What cities have a high quality of life?

[pdxtex]

This should be interesting. Don't over think it. When you think of top shelf urban life, what cities do you imagine. Don't worry about actual stats. Just which places do perceive to be well run and successful. Ill start. Choose 5

Boston, London, Seattle, Zurich, Vienna.

[MolsonExport]

Jacksonville. That skyline is just breathtaking.

Seriously? In Canada, I would vote for Montreal. You won't be as wealthy, but damn it, Montrealers know how to have a good time. Great food, great neighborhoods...je ne sais quoi. You can make way more money yet still need to be miserly in your spending in Vancouver and Toronto.

[SIGSEGV]

Boston, Montreal, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Copenhagen

[iheartthed]

Global:

Tokyo
Paris
New York
London
Barcelona

In the listed order. Megacities automatically get extra credit from me. Barcelona is not a megacity but it is such an overachiever that it can feel like one.

[Yuri]

1. São Paulo
2. London
3. Berlin
4. Montreal
5. Buenos Aires

I’d probably prefer to live in Rio over Buenos Aires, but let’s keep it more international. And there are two of those that I haven’t visited but I hardly am positively or negatively surprised by new places I visit.

[strongbad635]

In no particular order:

-New York
-Barcelona
-Tokyo
-Sydney
-Amsterdam

My particular hot button considerations are a climate that is not too frigid, reasonably priced housing, streets that are well-detailed and not full of blank walls, and an extensive transit system so car-free living is easy for people of all incomes. Each of these cities is strong in some areas and weak in others, but these are my all-around favorites.

[isaidso]

Helsinki, Copenhagen, Oslo, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto, Zurich, Vienna, Auckland

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Seriously? In Canada, I would vote for Montreal. You won't be as wealthy, but damn it, Montrealers know how to have a good time. Great food, great neighborhoods...je ne sais quoi. You can make way more money yet still need to be miserly in your spending in Vancouver and Toronto.

This feels a bit dated. Montreal's economy is doing relatively well (by Canadian standards) and it certainly has more opportunity & higher wages available than Vancouver, but prices are also quickly catching up. Still the best value in the country, at least for now.

Originally Posted by isaidso

Helsinki, Copenhagen, Oslo, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto, Zurich, Vienna, Auckland

Great quality of life if you're an older, established homeowner. Pretty awful for everyone else.

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by pdxtex

This should be interesting. Don't over think it. When you think of top shelf urban life, what cities do you imagine. Don't worry about actual stats. Just which places do perceive to be well run and successful. Ill start. Choose 5

Boston, London, Seattle, Zurich, Vienna.

Are we talking about quality of life for most residents, or just the affluent?

[pip]

Originally Posted by AviationGuy

Are we talking about quality of life for most residents, or just the affluent?

What I was thinking

[Nouvellecosse]

I'll go with Medellin, Milan, Melbourne, Montreal, and Munich.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

I'll go with Medellin, Milan, Melbourne, Montreal, and Munich.

What about Madrid, Malaga, Malmo, Moncton and Minsk?

[ssiguy]

Originally Posted by pip

What I was thinking

Exactly and my city of Vancouver exemplifies this beautifully. Often it does well on international ratings and the city certainly does a lot of things right and offers a great lifestyle but only IF you can afford it. London, NY, Amsterdam, Toronto, Paris, Sydney are all great cities but not for the average person. All the theatre, restaurants, shopping, nightlife, sports, galleries, and museums in the world mean nothing if you can hardly even pay your rent.

In terms of at least Canada with populations over 1 million, I would say there are only 2..........Montreal and Calgary even though the 2 cities couldn't possibly be any more different if they tried. Both are affordable for the average person but the similarities end there.

Montreal is a beautiful historic city with gorgeous architecture, a nightlife the stuff legends are made of, tons of interesting areas with cafes and restaurants all over with wonderful parks, a vital urban form, endless festivals, with a liberal and bohemian attitude. She was built as a place for people and it's laid back attitude is obvious as soon as you set foot in her while simultaneously being a city that refuses to be anything but centre stage. Montreal's Quebecois culture is unique and the city is a feast for the senses. Montreal is truly a magical metropolis that one can't help but fall in love with.

