Count them down — Melbourne, Vienna, Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary. They are the top five cities judged most livable in the whole darn world. It is a judgement call to re-define all judgment calls but at the end, one would have to say that the Economist (magazine) Intelligence Unit has picked some nice places. Note how few are in Europe. And how many are in Canada. And that none is in the U.S. The annual survey of 140 cities uses more than 30 factors to determine a city’s livability with a score out of 100. Vancouver scored 97.3 with high scores in areas such as health care, education ,culture and environment. Cities are also scored on political and social stability, crime rates and the standard of infrastructure, including public transport. Vancouver held the No. 1 spot for nearly a decade but lost marks this time for crime rates, availability of quality housing and congested road networks. Anyway, there’s Toronto at number four all sweaty about “gridlock” and “what-the-hell-has-the-mayor-done-now?” Still a good place to live, especially a little patch just west of the Don River called by carefree scribblers South Bayview.
