Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Best "cities" in the world?

Shock, horror: the cities of New Zealand are more livable than those in Australia! According to the just released 2007 Worldwide Quality of Living Survey, Sydney ranks 9 but Auckland is in the top 5! (Melbourne limps in at 17.) Something's clearly wonky in their formula, since the top ranking cities (I know people who live and have lived in the middle three) were:

1 Zurich • 2 Geneva • 3 Vancouver • 4 Vienna • 5 Auckland

And New York City? How could they let it be the index (100.0 points) and then give higher scores to forty-seven other cities?! Aren't cities supposed to be gritty and stressful and noisy anymore - not to mention, big?