Calgary on the other hand is a very new city that does sprawl but it's inner city is vibrant with tons of interesting neighbourhoods with a 500km cycling system. The city has the best transit system for any city under 2 million in NA and blows every US city of up to 5 million right out the window. It was recently ranked as the world's cleanest city and I believe it. From fresh crisp air, sparkling rivers from the Rockies, to streets that you could literally eat on. It's incredibly well planned and offers very high civic services along with the highest income levels in the country in a province with the lowest taxes all while enjoying a low crime rate. It's Canada's 3rd most cosmopolitan city which is on full display with its large food scene. All this with incredibly beautiful parks, huge reserve areas within the city limits, and backdropped by the Rockies. It's doesn't enjoy Montreal stylish flair but it offers a very high quality of life to her citizens.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

What about Madrid, Malaga, Malmo, Moncton and Minsk?

Or Mexico City, Manchester, Milpitas, Moscow and Moose Jaw.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by JManc

Or Mexico City, Manchester, Milpitas, Moscow and Moose Jaw.

And for good measure, Mogadishu, Maputo, (Port) Moresby, Magadan and Modesto.

[chris08876]

Tokyo IMO.

Its a superior city. The whole region is.

Superior transportation, high-tech, clean, a population that cares, a government that allows affordable housing to be built in mass over the decades (Take note U.S. cities), amazing food, diversity, and did I mention clean?

Superior city. Very low crime too, very low.

Bullet trains to speed around the regions nodes, and vending machines. Seems like the hallmarks of a high quality of life. The Japanese also live very long on average so for the sake of high quality of life, I'd say so!

Japan in general. That is a civilization. Its a shame that they are seeing a population drop because if the world was modeled more like Japan, man... the potential for this planet.

[ilcapo]

When speaking of capitals and "big" cities in Europe, the first that comes to my mind is nord-ish cities such as Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Dublin, Stockholm, Oslo, Helsinki.

Also Zurich, Milano, Lyon and Munich a bit further south.

But honestly i think there needs to be an element of warmer climate and proximity to water to be really high quality of life.

The above cities are great in many aspects but i bet a large number of their population would love to live in a warmer climate during the winter peak. Especially when it comes to Stockholm, Oslo and Helsinki.

When excluding capitals-only id say that cities like Bilbao, Barcelona, Nice and perhaps Lisboa seems like the best. (I have only visited Barcelona and Nice out of these).
I'd like to add an italian city to the list, but most of its prosperous cities are inland.

Marseille is excluded because of Crime Rates. Same with Naples where i think its also too warm and chaotic.
Bordeux seems like an ideal place for most aspects, but its missing immediate proximity to the sea. Same goes for Rome (which is also too warm summer-time).

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by AviationGuy

Are we talking about quality of life for most residents, or just the affluent?

Almost any city is appealing or attractive if ppl are wealthy enough. For some cities listed, 'quality of life' does not come immediately to mind.

this person owns a large, deluxe penthouse in manhattan...

• Video Link

But her so called quality of life....around 1:06....takes on a different angle.

• Video Link

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by strongbad635

In no particular order:

-New York
-Barcelona
-Tokyo
-Sydney
-Amsterdam

My particular hot button considerations are a climate that is not too frigid, reasonably priced housing, streets that are well-detailed and not full of blank walls, and an extensive transit system so car-free living is easy for people of all incomes. Each of these cities is strong in some areas and weak in others, but these are my all-around favorites.

I love NY but it's terribly run. The MTA is a joke. Everything infrastructure wise costs way more than it should, etc.

[dktshb]

Of places I have been

Amsterdam
Sydney
London
Vancouver
Maybe Barcelona and New York

Small Towns
Aspen
Boulder

If it weren't for the homelessness plaguing the west coast I would put
San Francisco, Seattle Santa Monica and Portland on the list.