Interconnectivity and sustainability: creating a liveable city
Melbourne remains the world’s best city to live in, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s annual ranking of such things. But Manchester is still the UK’s most appealing, the global liveability research tells us.
So what makes a liveable city? It’s a leading question of our time from cities across the UK to Hong Kong, where the proportion of income spent on mortgages has risen to a breathtaking 67%.
Manchester is one of only two UK cities on the EIU list. The top 10 is dominated by cities in Australasia and Canada. Only Vienna, Helsinki and Hamburg disrupt that duopoly.
Melbourne remains the world’s best city to live in, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s annual ranking of such things. But Manchester is still the UK’s most appealing, the global liveability research tells us.
So what makes a liveable city? It’s a leading question of our time from cities across the UK to Hong Kong, where the proportion of income spent on mortgages has risen to a breathtaking 67%.
Manchester is one of only two UK cities on the EIU list. The top 10 is dominated by cities in Australasia and Canada. Only Vienna, Helsinki and Hamburg disrupt that duopoly.
The factors that secure those cities a high ranking are as revealing as those which rule out those typically defined as world cities.
“Global business centres tend to be victims of their own success,” says the EIU. “The ‘big city buzz’ they enjoy can overstretch infrastructure and cause higher crime rates.
“New York, London, Paris and Tokyo are all prestigious hubs with a wealth of recreational activities, but all suffer from higher levels of crime, congestion and public transport problems than are deemed comfortable.”
Liveability is not the only yardstick of success, of course. The ability to generate (and share) wealth is vital, as is sustainability and interconnectivity in the very broadest senses.
It’s a nuance recognised by the EIU: “Those that score best tend to be mid-sized cities in wealthier countries with a relatively low population density. These can foster a range of recreational activities without leading to high crime levels or overburdened infrastructure.
“The question is how much wages, the cost of living and personal taste for a location can offset liveability factors. Although global centres fare less well in the ranking than mid-sized cities, for example, they still sit within the highest tier of liveability.” Just not the very highest tier.
It does beg an important question, however. Are size and liveability inherently incompatible? Just as the increasingly disrupted world of real estate is discovering that those who can combine technology with talent will succeed, interconnected world cities that can combine liveability with buzz will be the winners.
• The new city region mayors marked 100 days in office this week. Each has made progress; each has to deliver more. Here’s one noteworthy statistic. In recent years Manchester has stolen a march on other cities: former council chief executive Sir Howard Bernstein and then-chancellor George Osborne struck up a highly productive working relationship. Relations between (Labour) Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and ministers are less close.
In Birmingham it’s a different story, where (Conservative) West Midlands mayor Andy Street is finding a more sympathetic reception in Westminster and Whitehall. The former John Lewis boss had 15 official appointments with members of government – including two with the PM – double the number enjoyed by Burnham in the past three months. That alone won’t result in a better deal for Birmingham, but if it helps advance a third UK city, that would be no bad thing.
• Speaking of Andy Burnham, he will be speaking at next month’s EG Manchester Question Time. Make sure you don’t miss that one, though it’s just one of a number of cracking EG events this autumn. Click here to take a look at the programmes.
To send feedback, e-mail damian.wild@egi.co.uk or tweet @DamianWild or @estatesgazette
