Are you stuck in Vancouver or love it here?

[nickcan]

The times have changed. Just google 'world's best or most livable cities' and Vancouver ranks in the top five . Your so called world class cities don't rank. And Vancouver's residential downtown is actually considered a desirable attribute and other cities are trying to replicate our model.

The Institute for Urban Strategies at The Mori Memorial Foundation in Tokyo issued a comprehensive study of global cities in 2015. The ranking is based on six overall categories, "Economy", "Research & Development", "Cultural Interaction", "Livability", "Environment", and "Accessibility", with 70 individual indicators among them. This Japanese ranking also breaks down top ten world cities ranked in subjective categories such as "manager, researcher, artist, visitor and resident".[18]

Rank
City
1 United Kingdom London
2 United States New York City
3 France Paris
4 Japan Tokyo
5 Singapore Singapore
6 South Korea Seoul
7 Hong Kong Hong Kong
8 Germany Berlin
9 Netherlands Amsterdam
10 Austria Vienna


Where is Vancouver?

 

[manni]

The Institute for Urban Strategies at The Mori Memorial Foundation in Tokyo issued a comprehensive study of global cities in 2015. The ranking is based on six overall categories, "Economy", "Research & Development", "Cultural Interaction", "Livability", "Environment", and "Accessibility", with 70 individual indicators among them. This Japanese ranking also breaks down top ten world cities ranked in subjective categories such as "manager, researcher, artist, visitor and resident".[18]

Rank
City
1 United Kingdom London
2 United States New York City
3 France Paris
4 Japan Tokyo
5 Singapore Singapore
6 South Korea Seoul
7 Hong Kong Hong Kong
8 Germany Berlin
9 Netherlands Amsterdam
10 Austria Vienna


Where is Vancouver?

gee…no Scandinavian representation such as Copenhagen and Sweden?
and where's Switzerland?

 

[Tugela]

The Institute for Urban Strategies at The Mori Memorial Foundation in Tokyo issued a comprehensive study of global cities in 2015. The ranking is based on six overall categories, "Economy", "Research & Development", "Cultural Interaction", "Livability", "Environment", and "Accessibility", with 70 individual indicators among them. This Japanese ranking also breaks down top ten world cities ranked in subjective categories such as "manager, researcher, artist, visitor and resident".[18]

Rank
City
1 United Kingdom London
2 United States New York City
3 France Paris
4 Japan Tokyo
5 Singapore Singapore
6 South Korea Seoul
7 Hong Kong Hong Kong
8 Germany Berlin
9 Netherlands Amsterdam
10 Austria Vienna


Where is Vancouver?

Those are cities where the big money is, not the best places to live.

 

[hornygandalf]

Aside from Tokyo, we are probably one of the cities most likely to get hit with a major earthquake.
Wonder how many of the recent immigrants will decide to leave after that hits...
Having grown up in the shaky isles, it is less of a concern to me, but I know it will change people's perceptions once that hits... and we enter a prolonged cleanup/rebuilding period.

 

[tokugawa]

The Institute for Urban Strategies at The Mori Memorial Foundation in Tokyo issued a comprehensive study of global cities in 2015. The ranking is based on six overall categories, "Economy", "Research & Development", "Cultural Interaction", "Livability", "Environment", and "Accessibility", with 70 individual indicators among them. This Japanese ranking also breaks down top ten world cities ranked in subjective categories such as "manager, researcher, artist, visitor and resident".[18]

Rank
City
6 South Korea Seoul
7 Hong Kong Hong Kong

Where is Vancouver?

One thing I can tell that is better in Vancouver is the air quality! Seoul has to be one of the worst cities in the world when it comes to air quality. Hong Kong is like Richmond 3 Road between Cambie Road and Westminster Hwy times 1,000,000 24/7.

Here's an amusing blog on Seoul's air quality: http://hatesk.blogspot.ca/2006/09/reason-3-smell.html

 

[CanineCowboy]

The Institute for Urban Strategies at The Mori Memorial Foundation in Tokyo issued a comprehensive study of global cities in 2015. The ranking is based on six overall categories, "Economy", "Research & Development", "Cultural Interaction", "Livability", "Environment", and "Accessibility", with 70 individual indicators among them. This Japanese ranking also breaks down top ten world cities ranked in subjective categories such as "manager, researcher, artist, visitor and resident".[18]

Rank
City
1 United Kingdom London
2 United States New York City
3 France Paris
4 Japan Tokyo
5 Singapore Singapore
6 South Korea Seoul
7 Hong Kong Hong Kong
8 Germany Berlin
9 Netherlands Amsterdam
10 Austria Vienna


Where is Vancouver?

