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Dev
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
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 Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 6:30 pm Post subject: Best Cities In The World To Live In |
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Well, the latest list is out and the Germans are the overall winners for having many cities high in the rankings. Vienna, Austria got the #1 slot. Vancouver slipped down to a still respectable 4th. One thing that has many people talking is how the U.S.'s (mainland) best placing is only 32nd with San Francisco. Japan is the only Asian country in the top 50. Any comments?
http://www.citymayors.com/features/quality_survey.html |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 6:48 pm Post subject: |
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Kobe, Yokohama and Singapore are in the 50. Survey is very biased to favor European and North American ideas of what is considered quality of life.
I'm from Calgary and can't believe Calgary is ranked so high to be tied with Singapore. I would hardly want to raise a family in Calgary. Weather is horrible, one industry town, boring, almost nothing but cookie cutter suburban homes. |
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AsiaESLbound
Joined: 07 Jan 2010
Location: Truck Stop Missouri
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| Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 7:51 pm Post subject: |
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| It tends to go that the best places, the places I would prefer to live such as those in this list, are expensive and impractical from an economic standpoint. |
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rollo
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: China
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| Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 8:17 pm Post subject: |
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| Its a Canadian company! But Vancouver I agree is a very nice place . |
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Hardy Boy
Joined: 03 Jul 2004
Location: I live in a shoe. Made in B.C., Northern Vancouver Island
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| Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 8:34 pm Post subject: |
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There are a thousand better places to live than any CITY!
The best town within an hour or two of a major city, now THAT kind of list I'd be interested in! |
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young_clinton
Joined: 09 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 9:26 pm Post subject: |
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What about Albuquerque (1 million pop.)?  Last year it ranked #1 in the USA, I think according to US News or some major news magazine. |
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Loza
Joined: 28 May 2006
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| Posted: Mon May 31, 2010 1:51 am Post subject: |
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| Wow! My hometown Wellington in New Zealand is 5th greenest city and 12th overall. I'm suprised actually! |
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Dev
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Mon May 31, 2010 2:44 am Post subject: |
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| jvalmer wrote: |
Kobe, Yokohama and Singapore are in the 50. Survey is very biased to favor European and North American ideas of what is considered quality of life.
I'm from Calgary and can't believe Calgary is ranked so high to be tied with Singapore. I would hardly want to raise a family in Calgary. Weather is horrible, one industry town, boring, almost nothing but cookie cutter suburban homes. |
But you have beautiful Banff and Lake Louise a short drive away. Calgary to me seems pretty average as a city. That's not bad because it has most things that people want like decent restaurants. |
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travel zen
Joined: 22 Feb 2005
Location: Good old Toronto, Canada
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| Posted: Mon May 31, 2010 10:40 am Post subject: |
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Jaisalmer, India.
Nothing beats it  |
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D.D.
Joined: 29 May 2008
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| Posted: Mon May 31, 2010 11:08 am Post subject: |
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We talked about this in another thread before. To them best is clean air, safety and boring with boring being the most important quality. Having lived in Vancouver, Auckland, and spent time Zurich I would have to say this survey sucks as much as those cities do. Vancouver rains all the time, has snobby passsive aggresive people, huge drug problems with 30000 meth zombies wlaking around.
Auckland has overpriced flats, insane traffic, hard to get to meet locals, an asian population that keeps to themselves, high price goods, and nobody saves any money.
All the best cities have crap weather and you better be making a mint to have any fun in them.
I will take my new home city of Shanghai over any of their best cities any day. We have westerners from all over the world who are friendly, educated, open minded and cool Chinese people from all over China. Amazing women from all corners of the world. Decent cost of living, good restaurants and most of all it is a happening place. |
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Dev
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Mon May 31, 2010 3:39 pm Post subject: |
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| travel zen wrote: |
Jaisalmer, India.
Nothing beats it |
Please explain. |
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Quack Addict
Joined: 31 Mar 2008
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Mon May 31, 2010 8:54 pm Post subject: |
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| Portland, Oregon, USA....1 hour from Mt. Hood which has world class snow skiing (including summer skiing) and 1 hour from the Pacific Ocean. Located in the plush green Willamette Valley surrounded by the Coastal mtns. on the left and Cascade Mtns on the right. The Columbia river gorge offers great sailing and windsurfing. Portland is a 'big' town that is very green and clean. IMHO its a great place to live! |
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ddeubel
Joined: 20 Jul 2005
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| Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 7:19 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Portland, Oregon, USA....1 hour from Mt. Hood which has world class snow skiing (including summer skiing) and 1 hour from the Pacific Ocean. Located in the plush green Willamette Valley surrounded by the Coastal mtns. on the left and Cascade Mtns on the right. The Columbia river gorge offers great sailing and windsurfing. Portland is a 'big' town that is very green and clean. IMHO its a great place to live! |
High on a list but Eugene is better! I'd also rank Burlington Vt up there too.
