Do you live in the best city in the world?

[Aussie3rddayfan]

This was an article I caught on the news earlier today. A recent study which is performed yearly ranks the best cities in the world to live in. Lots of things including transport, politics, government, business, environement, society and sporting culture is taken in. My home town of Sydney is in the Top 10 :D and the city of Zurich in Switzerland takes the spoils (again). Where does your city lie?

Scroll to the bottom to see the Top 50

http://www.mercer.com/pressrelease/details.jhtml/dynamic/idContent/1307990

http://www.travelciti.com/images/eurasiaguide/zurich.jpg

And guess which city was last, right down in 215th place? Yep, that's right, Bagdad. Apparently it's rather, er, 'unstable' at the moment.

[The Unknown Gomer]

Interesting, not a single US city made it into the top 50 on the Personal Safety list. (Although further reading on the pages shows that Chicago, Honolulu, Houston, Lexington, San Francisco and Winston-Salem all tie at 53, just shy of making the list.

So I guess the idea is that if you want to live well AND live safely, DON'T come to the United States, we apparently really suck over here. :P

[Aussie3rddayfan]

Interesting, not a single US city made it into the top 50 on the Personal Safety list. (Although further reading on the pages shows that Chicago, Honolulu, Houston, Lexington, San Francisco and Winston-Salem all tie at 53, just shy of making the list.

So I guess the idea is that if you want to live well AND live safely, DON'T come to the United States, we apparently really suck over here. :P

Yep, come to Oz. Good climate, good people, good opportunities, great beaches and scenery, and THE best sporting culture in the world. What are you waiting for?! :D :cool:

[Pouye]

Yep, come to Oz. Good climate, good people, good opportunities, great beaches and scenery, and THE best sporting culture in the world. What are you waiting for?! :D :cool:

Trust me, you don't want all of us Yanks coming there and spoiling everything. ;)

Rock

[Pouye]

Interesting, not a single US city made it into the top 50 on the Personal Safety list. (Although further reading on the pages shows that Chicago, Honolulu, Houston, Lexington, San Francisco and Winston-Salem all tie at 53, just shy of making the list.

So I guess the idea is that if you want to live well AND live safely, DON'T come to the United States, we apparently really suck over here. :P

One of the factors in the Mercer study on the side of personal safety is the citizen's "global" relationship with other countries in the world. In other words, since an American in a US city is a more likely target to terrorists, the US citizen's personal safety factor goes down (remember 9-11?). Being a citizen of a "non-targeted" country will boost the personal safety factor of neutral countries like Switzerland and Canada much higher than cities in the USA.

Rock

[sandie]

Trust me, you don't want all of us Yanks coming there and spoiling everything. ;)

Rock

Yeah, you're right. Shhhh, Col and Rock. :P

[sandie]

Auckland did very well too, at number 5. It's a lovely place, or was when I visited it.

[kiwisongbird]

Yeah, Auckland was BEFORE any Australian cities!!!!!!! Please note for some of you who are not sure - New Zealand is NOT part of Australia :) :) :) :D :P

The city I live in here in Thailand would fail miserably because of the dirty sky half the year! It's nice and blue at the moment - yay, but usually not for long...

[Les_Is_More]

So I guess the idea is that if you want to live well AND live safely, DON'T come to the United States, we apparently really suck over here. :P

It helps not to have 20 million illegal immigrants, who don't follow the laws of the lands.

Portland, the nearest city to me, made it in the top 50. Not bad. :D

[Aussie3rddayfan]

Trust me, you don't want all of us Yanks coming there and spoiling everything. ;)

Rock

That's a very good point. The accent would get to me. :P

Please note for some of you who are not sure - New Zealand is NOT part of Australia

Since when? Wash your mouth out with soap young lady. :mad: :P

[ausgirl]

Please note for some of you who are not sure - New Zealand is NOT part of Australia :) :) :) :D :P No it isn't, but many of it's residents are! ;)

[sandie]

Touche, Marg. :P

[in hiding]

Interesting, not a single US city made it into the top 50 on the Personal Safety list. (Although further reading on the pages shows that Chicago, Honolulu, Houston, Lexington, San Francisco and Winston-Salem all tie at 53, just shy of making the list.

So I guess the idea is that if you want to live well AND live safely, DON'T come to the United States, we apparently really suck over here. :P

let's see a European company lists almost all European cities as better than American cities... you'd think they'd throw some US city a bone just to make the list look a little less rigged. It's a conspiracy for the Europeans to make themselves feel better about where they live :)

[Aussie3rddayfan]

let's see a European company lists almost all European cities as better than American cities... you'd think they'd throw some US city a bone just to make the list look a little less rigged. It's a conspiracy for the Europeans to make themselves feel better about where they live :)

I think given the choice most people would live in Europe over the US any day. I know I would.

