Calgary ranked within top five most livable cities in the world

[geotag277]

Originally Posted by DarthMalgus

Just my 2 cents but I actually find Seattle to have the most "big city" feel of all the large northwest cities. Maybe it's partially the gritty areas, but it has the look of a much older city - almost an "east coast" look. Comparatively, even though Vancouver and Calgary have lots of skyscrapers, they still have the appearance of very young, mid size cities outside of their skyscraper clusters; Edmonton and Portland, even more so. I think of Seattle as the merging of Vancouver's location, hipness and culture with Calgary's business influence...which is probably appropriate since it's about the size of both combined.

I agree, I actually find Seattle more urban than Vancouver. I think it helps that the areas surrounding Seattle are very built up and developed. Tacoma for example is more dense than Surrey, Ballard blows sleepy North Van out of the water, Bellevue also seems to feel bigger and more urban then Burnaby despite having less population.

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by jeffwhit

After talking to a guy recently her in Denmark who worked on my current place of employment as well as having been assigned to work on the Jack Singer portion of the Bing Thom project, plus what I know from my former Calgary Colleagues, the future for the Centre isn't exactly bright these days, never mind a renovation of any kind.

This doesn't sound good...

[seaJ]

Originally Posted by geotag277

Just what the forum needs, more petty sarcasm. I never said Seattle was a crime ridden wasteland, but the fact remains that on average crime in American cities is orders of magnitude higher than Canadian cities. Just did a quick google search for "stray bullet mlk drive seattle" and I saw at least 6 different articles about people being killed or shot along that street in Seattle. Sorry to break your illusions, but it does happen, and it takes about 2 seconds to educate yourself about it.

Seattle is a relatively safe city, but my only point was that there are areas of Seattle with orders of magnitude higher crime than Calgary.

Shesh.

Calm down, I was just making fun of your hyperbolic posts. If the shootings were "daily" as you said in your original post than it most certainly would be a crime ridden wasteland. I refuted that because I know better. You're not breaking any of my illusions, remember I live here, you don't.

[geotag277]

Originally Posted by seaJ

Calm down, I was just making fun of your hyperbolic posts. If the shootings were "daily" as you said in your original post than it most certainly would be a crime ridden wasteland. I refuted that because I know better. You're not breaking any of my illusions, remember I live here, you don't.

I've lived in the Seattle area for a long time as well, and it seems a bit odd that you seem to be in the dark about the crime problems around the MLK area. There is no equivalent in Calgary. I have friends who lived in the area and daily gun shots is not much a stretch. It's the kind of thing that doesn't get reported in the news, doesn't get reported to the police, and doesn't show up on statistics, because it was so common.

Maybe it's better now but you can be sure there is certainly no equivalent neighbourhood in Calgary. And crime is a major reason why Seattle (and other American cities) don't rank on these lists.

[Calgarian]

Enough already, this isn't a Calgary vs Seattle thread.

[LFRENCH]

Originally Posted by DarthMalgus

Just my 2 cents but I actually find Seattle to have the most "big city" feel of all the large northwest cities.

how far is north?

I think SF has the most "big city" feel, albeit it is much farther south and many times the size. For me its the ability to stand in the city and look over at large tracts of industry and urbanization of the east bay.

East Bay, the City and San Jose all have their own suburban communities surrounding them and have their own economic drivers. Essentially these three cores contribute to the overall regions economy. SF holds most of the banking and finance and lots of tech firms, SJ holds lots of tech firms, and East Bay has a high degree of logistics( warehousing, shipping/receiving) and manufacturing.

I should throw in the disclaimer that i'm from the region and grew up around the pacific northwest and south coast of BC.

Seattle is much safer than the Town and some of its burbs(Emeryville, Richmond).

To bring this back on track: I feel that Calgary is more liveable than SF, Seattle, Vancouver and Victoria(I've lived in and around em all)

[DarthMalgus]

I consider Oregon northwards to be the "northwest". San Fran, even though it's northern Cali, is still "southwest" to me. But definitely agree, San Fran has an impressive level of bigness.

