Best Cities of the World Survey

[TimTwoFace]

I heard this on the news earlier today, and then I noticed that an article appeared on MSN, citing the 215 best cities of the world in which to live.

Go here to see it! (http://www.msnbc.com/news/880437.asp#BODY) Or try here (http://www.mercerhr.com/pressrelease/details.jhtml?idContent=1084615)!

Where does your city rank?

Mine, Vancouver, was #2. Coolness. I guess that's fitting, with my number BEING #2. :p

Baghdad somehow managed to be #213. *SHRUG*

* * * * * *

1. Zurich, Switzerland

2. Vancouver, Canada
2. Vienna, Austria
2. Geneva, Switzerland

5. Sydney, Australia
5. Auckland, New Zealand
5. Copenhagen, Denmark
5. Frankfurt, Germany
5. Munich, Germany
5. Berne, Switzerland

10. Amsterdam, Denmark

12. Toronto, Canada

15. Berlin, Germany

20. San Francisco, USA (top rated US city)
20. Ottawa, Canada

23. Montreal, Canada
23. Honolulu, USA
23. Dublin, Ireland

26. Tokyo, Japan
26. Calgary, Canada

31. Oslo, Norway
31. Paris, France

36. Seattle, USA
36. Singapore, Singapore

39. London, UK
39. Boston, USA
39. Portland, USA (Maine or Oregon? Beats me.)

44. Madrid, Spain
44. New York City, USA

47. Chicago, USA
47. Pittsburgh, USA

50. Washington DC, USA
50. Barcelona, Spain

53. Los Angeles, USA

66. Rome, Italy

79. Athens, Greece

91. Istanbul, Turkey

108. Rio De Janeiro

126. Jerusalem, Israel

162. New Dehli, India

189. Havanna, Cuba

213. Baghdad, Iraq

(Sorry guys, I'd fill in the gaps but I could only find the Top 50 in its entirity. Intersting stuff huh?)

[Outlander00]

WHAT?! New york City is 44?! Its a Canadian plot!! :p

[finbarlafume]

Heh... my city got in at 23. Not bad :)

[Nightflower]

How did Toronto get ahead of Ottawa? Bah! :P

I'm really surprised there's only one US city in the top 20.

[Damien]

I don't see mine. Orlando is a little underrated.

I've been to alot of cities, but D.C., Virginia Beach, and New York City have to be my favorites.

[Joe Wagner]

The top five has a couple of cities I would love to visit (Sydney and Auckland) and Toronto deserves to be in the top 20 (visited twice and loved every second of each trip). However I have to seriously question San Fran being the top rated city in the US - having been through almost the entire US I could easily say that there are at least ten other cities that are better suited for an award. Although home town pride - Pittsburgh #47. Boo-yah! :D

-Joe!

[TimTwoFace]

I'm sure that there are more North American cities on the list - I see nothing hailing from Texas, Florida, Detroit is a notable absentee, and a number of Canadian cities like Edmonton and 'Peg aren't there. And where's Mexico City in all of this? *SNIFF*

Alas, they only show the Top 50 in full and the of other 165, the article only mentions a few major world cities. :p

As for it being a Canadian plot...I say it's a Swiss thing. I thought they were supposed to be neutral all this time... ;)

-Tim

[EightOh]

Wait... Havana and Baghdad are on there?! I'm dumbfounded.

[jeffrey 228]

Well lucky for you Tim that your city is number 2, but it seems seattle has one little problem that reflects the suberbs of this huge city becayse it is listed 36, ever thought that most people in my town and other others near Seattle sort of have an angered management issue because somthing is not aways right, well, that is what it is going through at this time.

[Good Ol' Batmanuel!]

What?! No Springfield on the list? :p

About Vancouver, Jackie Chan once said that a perfect world would be clean like Singapore, have the politeness of people in Hong Kong and the beauty of Vancouver. I already have a friend in Vancouver and a comment like that makes me even more curious about visiting there someday. :)

[gristl24]

Not to mention Vancouver's sweet hockey team... :D

[ccffan01]

213th.

[Barb Gordon]

The top five are definitely some awesome places I'd like to visit sometime. Must be some anti-US plot or something....why are there so few of our cities listed? I mean, LA and NY I'd put at the bottom or something, but there are some pretty dang great cities elsewhere in this nation....course I don't know which...but I'm sure there are some! :p Dang Europeans with their nifty countrysides and rural'ness.

~Barb

[Kat Pryde]

Who cares about San Diego? Seattle ranked #36! wOot!! Not bad.

=^-^=

[StarScream64]

Go Boston! Go Boston! Hey! We tied with London!!
Waitaminute. Just what part of Boston are they talking about? :D

[Sir Gatts]

213. Baghdad, Iraq
#'s 214 and 215 far worse than Baghdad? I mean how?

[czyznyck99]

I am not a bit surprised that US cities are mostly absent from the top twenty. The nice big cities also have nice big crime rates and incarceration rates more than any other city on the planet.

Later.

[James]

Wow, London is there at a reasonable place - considering a lot of it is stinky. Some of it is cool though. *patriotic pride*

Europe always seems to rate highly despite never striking me as being astoundingly more impressive than anywhere else I've been. There are some beautiful places on the continent though...

[Jedi Knight]

Yep, my city is # 2 ... AGAIN.

I've been following the city rankings for a long time, and Vancouver is ALWAYS #2. Never lower, never higher. It totally seems like a Swiss/Austrian conspiracy, 'cause we've been beaten by a different city each time.

Off the top of my head, I can think of three cities that have beaten us in various years:

Zurich, Switzerland (beat us twice now)
Geneva, Switzerland
Salzburg, Austria (but we'll get our revenge on them when we get the 2010 Olympics!)

As for the American cities, the reason they're usually considerably lower is because of the higher crime and pollution rates (relative to Canada, at least).

[turbomog007]

My city got #53 :) That is weird :confused: must be the smog *breathes in* good old smog :p

[Anthonynotes]

>>39. Portland, USA (Maine or Oregon? Beats me.)

My guess is, given its higher profile than the Maine one, Portland OR, which seems to rank highly on surveys like this... something about its "European-like, liveable city" aspects. It's known for having limits on urban growth/sprawl and a strong mass transit system, along with various scenic spots.

Though apparently, this survey didn't take place before teh current Portland area school budget crisis (or factor in unemployment here right now)...

-B.
Who lives in---ah, you know...

[TimTwoFace]

I think the main reason that big US cities did reasonably well (but didn't crack the top 20) is because they're big, crowded, possibly noisy, and because of crime issues. NY and LA, especially. I don't know how big a city has to be to be included on this survey, though; maybe a metro area of 1 Mill or more is a bare minimum. :p I would've thought Denver and San Diego would've done better, personally.

As for Vancouver always being #2...actually it was #1 forever up until two years ago when Zurich took the #1 spot. Just like how Sweden and Canada are always flip-flopping back and forth for the #1 spot in the UN's survey about the best countries of the world. :p

The cities in the bottom 25 or so were predominantly growing cities in Africa and Asia, or so the survey says.

And as for the person that mentioned Vancouver's "kick-ass hockey team" - yes they are. Now. But you haven't lived here for the past 32 years. Man, they sucked so much over the past three decades... :D

-Tim