World's Most Livable Cities 2024

Without even opening that list, let me guess what's in it: Vienna, Copenhagen, Brisbane, Zurich, Calgary, Auckland, etc. I.e. cities that are, for the most part, pleasant little provincial backwaters by the standards of the 21st century.

Sort of like your understanding of the world, R1.

Oh, did I hurt the feelings of some passive aggressive asshole who lives in Zurich? Entschuldigung, mein Schätzchen.

I've seen three of these lists this year already and they're all different, based on which criteria they consider more important.

[quote]pleasant little provincial backwaters by the standards of the 21st century.

Vienna is the spy capital of the world, so is teeming with diplomats more than any other city. It's also incredibly clean and the public transport is second to none. I bet you live in one of those US cities where you have to walk by the homeless corpses on your way to the store, lol.

r2 It's just a gringo talking smack because it woke up cranky, ignore it.

R1- You have ESP baby.

No, I actually live in a world class provincial backwater - Toronto. That's why I know them when I see them.

No, R3, you just prompted the usual exasperated weariness with your sort. So insecure, so defensive, so uninformed. Have the day you deserve.

Note Toronto - deservedly - fell off the list. It's a mess in every respect.

The failure to have anything close to a functional public transportation system is one of the most apparent deficits in American cities, which renders them not ideal.

I mean Osaka is in there at number 9 and thats the 3rd largest city in Japan ,which one of the most densely populated countries on the planet. So it is apparently possible to have a liveable mega city not just in "pleasant little provincial backwaters".

The arrogance and ignorance of describing Vienna as a provincial backwater.... It should be ignored with the contempt it deserves, but who could stand to have this moron lurching around unchallenged.

R1, educate us. Which cities are "not or(sic) the most part, pleasant little provincial backwaters by the standards of the 21st century?

As well, what, specifically, are the standards of the 21st century?

I live in Auckland which is tied with Osaka which I have been to several times. I know which I'd prefer!

I'm also surprised that no cities from Spain are listed at the site. I love going to Spain

This is a bit off topic but not that off topic considering most of us are shallow faggots but I find the men in Spain the hottest in Europe.

Portland and Seattle both went radically downhill during the shutdown and the George Floyd protests. Both cities are now covered in graffiti.

I love that Copenhagen and Geneva are on this list. I've visited both in the last 5 years and was amazed at how clean, friendly, organized and downright great they are.

r14 having vistied Spain last year, I agree with you on all fronts.

I wouldn't mind living in Vienna, but most of those places are very boring, very expensive, or both.

[quote]I'm also surprised that no cities from Spain are listed at the site. I love going to Spain

To visit, who wouldn't rather visit Spanish cities than Swiss or Austrian or Danish or New Zealand cities or Canadian cities. There's always an element of the chaotic, of surprise, and delight. They're on their own clock. The food is strange and delicious, the men are handsome, the people are fun, you never need to go back to your hotel room because the parties never stop. They're also friendly and fun and love to drink; yet you very rarely see a drunk Spaniard who is even a little sloppy, let alone belligerent - it's bad form not to contribute to the conversation and sit there silent and sullen and sour.

But the measures of livability don't place .much value in fun or happiness or elements of surprise and delight, they measure things the German way, by counting the measurable: number of free museums, number of tram and bus and subway stops, number of job opportunities -- and what a waste time it is to spend your life in Spain working. They measure the number of day care spots and international schools and the number of different types of sports leagues. They measure the number of pieces of litter on a sidewalk, the.numbee of facilities for recycling cooking oil, the number of retirement living facilities, and the number of shops selling clothes for large women, and the number of flights to other cities from the airport. They measure the things that people will tout when your job transfers you to Vienna for a few years: the city is very clean and we'll connected to transportation hubs and has more square footage. The number of dry cleaners and show repairers and the salaries if school teachers, the air quality index...

All the things easily counted are counted in these livability indices, and somehow it all adds up to something boring. Vienna is a lovely city, as q place to live there is much logic and convenience to the place, but aside from the wild card of beautiful architecture, there's not enormous vibrancy. It's ability to delight is down to "oh, look at the capitals on those columns" (something I happen to be fan of, but...). Zurich? The surprise will come from the prices of doing anything and from the uptight neighbors and their rules...but the pretty bits are immaculately clean.

Livability indices measure things that can make for convenient, logical, clean, well organized, expensive, close to work cities, entirely pleasant to live on on a day to day basis, but not the cities that win anybody's heart or makes anybody want to move countries to live there.

Maybe next year we'll make the list.

