Melbourne loses title of world’s most liveable city
Lord Mayor Sally Capp admits the Victorian capital was let down in three keys areas after it was bumped by Europe’s “safest city’’ after seven years at No.1.
The Lord Mayor of Melbourne has admitted the city should be safer after the Victorian capital lost the crown of most liveable to Vienna.
The two metropolises have been neck and neck in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index for years, with Melbourne clinching the title for the past seven editions.
This year, a downgraded threat of militant attacks in western Europe as well as the city’s low crime rate helped nudge Vienna into first place in the annual survey of 140 urban centres.
Lord Mayor of Melbourne Sally Capp, pointing to Vienna’s improved safety rating, conceded security was an area that needed improvement.
“They’ve got a very good safety rating, that’s one of the areas where we know because we’ve been discussing it with as well Neil, that we can continue to do better.” she told 3AW.
In addition to the generally improved security outlook for western Europe, Vienna benefited from its low crime rate, the survey’s editor Roxana Slavcheva said.
“One of the subcategories that Vienna does really well in is the prevalence of petty crime … It’s proven to be one of the safest cities in Europe,” she said.
Calling Melbourne a “victim of its own success,” Mayor Capp said the city’s growth had made it harder to meet the liveability criteria.
“You have to remember Vienna has a population of about 1.8 million and our population is now 4.6 million,” she said.
“And when you start to compare with other major cities, London for example rates at 48 in this liveability index, so there are definitely challenges recognised within the index that makes it very hard for cities as they become bigger to be competitive in this particular criteria.”
Mayor Capp said there were a number of areas the city could improve including congestion and homelessness.
The Japanese city of Osaka came in third followed by Canada’s Calgary in fourth place and Sydney at fifth.
Vienna and Melbourne scored maximum points in the healthcare, education and infrastructure categories. While Melbourne extended its lead in the culture and environment component, that was outweighed by Vienna’s improved stability ranking.
The Victorian capital has been shaken in recent months by the Red Shirt rort scheme and gang violence.
A YouGov poll conducted for the Herald Sun showed the Daniel Andrews’ Labor government still holds a narrow lead over the Coalition despite Melburnians believing they are too soft on crime.
The state election will be held in November this year.
Vienna regularly tops a larger ranking of cities by quality of life compiled by consulting firm Mercer. It is the first time it has topped the EIU survey, which began in its current form in 2004.
At the other end of the table, Damascus retained last place, followed by the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, and Lagos in Nigeria. The survey does not include several of the world’s most dangerous capitals, such as Baghdad and Kabul.
“While in the past couple of years cities in Europe were affected by the spreading perceived threat of terrorism in the region, which caused heightened security measures, the past year has seen a return to normalcy,” the EIU said in a statement about the report published on Tuesday.
“A long-running contender to the title, Vienna has succeeded in displacing Melbourne from the top spot due to increases in the Austrian capital’s stability category ratings,” it said, referring to one of the index’s five headline components.
Osaka, Calgary and Sydney completed the top five in the survey, which the EIU says tends to favour medium-sized cities in wealthy countries, often with relatively low population densities. Much larger and more crowded cities tend to have higher crime rates and more strained infrastructure, it said.
London for instance ranks 48th.
Vienna, once the capital of a large empire rather than today’s small Alpine republic, has yet to match its pre-World War One population of 2.1 million. Its many green spaces include lakes with popular beaches and vineyards with sweeping views of the capital. Public transport is cheap and efficient.
WORLD’S 10 MOST LIVEABLE CITIES
1. Vienna, Austria
2. Melbourne, Australia
3. Osaka, Japan
4. Calgary, Canada
5. Sydney, Australia
6. Vancouver, Canada
7. Toronto, Canada
8. Tokyo, Japan
9. Copenhagen, Denmark
10. Adelaide, Australia
With Reuters
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