City
Toronto slips to 8th in world livability rankings
We're pretty good when it comes to green space and lack of pollution but not so good with urban sprawl and the number of cultural sites, according to a new rankings published by the Economist Intelligence Unit, a research group associated with the Economist magazine.
Toronto was ranked eighth in the world - the only North American city to break the top 10 - in a list of the top 70 cities ranked by criteria the EIU normally uses to produce its widely recognized Global City Livability Index, in which Toronto is fourth, plus a few extras such as green space, sprawl, cultural assets, and connectivity, added by architect Filippo Lovato, the winner of a competition to devise new ranking methods.
Naturally, it would be nice to be higher, but our location may have both helped and hindered us. Cities were ranked based on their distance from UNESCO World Heritage Sites, giving cities in Europe and other parts of the world a boost, but our position in the shores of Lake Ontario may have pushed up our "natural assets" rank.
Toronto, according to the press release, was stymied by its high isolation score - we aren't close to any other large cities - and lack of recognized cultural assets (i.e. UNESCO sites). On the other hand, Hong Kong, at number one, scored poorly for pollution and cultural assets but was pushed up by low sprawl and good natural features.
It's hard to draw too many meaningful conclusions from lists like this, but obviously the addition of a few extra categories has dragged us south from our normal position. Urban sprawl is perhaps the main issue we have to deal with that isn't easily explained away by location. We did, however, finish above cities of comparable size in the States, like Chicago.
So, do we care about dropping a few spots in just one world ranking? I suspect not. But perhaps we should be keeping an eye on these sorts of lists going forward; could it be the more one investigates, the worse Toronto begins to look? The usual champions of these rankings, Melbourne, Vienna and Vancouver, weren't included for reasons that aren't entirely clear. If you've lived in other major cities, how do you think Toronto compares?
THE FULL TOP 10:
1. Hong Kong
2. Amsterdam
3. Osaka
4. Paris
5. Sydney
6. Stockholm
7. Berlin
8. Toronto
9. Munich
10. Tokyo
NORTH AMERICAN CITIES:
14. Washingon, D.C.
15. Chicago
16. New York
17. Los Angeles
18. San Francisco
19. Boston
21. Atlanta
23. Miami
Photo: "Toronto Summer" by kaybee07 in the blogTO Flickr Pool.
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kinda makes the whole survey seem flawed.
'For the first time in almost a decade of reporting liveability, Vancouver is not at the top of our ranking of 140 cities (Vancouver was in joint first position with Melbourne in the 2002 survey). Melbourne now replaces Vancouver as the most liveable city in the survey.'
Is this a more recent survey than the Aug 2011 one?
Not to mention, proximity to UNESCO Heritage sites as a proxy for culture? Methinks that category was included to ensure a strong European presence in the rankings, since WAY more UNESCO sites are Europse overall and in particular near urban centres, than elsewhere in teh world, including North America or Australia.
That said, we made the Top 10 in the WORLD in livability for large cities - that's a tremendous accomplishment, but of course, this being Toronto, we can't simply celebrate it - we have to dump on this list and the criteria and somehow dimish the accomplishment, because god forbid that Torontonians acknowledge that despite its problems, this is still a damn great city to live in - even if its not New York, London or Paris or whatever other "world class" city is used by commenters as a comparison basis for for somehow concluding that Toronto is a shitty dump.
We always seek validation for Toronto from outsiders, and when we get it, we somehow still can't bring ourselves to believe it. Time to get over it folks and enjoy the accolades - whether we accept it or not we rank favourably on virtually ever major livability list, and are routinely ranked as a Top 15 , and sometimes even Top 10, financial or economic centre in the world - very few cities anywhere in the world ever match that combination - even if we have inadequate transit and infrastructure, an idiot for a Mayor and a largely dysfunctional City Council.
Just imagine where we'd be if ever got our act together!
let's look at some parameters that really define livability:
housing: the only thing left affordable in the city is 400sq. ft condo with room without windows
commute: only 2 and a half subway lines not covering much of the east or west of the city. going further from subway, have to take unreliable streetcars or buses which adds a lot to the commute. lots of cities with better transit
bicycle infrastructure: underdeveloped
finding a mate: prospects are low, unless you are a player. in toronto men don't approach women and if approached women ignore men and so on.
culture & arts: we have one and a half gallery and one a half museum, other cities have much more and as well in terms of historical sites, places of interest, squares... oh yeah, there is toronto international film festival, so i guess 1 decent event yearly
Seriously, there are only 2 things to recommend living in Toronto: relatively low crime (I admit that in Toronto I felt safe in all neighbourhoods) and lots of restaurants (quality in restaurants is debatable, but at least you can find all sorts of ingredients to cook your own food)
Housing: Pretty much all of the cities ranked ahead of Toronto have pricier housing to live in, and even then, you're only looking at condos - there are no detached or even semi-detached houses anywhere near the core in those cities, unlike here. Even if you just focus on the North American cities on this list, average housing prices in Toronto still compare favourably.