Actually the study you quote is titled 'The Global Power Index". If you read the one paragraph synopsis of what they are trying to measure, they use the terms 'magnetism', 'comprehensive power' and 'city strength'. Livability as you noted is only one of six functions they evaluate.

As far as livability and quality of life are concerned, the three most respected/cited studies are by: Mercer 'Quality of Living Ranking'(Mercer is the largest human resources consulting firm in the world), the Economist's 'Global Liveability Ranking' and Monocle's 'Quality of Life Survey'. Mercer ranks Vancouver 4th (Paris 27th, London 40th, New York and Tokyo, tied in 44th, and Rome doesn't make it into the top 50). The Economist ranks Vancouver 3rd (again none of Paris, London, New York, Tokyo or Rome are ranked in the top ten). Monocle's ranks Vancouver 7th (Tokyo 1st, Paris 15th, London, New York and Rome didn't make the top 25).

I am not an actuary, but I feel comfortable accepting their findings.

 

[westwoody]

London is insanely expensive and parts of it are ugly beyond words. Some areas of row houses go on for miles, drab grey miserable little places, no yards, the only green is a bit of flowers in a window box.

I think these comparative indexes are aimed at multimillionaires. Not ordinary working stiffs. I know a Londoner who can't wait to get the fuck out first chance they get.

 

[87112]

I lived in Brooklyn NY for 5 years. It felt like one giant prison cause our family did not have a car and we traveled everywhere by subway and on weekends went to dirty old Chinatown and Manhattan. I have no idea why any ordinary person would say NYC is a great place to live after the thrill wears off. Or maybe life goes in Cycles for what a person wants. I use to like cities and now would not go for free to big cities in the world. Small town hell yeah if its overseas. But small town America is kind of boring now, nothing but strips malls and even those are going away due to Amazon killing off small business.

 

[sdw]

All of the "Studies" on the livability of Cities are incestuous. You have well paid people interviewing well paid people. You have people that earn their living in the arts, culture, intellectual, media fields interviewing people that earn their living in the arts, culture, intellectual, media fields. Of course the City is going to be rated according to how good a living it provides for the people interviewed.

The interviewers don't go down to the Downtown East Side in Vancouver and interview people on the street. It's very much like the voters of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the Oscars. Working, dues paying, publication subscribing industry people are asked who is best this year. It should surprise no one that they like the work of their peers.

The people that vote for these things are mostly members of the 1%. They don't live in the real world.

The reason New York City is usually high on these lists is because if you work in the performing arts with a bias to the stage, if you work in the fashion industry or you work in the financial industry - New York City is where it's happening in America. Los Angeles is too grubby to make it onto a list even if they are where you need to be if you work in the performing arts with a bias to film.

 

[CanineCowboy]

Actually Mercer employs actuaries. So even though there would be elements of qualitative analysis, their methods would be emperical. Their analysis affects compensation packages for both local and multinational companies.

 

[BrokeBastard]

All of the "Studies" on the livability of Cities are incestuous. You have well paid people interviewing well paid people. You have people that earn their living in the arts, culture, intellectual, media fields interviewing people that earn their living in the arts, culture, intellectual, media fields. Of course the City is going to be rated according to how good a living it provides for the people interviewed.

Moneysense magazine ranks Vancouver as the 46th best Canadian city to live in. Now that's a huge turnaround from being in the top 5 rankings in other reports. http://www.moneysense.ca/canadas-best-places-to-live-2015-full-ranking/

 

[sdw]

Moneysense magazine ranks Vancouver as the 46th best Canadian city to live in. Now that's a huge turnaround from being in the top 5 rankings in other reports. http://www.moneysense.ca/canadas-best-places-to-live-2015-full-ranking/

CBC Vancouver has been decimated also CTV and Global. Shaw and Telus have moved what they can out of the Lower Mainland. The City of Vancouver has made it difficult to go to the QE to see a show. UBC has a board that is a clique and the smart researchers are choosing other institutions to research and teach at. SFU continues to be politically correct, offering "affirming" degrees to people that passed grade school on age alone. Municipalities in the Lower Mainland used to clean the streets and empty the trash cans. Now they don't and they are even removing trash cans, meaning even more garbage is dropped on the street. You can't drive 3 blocks anywhere without seeing a sofa, bed, TV set dumped on the side of the road. If you are a business owner, you have to pay to remove the garbage that is dumped on or near your dumpster bin by people that can't get their municipality to pick it up. And, the garbage is strewn all over because hundreds of pickers have picked through it. The municipalities and provincial government have given the poor only two choices. Live in a Downtown Eastside Dump in daily danger of being robbed, or sleep in a doorway. Housing has been priced out of their reach with the support we are willing to give them.

