Monocle publishes the 25 “Most liveable city” index every year.
Monocle will publish the 2009 list in its paper July/August paper issue, but has published a presentation on its website already. The Financial Times has published the 2009 list on its website last week.
11 out of the 25 “most liveable cities” in the world, including “winner” Zurich, are Spotted by Locals cities. Coincidence? I think not!
Update: Another “quality of living in cities” ranking by Mercer.
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I read this article in a book store recently. I thought it was pretty thorough and categorical in selecting cities, but a bit disappointing in that there wasn’t any “surprises” or interesting picks. Predictable, sort of to say… But I guess when you’re choosing “liveable”cities, there can be no room for odd picks because the livability factors are pretty much limited to few things. And, at times I felt the standards for selection were unequally applied to different cities.
Also, the list seems to a tiny bit skewed in favor of Japan. Every one knows Japan’s a great country to live in, but after Tokyo and perhaps Fukuoka, the reason for Kyoto to be on the list is pretty random and obscure.