Most Livable Cities

Still feeling ill today. Still have an almost total aversion to food. Just about the only thing that I can think of since Sunday that doesn't make me ill is fruit. But I can't even think about my usual lunch sandwich or eating out at someplace I like; it makes me queasy. So I guess I need some more fruits. Peaches, plums, grapes, these will be my new friends. Onto the post:

Where should Cincinnati look for ideas to be a great city? How about the Economist Magazine’s list of the world’s most livable cities? The rankings were based upon “widespread availability of goods and services, low personal risk and an effective infrastructure.” (full methodology explained at bottom of article).

The top 3 cities were Vancouver, Melbourne, and Vienna. But the survey also backs up what I have been saying for years: Canada is great. And that does not even take into account their gold medal in curling.

With low crime, little threat from instability or terrorism and a highly developed infrastructure, Canada has the most liveable destinations in the world. With a rating of just 1 per cent (as a result of a small threat from petty crime) Vancouver is the highest ranked city of all 127 surveyed. A further two Canadian cities (Montreal and Toronto) feature in the top five with ratings of just 3 per cent. All 4 cities surveyed score well in all respects.

Although higher crime rates and a greater threat of terror puts US cities below those of Canada, US cities are still among the world's most liveable. Cleveland and Pittsburgh are the joint best scoring cities in the United States (7 per cent), in joint 26th place in the global ranking. A lack of availability of recreational activities and certain infrastructural shortfalls put Lexington as the least liveable US city surveyed, in 56th place-although its rating of 13 per cent is still low.

There's also a list of the most and least stressful U.S. cities (based on things like divorce, crime, unemployment).