[LFRENCH]

Originally Posted by DarthMalgus

I consider Oregon northwards to be the "northwest". San Fran, even though it's northern Cali, is still "southwest" to me. But definitely agree, San Fran has an impressive level of bigness.

Using your metric, for me its Bellevue that is giving Seattle the bigger feel. Vancouver just lacks a true rival in the region, Surrey just isn't a big enough economic driver.

Put me in the camp that believes there are no true edge cities in Canada yet( I know people will chime in and say missasauga, I think its headed there but isn't there yet).

[seaJ]

Originally Posted by geotag277

i've lived in the seattle area for a long time as well, and it seems a bit odd that you seem to be in the dark about the crime problems around the mlk area. There is no equivalent in calgary. I have friends who lived in the area and daily gun shots is not much a stretch. It's the kind of thing that doesn't get reported in the news, doesn't get reported to the police, and doesn't show up on statistics, because it was so common.

Maybe it's better now but you can be sure there is certainly no equivalent neighbourhood in calgary. And crime is a major reason why seattle (and other american cities) don't rank on these lists.

ok

[Bcasey25raptor]

These annual quality of living reports are a joke.

The only one I put any faith in is the monocle report which placed Vancouver 15th globally and Portland 23rd.

Those were the only cities in north america in the top 25. Cities in North America rank poorly because america isn't really known for responsible urban planning and development.

[geotag277]

Originally Posted by Bcasey25raptor

These annual quality of living reports are a joke.

The only one I put any faith in is the monocle report which placed Vancouver 15th globally and Portland 23rd.

Those were the only cities in north america in the top 25. Cities in North America rank poorly because america isn't really known for responsible urban planning and development.

The ranking factors for this study seem reasonable enough to me:

Ranking factors described in post #13

[Bcasey25raptor]

Originally Posted by geotag277

The ranking factors for this study seem reasonable enough to me:

Ranking factors described in post #13

Look, I'm sorry to break it to the Vancouver and Calgary boasters but I don't think either of those two cities belong in the top 10 best cities in the world for quality of life.

Top 20 maybe but thats still pushing it.

The only city in Canada I think should rank in the top 10 is Toronto.

[Trans Canada]

Originally Posted by Bcasey25raptor

These annual quality of living reports are a joke.

The only one I put any faith in is the monocle report which placed Vancouver 15th globally and Portland 23rd.

Those were the only cities in north america in the top 25. Cities in North America rank poorly because america isn't really known for responsible urban planning and development.

Sure, cities in NA should rank poorly on the "Cities with Most Responsible Urban Planning and Development" index. But there is so much more than that to "most livable city", and I have no problem with the factors given in RyLucky's post. Fact is Vancouver, Toronto, and Calgary are great cities to live in (even though we may be lacking in urban planning or transit), which is why there are people living in these cities from all over the world.

[geotag277]

Originally Posted by Bcasey25raptor

Look, I'm sorry to break it to the Vancouver and Calgary boasters but I don't think either of those two cities belong in the top 10 best cities in the world for quality of life.

Top 20 maybe but thats still pushing it.

The only city in Canada I think should rank in the top 10 is Toronto.

This isn't the Canada forum, this is the Calgary forum. It seems a bit disingenuous to come here and start making these kinds of remarks in this sub forum. Just sayin'.

[Bcasey25raptor]

Originally Posted by geotag277

This isn't the Canada forum, this is the Calgary forum. It seems a bit disingenuous to come here and start making these kinds of remarks in this sub forum. Just sayin'.

It's not entirely off topic.

Don't get the wrong idea. Calgary is an amazing city.

But 5th in the world?

I don't think so.

This list is dominated by Canada and Australia. I have an extremely difficult time taking this survey seriously. Theres a very large anglo bias present here.

[Chadillaccc]

I definitely agree about the bias. My partner and I were both shocked to see no Scandinavian cities on the list. In fact, the only two non-anglo cities on the list are Helsinki and Vienna. I obviously looove seeing Calgary in fifth place... but above Oslo and Copenhagen, or even the Hague, in livability? I don't think so... to be honest.

