Vancouver has once again been named the most livable city in the world. But some fear that the qualities that pushed the city to top honors will be hard to maintain as the city grows.
"Vancouver has once again topped the list of the world's most livable cities, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit."
"But even those who tout the city's virtues warn that planners will have to work hard to keep the title as more people flock to the attractive destination."
"The EIU rated Vancouver the top of 132 cities surveyed, citing its low crime, little threat from instability or terrorism and highly developed transport and communications infrastructure."
"It was followed by Melbourne, Vienna, Perth, Toronto and Sydney. Four of the 10 most livable cities were in Australia."
"But as more people come here, Vancouver could find itself falling in the rankings, some say, unless it manages to sustain its way of life while meeting the challenges of housing and transportation."
Comments
Rubbish: Never Allow Economists or Businessmen do a survey
Nonsense. As any non white trash Vancouverite will tell you who has traveled outside of Vancouver and into a large city, the transit structure is very poor, expensive, inefficient with long waits. Crime the lowest? Rubbish. A few years ago, one of nearby suburbs was the North American capital for several years running for Car thefts. We have gang style shootings and street racers. Sure, we have a nice backdrop with the pristine mountains and dirty oceans and filthy Fraser River but we have a very poor nightlife and entertainment with many homeless.
All we have to look forward to in the end of summer is the local carnival/fare called the PNE. We have Whistler, where young adults go to drink alcohol and create problems in the summer months. Whistler is now the site of the Olympics which is a 2 hour drive away on one of the most deadliest highways in the world. We do have fair medical facilities but long waits in hospitals because of overcrowding. It is very difficult to find a doctor. Many doctors are overworked, greedy, and not taking new patients. Walk-in clinics are terribly busy.
We have homeless people all over the place. The city is doing nothing to help them or help them get off the streets. We don't have shelters for these unfortunate people. Recently tourists to the city were surprised how many homeless they seen as mentioned in several newspaper articles.
One of the biggest complaints that tourists and Vancouverites comment about is the lack of entertainment and the prices of dining. Vancouver is very very boring. The prices in our restaurants are comparable to New York and we are definitely not a world class city, like New York in any way.
Vancouver may be the most "livable" but it certainly is one of the most dullest and boring of any city it's comparable size in North America.
With this kind of [false] advertising for the city, the world will think that Vancouver is almost picture perfect when it is not, it is far from it. We need to take a lesson from other cities in the world, like New York to see what makes a city truly world class and livable, but unfortunately the business community disagree because they realize how how quickly it is to make money in Vancouver, typically through real estate transactions. Our politicians like the Mayor of Vancouver, Sam Sullivan have big egos that won't allow it and improvements or addressing concerns of the working class. Just google "Sam's Strike" and Vancouver.
Vancouver a livable city? Yes, but the most livable? Well, only if you use a skewed rating system with limited research like the one recently used by EIU.