Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Top 10 Cities for Economists...

According to The Economist, the top 10 liveable cities of the world are as follows...

Now, I've never been a fan of The Economist, its often over-simplified social analysis and over-emphasised economic/financial news trying to frame the world as a market place. No, I actually don't read it very often -unless there is nothing else to read, I totally skip it. And as you see (and if you are like me you will immediately see) this is what happens if you treat the world as if it is a giant market place. No offense, I've nothing against any of these cities, I actually haven't visited ANY of them. I don't think I will anytime soon either, for I wouldn't know why to visit them. Especially in winter, but also in summer. Ok with the exception of Vienna... Although all my friends from Vienna complain about what a serious (if not frowny and self-absorbed) city it is. Ok, Let's try to guess what they based their results on (allow for exceptions):
1) how cold the temperatures are -both in winter AND in summer
2) how new the city is, and how little history it has...
3) whether it is speaking English (or otherwise a European language)
4) whether a large portion of the population is blond...
5) whether they host olympics every now and then
6) how far away it is from ancient civilisations
7) cattle population
That's it. We've got out top 10!
Of course, the econonomists intelligence unit suggest otherwise:
"Each city is assigned a score for over 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories:
  • Stability
  • Healthcare
  • Culture and environment
  • Education
  • Infrastructure"
So someone sat behind the computer and decided that Tehran and Karachi have little culture (They're in the bottom 10. uh-oh.), the healing system in Papua New Guinea is not satisfactory for the intelligent economists, and above all, they decided that stability is the most important thing!
As for me it's important to have the sea close by, some sunshine and warmth, to have some access to a nice and deep forest, preferably working telephone and post services, a healer I can trust, good food being widely available, some political and intellectual freedom, some nice (preferably inclusive) music/dance/art, a moderate level of safety that is required for a girl, and a good number of friends. So far, I couldn't find a place that has all this plus a job offering. But hey, I'm still looking...

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