In Europe, Cologne, Biiaritz, Ljubljana, Dubrovnik and Gotenburg are high on my list. Much like Eugene but with a European flavor. |
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Seoulio
Joined: 02 Jan 2010
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| Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 7:42 am Post subject: |
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| jvalmer wrote: |
Kobe, Yokohama and Singapore are in the 50. Survey is very biased to favor European and North American ideas of what is considered quality of life.
I'm from Calgary and can't believe Calgary is ranked so high to be tied with Singapore. I would hardly want to raise a family in Calgary. Weather is horrible, one industry town, boring, almost nothing but cookie cutter suburban homes. |
1) What is it about Calgary that would be bad to raise a family in? The abundance of parks and nature reserves within the city limits? The farily decent education system? I am honestly curious what would be detrimental to a family there.
2) Weather is horrible? Um okay? Hardly rains, snows a decent chunk of the year ( along with like 5000 other cities) Chinooks break up the cold stuff constantly, Nice in Summer, no humidity, yeah terrible weather.
3) One Industry town? Well Oil is definiely huge but the only industry? Please. And even if it was, if you are employed by that industry then your life would be decent then huh
4) Boring? Compared to what? What does it lack for excitement that it is not providing for you?
5) Cookie Cutter suburban homes, yeah this must really affect your quality of life, Heaven forbid you raise a family in a city with such a high rate of cookie cutter homes"
Being from Calgary, there are few places I would WANT to raise my kid in Canada.
East coast, talk about a one industry place
Toronto, no way, worse than Seoul
Montreal, maybe
Vancouver, yeah as long as I have no ambitions to buy a house on a teacher's salary.
Edmonton, Im from Calgary so we both know the answer to this one.
Now yes you can settle somehwere thats kind of close to Calgary like Lethbridge or Red Deer, maybe even Drumheller, but then youd still have the crappy weather and the one industry you complain about, not sure about the horrific cookie cutter homes that traumatise you though |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 12:31 pm Post subject: |
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| Seoulio wrote: |
| 1) What is it about Calgary that would be bad to raise a family in? The abundance of parks and nature reserves within the city limits? The farily decent education system? I am honestly curious what would be detrimental to a family there. |
It's mostly people from Calgary that actually like Calgary. Commercial areas are placed too far from homes that most people have to use their cars. Education system isn't as good as you seem to think. I guess it's just personal taste if you want to raise a family there, but I rather not.
| Seoulio wrote: |
| 2) Weather is horrible? Um okay? Hardly rains, snows a decent chunk of the year ( along with like 5000 other cities) Chinooks break up the cold stuff constantly, Nice in Summer, no humidity, yeah terrible weather. |
Summer is like 3 weeks, and even then you'll still need to drag your jacket around to keep warm at night. The rest of the year, it's cold. Snow is common in late May or August. Humidity is zero virtually all of the time, but tons of skin issues. And the wind, I've discovered I do hate wind, but then again most cities in the North American prairies are windy.
| Seoulio wrote: |
| 3) One Industry town? Well Oil is definiely huge but the only industry? Please. And even if it was, if you are employed by that industry then your life would be decent then huh |
Being employeed by one of them is financially rewarding, but it doesn't make it good. Yes, Calgary is a one industry town. If the company isn't involved in oil, good chance that it caters to someone in the oil industry. Once oil is done what customers do they have? Calgary's economy is good for a generation, or 2, but after that what will happen? Can Calgary really keep it's population after oil runs out? Does Calgary attract people like New York or LA? Or will it end up like Detroit? Calgarians are arrogant of how 'great' their town is.
| Seoulio wrote: |
| 4) Boring? Compared to what? What does it lack for excitement that it is not providing for you? |
Core downtown area is virtually a ghost town after 5pm. Small rural Korean towns have more people walking around than Calgary does on the best of days.
| Seoulio wrote: |
| 5) Cookie Cutter suburban homes, yeah this must really affect your quality of life, Heaven forbid you raise a family in a city with such a high rate of cookie cutter homes" |
Personal opinion. I kind of find it rich that some complain about endless rows of apartments in Korea, but most North American cities are nothing but endless cookie cutter homes with water wasting lawns.
Also prices in Calgary these days are ridiculous. Houses are averaging above half a million. A one bedroom condo is $250,000. Calgary is expensive. Prices for goods in Tokyo and Calgary are comparable. Many people are racist just under the surface. I was oblivious to it until I was old enough to drink legally.
Toronto - I'd take Toronto over Calgary
Montreal - for sure
Ottawa - the summers are great, but I guess it's a toss up.
Vancouver - basically another Calgary on the coast, but I'd take that over Calgary.
Calgary is like a job, soul sucking, it will leave you feeling empty. If you're of Asian descent, many place in Asia, including Korea, are superior to what Calgary can offer. If you're white, Europe is where I'd go.
Don't get me wrong, Calgary is nice, but that's all it is, just nice. Once I left Calgary, I started to realize how plain Calgary is. You can't convince me Calgary is an ideal place to live, but if you like it that's good for you. |
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