[danbos]

and THE best sporting culture in the world. What are you waiting for?! :D :cool:

Waiting for you guys to learn what hockey is! :D

[kiwisongbird]

That's a very good point. The accent would get to me. :P



Since when? Wash your mouth out with soap young lady. :mad: :P

Thanks a million, truly, really, truly - I do so love to be called YOUNG LADY! :)

[in hiding]

I think given the choice most people would live in Europe over the US any day. I know I would.

who are most people?

[Aussie3rddayfan]

Waiting for you guys to learn what hockey is! :D

I presume you mean Ice Hockey cause we are world champions and Olympic gold medalists at conventional hockey.

As for sporting culture:

We have four forms of football here: soccer, League, Union and AFL. And they are manly codes too; not that padded-up, dress-wearing version of football that's so popular in the States. :P And then of course there's cricket, tennis, swimming... We are the best at pretty much everything we do! :D

http://en.epochtimes.com/news_images/2006-1-25-kieren_perkins_1251450.jp g

Thanks a million, truly, really, truly - I do so love to be called YOUNG LADY!

Glad to be of service to a fellow countryman. ;)

who are most people?

The majority. :D

[kiwisongbird]

Hmmmmm :mad:

[sandie]

Col: You're in fine form.

Sharon: You're always in fine form, and a wonderful Kiwi too.

[kiwisongbird]

Love ya Sandie! :) :) You're a good little Aussie chick you are! :)

[sandie]

Thanks Sharon. :) Now, are you going to mention the All Blacks? :P

[danbos]

I presume you mean Ice Hockey cause we are world champions and Olympic gold medalists at conventional hockey.

Yep, I mean real hockey. ;) ....roller hockey works too. :D

[kiwisongbird]

Thanks Sharon. :) Now, are you going to mention the All Blacks? :P

Just a bunch of grown men who dress up all in black, shout at their competitors, then run around after a little leather ball for a while... why would I mention them? :) Not into rugby!

[Aussie3rddayfan]

Hmmmmm :mad:

What did I say! :confused:

Yep, I mean real hockey. ;) ....roller hockey works too. :D

I find Ice Hockey amusing becasue it seems the only object of the game is to start a fight with the other team.

[Pouye]

I think given the choice most people would live in Europe over the US any day. I know I would.

That's not what most immigrants think ;).

The USA still has many more opportunities to become independently wealthy than any other country, and that keeps the immigrants a-flowin' in.

Rock

[kiwisongbird]

[QUOTE=Aussie3rddayfan;179 8452]What did I say! :confused:

Hey, I honestly can't remember why I wrote Hmmmmm with a cross face after it - must have been a hormonal moment :) :) - sorry and big hug sent to you to make up for the confusion, I'm confused as well! :) :eek:

[Yippy]

My city would be the best city in the world if about 9,000,000 would leave.:P

[Jason]

My city would be the best city in the world if about 9,000,000 would leave.:P

:D

[kiwisongbird]

That's more than the population of NZ :)

[Jason]

My city would be the best city in the world if about 9,000,000 would leave.:P

I wonder what negative six million people looks like?

[kiwisongbird]

Very peaceful, I would imagine! :)

We were chatting with a couple from California the other day who were gobsmacked at the fact that there are only 4,000,00 New Zealanders - we do, however, have many immigrants and refugees from almost every country in the world as well...and as the very 'sweet' Australians mentioned, there are quite a few New Zealanders living in Australia - mainly Sydney I think... :)

[Jason]

We were chatting with a couple from California the other day who were gobsmacked at the fact that there are only 4,000,00 New Zealanders

Yeah, that kind of shocked me too because my state of Arizona has 5,000,000 and my city has 1,500,000 (not counting connected cities).

[Yippy]

I wonder what negative six million people looks like?

My figure is for the county, which is pretty much comprised of one sprawling city. The city of LA has far reaching tentacles, and my little city is in the middle. So, if 9,000,000 would leave the area, I could actually get somewhere in a reasonable amount of time without anyone getting ticked off for some reason.

Sometimes when I'm on a freeway overpass and can see all of the LA basin (ocean to the west, mountains to the north, Hollywood sign to the east), I actually try and visualize no stucco or cars, and know that it would be perfect here. The weather is perfect, the mountains & sea are beautiful, there's no humidity, it's just perfect. Then it's back to reality and rude people.

I think given the choice most people would live in Europe over the US any day. I know I would.
I wish.:cool:

[Jason]

My figure is for the county, which is pretty much comprised of one sprawling city. The city of LA has far reaching tentacles, and my little city is in the middle. So, if 9,000,000 would leave the area, I could actually get somewhere in a reasonable amount of time without anyone getting ticked off for some reason.



