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The Economist global liveability index 2017: Melbourne most liveable city

F

FrankCanada97

Roughly the size of a baaaaaarge
Move to Canada if old.

Global liveability has improved for the first time in a decade

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An improvement in just a dozen cities over the past year has been enough to tip the global average in the survey, which considers 30 factors related to safety, health care, educational resources, infrastructure and the environment. Amsterdam, for example, has seen a steady decline in crime rates, prompting Dutch authorities to close down empty prisons. And Reykjavik has climbed 13 places to 37th after an influx of visitors to Iceland, and the redevelopment of the city centre (boosting its ”cultural availability" score). Manchester and Stockholm, both of which recently experienced terrorist attacks, are among the handful of cities to experience a decline since 2016.

At the top of the ranking, Melbourne holds onto first place for the seventh year in a row, followed closely by Vienna and Vancouver. Megacities like London, Paris, New York and Tokyo have higher levels of crime, congestion and public-transport problems than are deemed comfortable. As a result they rarely trouble the upper reaches of the index. War-torn Damascus remains at the foot of the table for the fifth year running.
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J

jellies_two

Member
crimzonflame said:
I heard Australia's internet is slow.
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It's a national disaster
4g is faster, 100 megabit plus, while traditional cable is "up to" 50 megabit but requires signing up to Murdoch owned foxtel,
the "national broadband network" is creeping over suburbs fulfilling their promise by buying up aging infrastructure from the cable and telcos (so there has been no improvement there for years) and renting it to crap isps that oversell their backend.
Most new nbn subscribers opt for 25 or 50 megabit speeds - which then fall in the evening.
The nbn being a government utility is hopeless at resolving customer complaints which are soaring.

The only Internet advance is in New build suburban sprawl estates (so that's on the city fringe) which might get fiber.
 
D

drawkcaB

Member
arts&crafts said:
Ive been in Toronto my whole life buy Calgary is a much "nicer" city. Obviously less stuff to do and less culture but still quite nice. Also housing is cheaper!
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Great city for young families (esp the schools) and more cultural activities than it'll ever be given credit for. An hour drive west puts you in the Rockies.
 
D

DrSlek

Member
My home town still rocking it at #5.

Canada and Australia really seem to dominate the list. Hooray for the Commonwealth.
 
K

Kvik

Member
jellies_two said:
It's a national disaster
4g is faster, 100 megabit plus, while traditional cable is "up to" 50 megabit but requires signing up to Murdoch owned foxtel,
the "national broadband network" is creeping over suburbs fulfilling their promise by buying up aging infrastructure from the cable and telcos (so there has been no improvement there for years) and renting it to crap isps that oversell their backend.
Most new nbn subscribers opt for 25 or 50 megabit speeds - which then fall in the evening.
The nbn being a government utility is hopeless at resolving customer complaints which are soaring.

The only Internet advance is in New build suburban sprawl estates (so that's on the city fringe) which might get fiber.
Click to expand...

To add insult to injury, to get an unlimited plan at 50 megabit speed in Melbourne you'll have to be ready to fork out at least $90/month. How about low latency? what's that? is it tasty? can you buy it in a store? :p

I heard Fixed Wireless is the way to go in the inner suburbs, but progress is still rather slow.
 
D

DrSlek

Member
Kvik said:
To add insult to injury, to get an unlimited plan at 50 megabit speed in Melbourne you'll have to be ready to fork out at least $90/month. How about low latency? what's that? is it tasty? can you buy it in a store? :p

I heard Fixed Wireless is the way to go in the inner suburbs, but progress is still rather slow.
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Is myrepublic not available in Melbs? $60 per month for up to 100 mbits and unlimited data. I say "up to" 100 mbit because as as fast as your line will allow the speed you get.
 
M

Madness

Member
Those five metrics sure... but now add affordability into the mix. No way in hell is Vancouver liveable for anyone except literally millionaires.
 
K

Kvik

Member
DrSlek said:
Is myrepublic not available in Melbs? $60 per month for up to 100 mbits and unlimited data. I say "up to" 100 mbit because as as fast as your line will allow the speed you get.
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ADSL2 (lol) only, I'm afraid. Only a limited number of ISP has NBN coverage over Northern Melbourne suburbs (where I live).
 
