liberties to the mix and im sure we'd slide down quite a few notches. |
that would depend on who is judging. Sure we have some restrictions on our liberties here but to many those restrictions are justified and actually work to create a more just and balanced society. To many (especially the leftward leaning) the restrictions you believe make our society less desirable would actually make it more desirable. |
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| Jayx1 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Moral Hazard
that would depend on who is judging. Sure we have some restrictions on our liberties here but to many those restrictions are justified and actually work to create a more just and balanced society. To many (especially the leftward leaning) the restrictions you believe make our society less desirable would actually make it more desirable. |
really?
I dont see our same stupid drinking and smoke laws being practiced in australia for example. And they rank right up there with us.
Life hasnt gone to hell in Australia because there is no last call and people can drink in the streets.
Not to mention all the "hate crime laws" that we have here. Did you know some idiot is now suing HMV under our hate crime laws to remove rap music from their stores?
God help us if she wins.
(and of course its a middle aged woman doing this... its always middle aged women when it comes to this sort of thing, i dont know why) |
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| Moral Hazard |
| quote: | Originally posted by Jayx1
really?
I dont see our same stupid drinking and smoke laws being practiced in australia for example. And they rank right up there with us.
Life hasnt gone to hell in Australia because there is no last call and people can drink in the streets.
Not to mention all the "hate crime laws" that we have here. Did you know some idiot is now suing HMV under our hate crime laws to remove rap music from their stores?
God help us if she wins.
(and of course its a middle aged woman doing this... its always middle aged women when it comes to this sort of thing, i dont know why) |
Yeah I heard about the HMV thing. I wish activists would clue in to the fact that every time they start a petty little quest over something stupid the only real result is that they loose credibility.
I really do believe that civil liberties being restricted may be judged by some to be a benefit rather then a deficit. I'm not saying that I think that way, however, you must recognize that some people may see the preceived positive effects of said restrictions as being a net gain for the society rather then a loss. Remember, these surveys are normally conducted by socialist leaning organizations. |
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| Jayx1 |
obviously the name of the survey indicates that it was conducted from an economic aspect.
Ive never said that we are a poor country. We are very well off materially.
But ive always said that money isnt everything. If we could only change our behaviours and attitudes towards others, become a more social society and drop the BS laws we'd be utopia.
Australia was on my possible relocation list before. Now im even more encouraged to check it out.
all the finances of canada without the cold people and cold weather...
hmmmmmmmm |
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| ChemEnhanced |
| quote: | Originally posted by Jayx1
really?
I dont see our same stupid drinking and smoke laws being practiced in australia for example. And they rank right up there with us.
Life hasnt gone to hell in Australia because there is no last call and people can drink in the streets.
Not to mention all the "hate crime laws" that we have here. Did you know some idiot is now suing HMV under our hate crime laws to remove rap music from their stores?
God help us if she wins.
(and of course its a middle aged woman doing this... its always middle aged women when it comes to this sort of thing, i dont know why) |
Of course it is middle aged women that start these crusades. Now that their kids are grown up and they have all the time in the world to sit there and watch Oprah and let their asses get to the size of a couch they need something to do. Unfortunately they feel that their wants and needs are the wants and needs of the many and therefore they are right to think the way they think.
I do agree that we need restrictions on our liberties. For example....all the talk about gun violence....without the gun laws we have already could you imagine how things would be in Toronto.....You might as well call Toronto Detroit North. Any restrictions to our liberties need to be reviewed and fine tuned over time. Being a smoker I am completely in agreement with many of the smoking by-laws that are in place. When I was first told I could not smoke in bars I thought it was terrible for bar owners and was not fair to smokers....now....I can't imagine going into a bar/club and smoking....I really enjoy the fact that I and other smokers have to go outside now. That being said...I feel that the smoking laws are getting out of control. |
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| Jayx1 |
and therein lies the problem. What starts out as a reasonable and justifyable law usually ends up spiralling out of control. Smoking is just one example of this.
I was all for no smoking in most public places. They crossed the line when it came to 19+ entertainment facilities though.
Gun laws? again there is definately a reasonable effort to protect others from harm. However again it has crossed the line with the gun registry. Making farmers register their gopher guns has done nothing to improve our safety.
This is why im suspicious of any new attempt to restrict our freedom no matter how mild it may seem. Because history has shown us that it always tends to spiral out of control.
With the brief exception of prohibition, there was no last call until the late 30s. Until the 40's, there was no such thing as a liquor licence. Until the 50s you were allowed to drink in anywhere public. And so on...
it always starts out with 1 small little law... |
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| Skipper |
| quote: | Originally posted by Jayx1
really?
I dont see our same stupid drinking and smoke laws being practiced in australia for example. And they rank right up there with us.
Life hasnt gone to hell in Australia because there is no last call and people can drink in the streets.
Not to mention all the "hate crime laws" that we have here. Did you know some idiot is now suing HMV under our hate crime laws to remove rap music from their stores?
God help us if she wins.
(and of course its a middle aged woman doing this... its always middle aged women when it comes to this sort of thing, i dont know why) |
When I was overseas, I was trying to explain our smoking and alcohol restrictions here. People were apalled.
Re alcohol restrictions - as much as I would like to drink at all hours, wherever I wanted, and could start almost as young as I wanted, I just don't think our culture is ready for that. I think it would lead to excess and total chaos. People would go nuts just because they COULD. Unfortunately, this is the result of having a society influenced by the prohibition...we are used to being restricted. Europeans are not, and drink much more responsibly.
Re smoking restrictions - the percentage of people who smoke there is much, much higher than in Canada. Non smoker rights are virtually non existent because the non smoking population is so small. |
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| Jayx1 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Skipper
When I was overseas, I was trying to explain our smoking and alcohol restrictions here. People were apalled.
Re alcohol restrictions - as much as I would like to drink at all hours, wherever I wanted, and could start almost as young as I wanted, I just don't think our culture is ready for that. I think it would lead to excess and total chaos. People would go nuts just because they COULD. Unfortunately, this is the result of having a society influenced by the prohibition...we are used to being restricted. Europeans are not, and drink much more responsibly.
Re smoking restrictions - the percentage of people who smoke there is much, much higher than in Canada. Non smoker rights are virtually non existent because the non smoking population is so small. |
i dont buy the argeument that our society is not ready for it.
Take the topless law. Toplessness is legal for women yet you dont even see it at the beach. The only people who took advantage of it at first were a few strippers advertising their
wares and the odd exhibitionist.
Yeah at first u might get a few people who cant handle their liquor. But i suspect that the most that would happen is that people would pace themselves longer throughout the night. And maybe the odd person might enjoy a cold one at the beach instead of being forced to pour it into a pop can (what i tend to do)... I am a firm believer that our binge drinking habits are a DIRECT result of last call. You dont see binge drinking nearly as much in societies without last call.
It's time to repeal our stupid laws.
and when i tell people they are appalled too. Many times people say "but i thought canada was a free country?"
yeah, so did i |
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