Phoenix is like that too. Add all the connected cities (Scottsdale, Mesa, Glendale, Tempe, etc) and we're more like 3-4 million.

[danbos]

Yeah, that kind of shocked me too because my state of Arizona has 5,000,000 and my city has 1,500,000 (not counting connected cities).

My city has about 7000(and I don't even live in the city limits). :P

The "big" city close to me has almost 200,000.

[Jason]

My city has about 7000(and I don't even live in the city limits). :P



My high school had 5,000.

[danbos]

My high school had 5,000.

:P :P

Yep, I live in a little hicktown. The little college that I go to 10 minutes down the road has an enrollment of triple my town's population. :P

[Valpo]

New York City and the surrounding area have a good 14 million people in it. The biggest mutli cultural center in the world and owns a nick name as the greatest city in the world. So i'll take that with me.

[Jesuslove]

Rehoboth Beach is known as "Our nation's summer capital". It has a small number of year round residents, but it growing fast. It's the closest beach resort to Washington DC, and Baltimore.

[rossid]

We are mentioned in the top five of several surveys each year.

Here is one I found quite easily:

http://www.forbes.com/2008/04/14/water-cities-drinking-forbeslife-cx_avd_0414health.html

"Though the drinking water supply across much of the U.S. meets the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Safe Drinking Water standards, contaminant concentrations do vary from city to city. Forbes.com found that the metropolitan statistical areas with some of the cleanest water on tap include Des Moines, Iowa; Austin, Texas; and Sioux Falls, S.D."

Do not forget we lost water in 1993 after that flood. Things were shored up as far as levees and we had no danger in this 2008 flood.

[sandie]

So, do 9 million people live in LA? We have 4 milllion in Sydney, and it's a sprawling city.

[Aussie3rddayfan]

So, do 9 million people live in LA? We have 4 milllion in Sydney, and it's a sprawling city.

Yes, how some cities in the world can survive with tens of millions of people is beyond me. We've got 4 million here in Sydney and it's bad enough already.

Guys, I have started a thread called name that city over in the amusement park. You post a picture of a city and let others guess. Sandie, Jason, a little help is needed over there to guess the city...

[Yippy]

So, do 9 million people live in LA? We have 4 milllion in Sydney, and it's a sprawling city.

LA county, which is pretty much one sprawling city. LA proper is spread throughout the county and engulfs many minion cities that consider themselves "LA." So, it's pretty much 9 million in one spot.

[sandie]

Thanks Diane. Sydney has engulfed surrounding areas too. My City of Penrith was separate (one hour drive from the centre of Sydney) but now suburbia stretches all the way to Penrith.

[Aussie3rddayfan]

Thanks Diane. Sydney has engulfed surrounding areas too. My City of Penrith was separate (one hour drive from the centre of Sydney) but now suburbia stretches all the way to Penrith.

True. But Penrith still has an air of seclusion from the hustle and bustle of city life. It feels 'detached' enough to feel your not in the mad house that is Sydney. It is a far more relaxing place to be.

[Whiteheart]

We have four forms of football here: soccer, League, Union and AFL. And they are manly codes too;


HAHAHAHAHAHAHA since when was AFL a 'manly' code ??

A big game of free for all that would not look out of place in a school backyard.

However, I would say that American Football would look a heck of alot more interesting if the players didn't arm themselves with helmets, shoulder pads and chest protectors.

Rod

[sandie]

True. But Penrith still has an air of seclusion from the hustle and bustle of city life. It feels 'detached' enough to feel your not in the mad house that is Sydney. It is a far more relaxing place to be.

Exactly, Col. :)

I'm happy to commute to the city for work, and just as happy to come home on the train to Penrith. After the rush, bustle and inner-city cafe culture, I like to walk around our bushland area beside Werrington lake, and watch the ducks on the lake. The bushland attracts lots of native parrots and cockatoos. :) :) :)

[phil_ur_friend]

I'm glad that so many people enjoy living in cities,
As long as it stays that way,
there will be so many less people in places that I consider to be
a beautiful paradise,
and they consider to be "the middle of nowhere".
Thank God for them city-folk.

San Diego is for the birds-
(of a different feather than my own).

-Phil, your (mountain preferring) friend:D

[catman]

Short answer to the question -- no I do not live in the best city in the world. This said, I prefer my little town to most cities. I am able to walk my dogs late at night without having to watch out for traffic. I am able to leave my house unlocked while I am working outside without worrying about someone breaking into my house and stealing everything they can carry (if they can get by my big dogs, that is).
I'm not sure what qualifies as the best city in the world, but I'll stay where I am, at least for now.