[geotag277]

Originally Posted by Bcasey25raptor

It's not entirely off topic.

Don't get the wrong idea. Calgary is an amazing city.

But 5th in the world?

I don't think so.

This list is dominated by Canada and Australia. I have an extremely difficult time taking this survey seriously. Theres a very large anglo bias present here.

As stated the evaluation factors were listed on the post #13. If you want to have a productive conversation about the bias, we could start there. From what I can tell there was no "anglo" metric actually tracked.

Maybe you don't realize it but what you actually said in the last few posts comes across as "lol you silly Calgary boasting idiots, your city really isn't that great". I mean, this sub section is not the place for those kinds of comments.

[Bcasey25raptor]

Originally Posted by geotag277

As stated the evaluation factors were listed on the post #13. If you want to have a productive conversation about the bias, we could start there. From what I can tell there was no "anglo" metric actually tracked.

Maybe you don't realize it but what you actually said in the last few posts comes across as "lol you silly Calgary boasting idiots, your city really isn't that great". I mean, this sub section is not the place for those kinds of comments.

That was more so directed at Vancouver and not Calgary. I don't know enough about how Calgarians treat their city but Vancouverites take this surveys like they are from the gospel.

[RyLucky]

Originally Posted by Bcasey25raptor

Look, I'm sorry to break it to the Vancouver and Calgary boasters but I don't think either of those two cities belong in the top 10 best cities in the world for quality of life.

Top 20 maybe but thats still pushing it.

The only city in Canada I think should rank in the top 10 is Toronto.

1) Obviously, this is all totally subjective.
2) It's 'booster', not 'boaster', though I understand the confusion.
3) This should be the real take home message: all three Canadian cities in the ranking (in addition to other Canadian cities that were arbitrarily not considered) enjoy a remarkably high quality of life. If Vancouver scored 2 points higher because of its temperate climate, so be it. If Toronto could have performed better if they found a way to manage congestion, think about how to improve the city.

Calgarians love to see ourselves included with big fancy cities like Toronto and Vancouver, because we see ourselves as underdogs who have come a long way in the past decade or so. Of note, Calgary performed relatively poorly on culture&environment, but rather than complain about how we aren't featured in Monocle enough, we've decided to take measures to improve our city with new parks and museums. We are looking for ways to improve how average people in our city live, adapting policy that encourages sustainable land use and transportation, so that hopefully we can stay in a top-10 spot.

Lastly, and I have to say this, as someone who has lived in different places around Canada, I've found my neighbourhood in Calgary to offer some of the best parks, nightlife, and economic freedom, all for a price that doesn't break the bank - So, when you say that there is no way Calgary could possibly be considered livable, it comes across pretty ignorantly.

[Bcasey25raptor]

Originally Posted by RyLucky

1) Obviously, this is all totally subjective.
2) It's 'booster', not 'boaster', though I understand the confusion.
3) This should be the real take home message: all three Canadian cities in the ranking (in addition to other Canadian cities that were arbitrarily not considered) enjoy a remarkably high quality of life. If Vancouver scored 2 points higher because of its temperate climate, so be it. If Toronto could have performed better if they found a way to manage congestion, think about how to improve the city.

Calgarians love to see ourselves included with big fancy cities like Toronto and Vancouver, because we see ourselves as underdogs who have come a long way in the past decade or so. Of note, Calgary performed relatively poorly on culture&environment, but rather than complain about how we aren't featured in Monocle enough, we've decided to take measures to improve our city with new parks and museums. We are looking for ways to improve how average people in our city live, adapting policy that encourages sustainable land use and transportation, so that hopefully we can stay in a top-10 spot.

Lastly, and I have to say this, as someone who has lived in different places around Canada, I've found my neighbourhood in Calgary to offer some of the best parks, nightlife, and economic freedom, all for a price that doesn't break the bank - So, when you say that there is no way Calgary could possibly be considered livable, it comes across pretty ignorantly.

OK do you treat every opinion like its an attack?

I didn't say Calgary was unlivable. I said its not top 10 around the world livable.

Also maybe you missed the part where I also said Vancouver isn't top 10 either.