S

smisk

Member
This definitely doesn't take affordability into account, seems like a big oversight.
Wonder what the top US city is?
 
L

Laekon

Member
pr0cs said:
Crazy right?
Would you just look at this dump, who in their right mind would want to live here?
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Never realized Calgary was so close to the mountains. I always thought it was more like Edmonton geographically. I still wouldn't live there though with 4 months of the year having a high temp that hovers right around freezing.

Not sure why LA would have declined. With the changes to health care in California almost everyone can get covered. Housing is expensive but its been that way forever as has shitty traffic.
 
M

Moppeh

Banned
Madness said:
Those five metrics sure... but now add affordability into the mix. No way in hell is Vancouver liveable for anyone except literally millionaires.
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I do love how "literally" doesn't have to mean "literally" anymore.

Prices in Vancouver are fucked but my buddy lives fairly well and he makes about 70k before taxes.

But yeah, affordability should definitely be a metric for this.
 
P

PillarEN

Member
Detroit must be taking into account the metropolitan Detroit. I mean hey it's better than it was at the start of the millennium in the city, but I wouldn't drop my grandma off there to walk with her cane and tell her "just go wherever. It's all groovy around here".
Laekon said:
Never realized Calgary was so close to the mountains. I always thought it was more like Edmonton geographically. I still wouldn't live there though with 4 months of the year having a high temp that hovers right around freezing.

Not sure why LA would have declined. With the changes to health care in California almost everyone can get covered. Housing is expensive but its been that way forever as has shitty traffic.
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Without you mentioning it it wouldn't cross my mind initially, yet they did host the winter Olympics in the 80s or so.

ecosse_011172 said:
I live in Bern, Switzerland and have 1Gbit/s up and down.
I win
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Meany :(
 
S

siddx

Magnificent Eager Mighty Brilliantly Erect Registereduser
Livable for whom? A lot of the cities at the top of the list are only livable for a small percentage of the human population that can afford to do so.
 
Peterthumpa

Peterthumpa

Member
Brisbane in 16th sounds about right after living in Vancouver last year.
Good city, could be better, but at least housing market is still more or less reasonable.
 
D

drawkcaB

Member
A Grizzly Bear said:
Agree with all of this. Not sure where the "No culture!" bit is coming from.
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My guess is that it's because we don't have a big marquee international event (TIFF, etc.) to really highlight the city culturally. That and even within our own country there's this perpetual view that Calgary is some backwater because of provincial and federal political leanings.

I dunno, for a city that only has 1M people and isn't old enough to have much in the way of "historical culture" I think it does well. Lots of small theatre, lots of big name musicians come (or they go to Edmonton, no biggie), festivals throughout the Summer.
 
Z

Zoloft Sonic

Member
Vancouver? Really? Housing prices are a social disaster, open-air junkies, homeless people and medical waste are absolutely everywhere, and there's virtually no culture. Whole streets resemble the set of a zombie movie. Unless you're rich, Vancouver can be pretty grim.
 
C

CraigerGamer

Member
Everytime I see such positive news about the city Melbourne I think it may be my hometown Melbourne, Florida. but then I remember, its Melbourne, FL and know in my heart of hearts they are talking about Melbourne, Australia.

Never once has it been Melbourne, Florida.

Unless you are talking about a Trump rally.
 
K

Kuroi Gogeta

Member
Zoloft Sonic said:
Vancouver? Really? Housing prices are a social disaster, open-air junkies, homeless people and medical waste are absolutely everywhere, and there's virtually no culture. Whole streets resemble the set of a zombie movie. Unless you're rich, Vancouver can be pretty grim.
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I think the economist is geared towards people who are doing pretty well financially to begin with, so this list is for them. Vancouver isn't that bad. They're probably talking more about the Northern parts of the city like Kits/Broadway area. And it can be affordable if you have two incomes or make 40-60k a year from what I've heard. I havent been here that long so just going off what others have told me at work
 
D

DrSlek

Member
siddx said:
Livable for whom? A lot of the cities at the top of the list are only livable for a small percentage of the human population that can afford to do so.
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Sydney was knocked out of the top 10 because of skyrocketing housing prices. I expect Melbourne will soon start to lose ground because of the same thing.
 
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