Future Brisbane: River City’s liveability trailing behind all mainland capitals despite looming 2032 Games

Brisbane trails every other Australian mainland capital city in terms of liveability, new global rankings show, highlighting three key areas that are in drastic need of attention ahead of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Brisbane trails every other Australian mainland capital city in terms of liveability – and major improvements in public transport, affordable housing, night-life, culture and environment are critical to fixing it.

In one decade, Brisbane has slid three places on the Economist Intelligence Unit’s global liveability rankings to 16th, making it the most unliveable of Australia’s five largest mainland capitals.

But in a positive development, the EIU said Queensland’s capital had “solidified its status” as a developed and top-performing city in the Global Liveability Index, with “perfect scores in health care and education”.

The Sunday Mail and Courier-Mail’s Future Brisbane series will focus on liveability and address key areas the River City needs to climb up the world rankings, including transport, housing, culture and climate.

Brisbane has “solidified its status” as a developed and top-performing city in the Global Liveability Index, with “perfect scores in health care and education”.

Poor infrastructure, a chronic lack of affordable housing and issues with petty crime are keeping Brisbane outside the top 10 most liveable cities.

To first beat Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth – and then challenge European, Canadian and NZ cities – significant improvements are needed.

Experts say the traditional “model of Australian suburbia” must be ditched in favour of high-density, walkable communities connected by congestion-free roads and mass public transport.

Plans for a First Nation’s Cultural Centre must be fast-tracked, Brisbane’s night-life precincts need to be reimagined alongside more late-night dining options, and the systemic shortage of accessible housing addressed.

Cherie and Brendan Philip-Kingsley of Toowong at Southbank with children Estella 5, and Nico 10. Picture Lachie Millard

An EIU spokeswoman said while Brisbane remained one of the world’s most liveable cities, improvements were needed to crack the top 10 for the first time.

“It has not seen any major upgrades or downgrades in the past decade, except in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic led to stringent restrictions on events, eateries and sports,” she said. “However, as our latest survey, conducted in February-March 2023, Brisbane has been able to regain its pre-pandemic scores across these different categories. The only areas in which Brisbane falls short of perfect scores are stability and infrastructure, owing to relatively lower scores in petty crime prevalence, road and public transport quality, and affordable housing.”

Brisbane is the world’s 16th most liveable city with a ranking of 95, behind third-placed Melbourne (97.7) and fourth-placed Sydney (97.4).

This year, Perth and Adelaide rocketed 21 and 19 places higher to share equal-12th with a score of 95.9.

Artist’s impressions of Brisbane’s $3.6bn Queen’s Wharf.

A with other Australian cities, the nation’s world-class medical system has boosted Brisbane’s liveability with a perfect health ranking of 100 – but an inability to significantly shift the dial to improve poor infrastructure is hurting. The city’s infrastructure ranking of 89.6 is well below perfect 100 scores for Melbourne and Sydney and only 3.6 points higher than the 2013 score of 85.7.

In considering Brisbane’s infrastructure rating, the EIU considered the state of the road network, quality of public transport, availability of “good-quality housing” and energy and water security.

Queensland’s crime epidemic is also affecting its global standing, with the EIU rating Brisbane’s stability – the prevenance of petty and violent crime – 95.

While this is on par with Melbourne and Sydney, it is worse than the perfect 100 rating given to the world’s two most liveable cities, Vienna and Copenhagen.

RACQ chief purpose officer MJ Bellotti said most transport projects were focused on getting people into the city, but more projects should be focused on moving around “gentle-density” suburbs.

“We’ve got to start putting transport at the heart of our development because if we can move people with active transport with e-scooters and bikes … or tunnels or main roads, it’s that network planning that keeps the city attractive,” she said.

The EIU acknowledged Brisbane had “solidified its status” as a developed and top-performing city in the liveability index, maintaining its position in the top 20 over the past decade compared to other cities around the world.

“It has perfect scores in health care and education due to Australia’s well-established universal health care system and a strong educational system that caters to diverse nationalities, fostering exceptional educational attainment,” the EIU spokeswoman said. “With near-perfect scores in other categories, the city remains one of the most liveable in Asia as well as the world.”

Cherie and Brendan Philip-Kingsley of Toowong at Southbank with children Estella, 5, and Nico, 10. Picture: Lachie Millard

But in the EIU’s culture and environment category, Brisbane is bizarrely marked down for its humidity and temperature. The category also considers the “cultural availability” in the city, sparking calls for it to become a national leader in Indigenous recognition and reignite its night-life precincts.

A $3m business case is under way to consider a First Nations Cultural Centre, but Howard Smith Wharves chief executive Luke Fraser told a Future Brisbane lunch much more could be done. “We owe it to ourselves to work really hard on bringing to life the Indigenous cultural story,” he said.

Cherie Philip-Kingsley lives in Toowong with her husband Brendan and children Estella, 5, and Nico, 10.

She said having lived in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, London and Japan, her family missed not having a broad array of dining and local shopping precincts to walk to from home.

“So for us, more redevelopments similar to James St in the inner-fringe suburbs would be a welcomed addition,” she said.

She also said Brisbane needed to boost its public transport system.