FOR THE SECOND day in a row, Ireland’s cities have been beaten to the top of a global list by a metropolis from down under.
It was revealed yesterday that readers of US travel magazine Condé Nast Traveler ranked Sydney ahead of Dublin in terms of ‘friendliest’ cities.
And today, the annual list of ”most liveable” cities has been topped once again by Melbourne.
Dublin sneaks in at 42 in the global list – up four spots from last year (but that means we edge into the European top 20 for 2015).
It’s the fifth year in a row that the Australian city has finished top of the pile.
The Canadian city of Vancouver, which came out top in 2011, is in third place this year.
The survey scores cities on five broad categories:
It found that mid-sized cities in wealthier countries with a relatively low population density scored highly, with Canada and Australia accounting for seven of the top ten.
Although offering a “big city buzz”, the study concluded that global centres such as London, New York, Paris and Tokyo suffered overstretched infrastructure and higher crime rates as a result of their size.
Tokyo was ranked at 15, Paris at 29, London at 53 and New York at 55.
The top five was unchanged…
1. Melbourne, Australia
2. Vienna, Austria
3. Vancouver, British Columbia
4. Toronto
5. Adelaide, Australia
5. Calgary, Alberta
The authors of the report noted a “deterioration in stability in many cities around the world”.
And the least liveable cities are given as:
136. Tripoli, Libya
137. Lagos, Nigeria
138. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
139. Dhaka, Bangladesh
140. Damascus, Syria
The three cities falling furthest in the rankings were Libyan capital Tripoli, Ukrainian capital Kiev and Syrian capital Damascus – all as the result of ongoing conflicts.
In contrast, Harare in Zimbabwe, Nepal’s capital Kathmandu and desert metropolis Dubai recorded the most improved scores.
Includes reporting from © AFP, 2015.
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