I've been to about half of them. Auckland is definitely a small backwater-ish place. Not much of a downtown and limited as a walking city. Zurich seems very livable--visited a friend there. Melbourne has a reputation in Australia as the better of the two big cities to live and it seems nice enough. I'm going to Copenhagen next month and outwardly, it seems like the one truly big city in Scandinavia. Vancouver is a pleasant 2nd tier-type city, lots of natural beauty.

Livable doesn't necessarily mean most exciting. NYC requires some adjustment from a lot of people. But many places in the US aren't livable---the carbound sprawlburgs of the sunbelt. San Francisco is excessively expensive. New Orleans would be livable (if you ignored the humidity) if not for the crime and the likelihood it will be submerged in the not too distant future.

R19- I agree with you 100%. These best cities lists are generally BULLSHIT

I say that in spite of my being the person who started this thread.

[quote]New Orleans would be livable (if you ignored the humidity) if not for the crime and the likelihood it will be submerged in the not too distant future.

Pretty big ifs.

[quote]To visit, who wouldn't rather visit Spanish cities than Swiss or Austrian or Danish or New Zealand cities or Canadian cities. There's always an element of the chaotic, of surprise, and delight.

Exactly. I would take Rome or Milan over any of those listed in the article.

Most boring is more like it.

[quote]I noticed there's not one single city in the United States on that list. You'd think Portland Oregon or Seattle.

Portland? Seriously? In terms of livability, I'm thinking that a city with a largely desolate downtown, large number of homeless people, and some of the worst drug-addiction problems in the countries doesn't qualify as all that "livable" at present. Seattle has a similar, but smaller, problem, but its livability quotient is largely destroyed by its overall lack of public transportation & reliance on automobiles. (Maybe once ST3 is built out in 20 years or so.)

[quote]I've been to about half of them. Auckland is definitely a small backwater-ish place.

I've been to all but Osaka, and think it's absurd that some of you cunts are claiming any given city smaller than NYC is a "backwater." I used to live there, but I would not define it as a particularly livable city. Too much grime and dysfunctional public transportation. Also, some of these cities are over 1,000 years old, and I know Switzerland's history goes back twice that long.

Btw I'm guessing there aren't any Europeans posting on this thread, given that they think Americans are heathens – and for good reason. Even as an American I wouldn't pick any US cities as more livable than the ones listed

Finally, it seems like they thoroughly glossed over the reality that the reason most of these cities are "livable" is because they're fancy AF. Sydney, Melbourne, Vancouver & Zurich are among the most expensive cities in the world. And unlike the US, they actually *try* to house everyone, as opposed to letting people sleep on the streets.

I have no idea how Vancouver could possibly be on the list. DTES alone should be disqualifying. Then add in one of the most lopsided cost/income ratios on Earth...

R27- Vancouver is a ridiculously expensive city which makes it VERY unlivable.

As I said before it's a BULSHIT list.

OP Portland!!!! Homelessness and crime are causing people and businesses to leave.

America just isn’t all that, dears.

[quote]Btw I'm guessing there aren't any Europeans posting on this thread, given that they think Americans are heathens – and for good reason. Even as an American I wouldn't pick any US cities as more livable than the ones listed

Not sure of your point, R26. I'm a European citizen and a US citizen (Still, though I live i Europe.) The thread is about a list of 10 most liveable cities that doesn't include any US cities. Europeans think about Americans rather less than you might think. Why would Europeans jump into to introduce the topic of Americans when it had nothing to do with the list?

You’re that guy who lives in Romania, aren’t you

East Hampton didn’t make the list. Oh, what a surprise.

R33- Yonkers didn't make the list either- quelle surprise.

Vancouver BC although it is not affordable for 99% of the population. It is certainly liveable tho if someone else pays the rent.

I'm not surprised Portland isn't on this list.

And Portland would be a better city today if it had remained off all such lists in the early 2000s, and if The NY Times wasn't orgasming over it weekly back then. And also that fucking show Portlandia.

Granted, much of Portlands current sad state is self-inflicted. And also drug addict homeless mentally ill inflicted

"You'd think Portland Oregon or Seattle."

Both of these cities are awful.

R36 You're forgetting something!

is r16 jamie the anti-chef?

he's been abroad living/hopping loke this.

i'm guessing wife's job is very international, whatever it is.

R38? Right? And those idiot ANTIFA fucks

🙋‍♀️🙋‍♂️We're outta here!

'an open-air insane asylum'

Vienna is awesome. And affordable due to a century of well manage public housing. Calling it a cultural backwater really reeks of ignorance.

I adore Vienna, but the narrow streets without any trees make the city unbearably hot from April onwards.

The people who put out these lists basically do it for advertising. The company that publishes the list gets money. The cities that are listed to pay.

It’s pretty much “who’s who”.