It’s always interesting to look at the many Quality of Life rankings issued by magazines and business organisations. The Economist usually has Zurich or Geneva at the top; Monocle had Copenhagen this year and Munich last year; cities in Canada, Australia and New Zealand are always in the top ten. The Mercer Organisation just released their own version, which had Vienna at the top of the list, followed by the usual suspects of Zurich, Geneva, Vancouver and Auckland.
Call me cynical, but the criteria must be slightly askew for their application to result in Vienna being crowned as the world’s best place to live. If all you’re looking for is good transport connections, stable electricity and clean water, then many places in this world satisfy those criteria. But there must be something else. Energy, vibrancy, a bit of risk, unpredictability, excitement, a sense of drama, a place that makes you feel that you’re really living. Monocle’s 2008 choice, Munich, is a nice place, but not somewhere I could live for more than a week without slashing my wrists in boredom. There is such a thing as too much quality of life.
Here’s a quick list of places I think should feature more highly in Quality of Life rankings. Their infrastructure is mainly fine, but infrastructure isn’t all they have. They’re places where you look forward to getting up in the morning – places where there is a quality of life, but also a sense of being alive.
Phnom Penh. Manageable size, great French colonial housing, tasteful restaurants and bars, easy escape to the beach, affordability of the good life, a sense of living on the edge.
Hong Kong. Excellent infrastructure, a sense of controlled chaos, a combination of upper class European lifestyle and down and dirty Chinese noodle stalls within kilometres of each other, an energetic city with mountains, beaches and country trails never more than a few minutes away. The whole world – East, West, urban, rural, old, new – in a microcosm.
Tokyo. Huge, booming, bustling, but liveable. The most modern, crazy, Blade Runner-inspired city in the world, but with everything you could want in terms of small scale neighbourhoods, friendly little streets, and a strong sense of culture that has been around for generations.
Beirut. Stylish people, beaches and mountains, suntanning and skiing in the same day. A rough neighbourhood, a sense of making it work under difficult circumstances, with reminders of past glories (and potentially future ones too) everywhere you look. Great food and an easy escape to the country.
Sydney. A truly magical place, a sense of drama whenever you see the harbour, life on the water, with a lot of great human contribution too in terms of tasteful and stylish architecture and venues to eat, drink and spectate.
Shanghai. Gets the heart beating quicker, a mysterious and beautiful place with an improbable history. Beautiful old European streets and parks, with beautiful restoration of fascinating old buildings. Energy, excitement, taste, drama.
San Francisco. Like Sydney, an awesome location, and with a sense of possibility in the air. Energy, attracting entrepreneurs from all over the world, the centre of modern culture.
London. A beautiful built environment with lots of parks, leafy streets. Great transport, no matter what the locals would have you believe, and a welcoming culture that sees people from all over the world arriving and putting down roots. The capital of the world, and Paris is only two hours away by train.
Cape Town. Incredible quality of life, with the sea at your doorstep and wineries a short drive away, but with the heart-quickening knowledge that you’re not in safe, secure Australia or New Zealand, but the heaving, teeming, exotic continent of Africa.
Bangkok. Still the centre of a beautiful country, great housing if you’re prepared to look, welcoming, entrepreneurial and stylish people. Great food, fascinating nooks and crannies, small streets and canals. Good dining and drinking options, and now a decent transport infrastructure. The heart of Asia, only two hours to Singapore and Hong Kong, with Indochina just next door; and within Thailand, mountains and beaches a short drive away.
Istanbul. Improbably exotic history, a Sydney-style waterfront feel, a fascinatingly jumbled up place with hundreds and thousands of years of history everywhere you look. But thoroughly modern too, with stylish bars, creative districts, and a never-closed atmosphere where there’s always one more place to tick off no matter how late the hour.
Quality of life is one thing: and in most surveys, the difference between top spot and 50th spot is just a matter of decimal points. Plenty of places have the basics. But there must be something more.