 

[summerbreeze]

I lived in Brooklyn NY for 5 years. It felt like one giant prison cause our family did not have a car and we traveled everywhere by subway and on weekends went to dirty old Chinatown and Manhattan. I have no idea why any ordinary person would say NYC is a great place to live after the thrill wears off. Or maybe life goes in Cycles for what a person wants. I use to like cities and now would not go for free to big cities in the world. Small town hell yeah if its overseas. But small town America is kind of boring now, nothing but strips malls and even those are going away due to Amazon killing off small business.

New York has the best and the worst of everything

depending on which side of the poverty line you live on, it could be great or terrible

no doubt most of us live where our friends and family live and we can make a living, nice city is the icing on the cake

 

[westwoody]

depending on which side of the poverty line you live on, it could be great or terrible

Obviously most of these indexes are done by/for the affluent side, as sdw pointed out.

There is a lot more to London than walking along the Thames or Sloane Square, and most of it is really shitty.
There's lots of crap in the GVRD that people turn a blind eye to.

 

[CanineCowboy]

Moneysense magazine ranks Vancouver as the 46th best Canadian city to live in. Now that's a huge turnaround from being in the top 5 rankings in other reports. http://www.moneysense.ca/canadas-best-places-to-live-2015-full-ranking/

You are kidding me right. You think Moneysense magazine (a Canadian publication, published by Rogers Media, with a 2011 circulation of 111,000) is more credible than The Economist (an international publication, and the #1 business periodical in the world, with a circulation of over 7.3 million). I wonder which study was citied more often in other periodicals and newspapers, both nationally and internationally.

 

[BrokeBastard]

You are kidding me right. You think Moneysense magazine (a Canadian publication, published by Rogers Media, with a 2011 circulation of 111,000) is more credible than The Economist (an international publication, and the #1 business periodical in the world, with a circulation of over 7.3 million). I wonder which study was citied more often in other periodicals and newspapers, both nationally and internationally.

Vancouver will be interesting to see in the next few decades. A lot of old single people, very few young families. I think most of the posters who love Vancouver don't have kids to worry about. Yes it's a beautiful city but it's going to be a struggle for young adults who are not going to be inheriting property.

 

[cktc9]

...an excellent collection of personal bias confirmations.

There's ugly everywhere, if you want to find it. Even in your own mirror.
Because it's not perfect (for you), doesn't make it terrible.
DERA is proof that it's pretty good here. You think they'd all go to Edmonton if they could? Nope, they're tolerated here, don't freeze solid in the winter, and bluntly, they've been in that area for as long as Vancouver has been around.

Having visited relatives in a few of those other famous "highly desirable" locations, it's always interesting to hear how they would love to live here if they could.
And that's why it's expensive here. Because they are moving here.

 

[Tugela]

Moneysense magazine ranks Vancouver as the 46th best Canadian city to live in. Now that's a huge turnaround from being in the top 5 rankings in other reports. http://www.moneysense.ca/canadas-best-places-to-live-2015-full-ranking/

Most of those "cities" are actually towns.

And many of them are parts of metropolitan areas which are normally considered as a single entity.

 

[CanineCowboy]

Vancouver will be interesting to see in the next few decades. A lot of old single people, very few young families. I think most of the posters who love Vancouver don't have kids to worry about. Yes it's a beautiful city but it's going to be a struggle for young adults who are not going to be inheriting property.

You are correct, at least about me not having kids and loving Vancouver. The need to inherit property may or may not be true, it may be more about managing realistic expectations.

The price of a modestly priced Vancouver condo has only doubled in the last 20 years. If you search on realtylink the cheapest list price of a condo in East Vancouver is $169,900. Twenty years ago it was around $80,000. Not to make myself sound like a rags to riches story, but I personally I went to university, worked, skrimped and saved and managed to buy a modest apartment when I was 25 years old (I didn't live at home or receive any parental financial support since leaving home at 18). I chose not to have children lived modestly and was able to flip my condo into a modest detached house. The last decade I have expendable income so chose to travel, drink the wine and spirits I appreciate, eat good food and see the occasional escort.

 

[SJD]

Lauren its ladies like you that make me love it here.