Bicycle infrastructure - yep, I would probably agree with you. Its not where it should be. Nuff said.
commute: yes, overall, on a regional basis, commutes aren't great - part of that is insufficient transit, part of that is larger distances to travel - the push for companies to move back to the core, along with the large development of condos should ease some of that, but obviously more transit investment is needed.
culture: Culture is VERY subjective - They chose proximity to UNESSCO heritage sites, you chose number of museaums - I'm not sure either of those determines culture, but looking at that list, I'm at a loss as to why you think Toronto is so out of place? Sydney has a great looking opera house (as do we), but what else that fits your defintion of culture? How about Osaka?
Besides, have you actually spent much time here? You think TIFF is the only decent festival we have? How about Pride (one of the world's largest), Caribana (also one of the world's largest), not to mention several other "cultural" festivals that take place damned near every weekend in the summer. If you think museums and film festivals are all that define "culture", I'm sad for you being so limited in your worldview.
Finding a mate: honestly, unless you've gone dating in each of those ciites, how in god's name would you know that Toronto fails next to them? I don't even know how anyone could take that comment seriously - you just sound bitter.
Here's a perfect example of what I was saying in my earlier comment. Some people simply cannot accept that Toronto is in fact a great place to live. Even when independent, third body groups consistently reach that conclusion, people like you find ways to discredit it. Unbelieveable.
Hong Kong is over-crowded, high stress living style, polluted, humid and hot.
Top North American City ...
And Torontonians still bitch.
Doesn't make sense? Why?
Paris isn't much more than a Disneyland of heritage sites, which is great for going there for the first time, but has very little to do with livability.
Real Estate? It is cheap(er) for a reason. Reason being that it crappy built - from houses to condos... almost everything is not built to last.
I have spent enough time here - having been born here and also lived overseas. Enough to compare. Not bitter at all... otherwise I would have moved already.
"Here's a perfect example of what I was saying in my earlier comment. Some people simply cannot accept that Toronto is in fact a great place to live. Even when independent, third body groups consistently reach that conclusion, people like you find ways to discredit it. Unbelieveable."
So just because someone who has never lived in this city decides this is a great city doesn't mean it is great. How about we focus on improving the city rather than patting each others back?
A big different in transportation compared to Asia is that train stations are community and commercial hubs like kyoto station, Tennoji station or abenobashi station
You see, I don't need that shitty Toronto attitude where you are always supposed to be upbeat. If I don't like something I will say so.
Also, maybe need to get out of Toronto and see how people lead life elsewhere.
I'll give Toronto one more credit and that is it is a great place for non-smokers, although other countries are catching up.
My only point was simply that for all of your dumping on Toronto being on on that list, you really haven't explained how its out of place relative to other cities on that list (with the exception of Paris, which apparently has more stringest building codes).
What this article neglected to point out (along with the Star and Toronto Life, to be fair), is that we're actually ranked number ONE according to the EIU's own Liveability index.
We didn't "slip" at all. These rankings (which you, surprisingly enough, didn't link to) are based on a data mash-up contest sponsored by the upstart (Toronto-based!) data-sharing firm BuzzData.
The winner happened to rank the cities this way based on his "spatially adjusted" criteria, which were far from comprehensive or authoritative. Even the Economist's own write-up on the report bemusedly points out its shortcomings. See: http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/07/best-city-world?fsrc=scn/tw_ec/live_and_let_live
The interesting thing is, Toronto is listed as #1 on the EIU's own index (second column)!
There were dozens of approaches, and this is just one of them. In one of the scenarios, Calgary was named the best city in the world. See: http://buzzdata.com/content/vote/
In other words, this seems to be the case of a misread press release that's been regurgitated by media outlets worldwide. Nothing to freak out about.
First, the pollution is ridiculous. I cannot count how often I get suffered from the pollution in this city.
Second, the crowd is just bad. When you take subway to work, people do not respect you and just care themselves and push (or, I should say press) you into the subway because they want to rush in public transit for their own reasons. The locals do not have a knowledge of personal space and respectful to others. I often see people dis-respectful behavior to elderly or pregnancy women. All the time when I see these people in subway, I stand up and give my seat to them and other young people keep playing their iPhones on their seats.
Third, culture shock. The majority locals in Hong Kong believes "white people is better". The inequality and racism happening people are far more often than in Toronto or other Canadian cities. The employment is totally inequality and full of discrimination. For example, what majority locals believes that teaching English has to be "Native English White person from US, Canada, UK, South Africa". If you are from these countries and white, surely you get these jobs easily or better salary, even if you have no certification. If you are from these countries but non-white, unfortunately, you can't get jobs easily even if you have certification or qualification.
At worst, Asian Hong Kong people often discriminate other Asian people and they believe that they are better.
I have to apologize to say this city is a joke and should not be in top one. I will kiss the floor once when I get back to Toronto.
If you want to experience the discrimination, disrespectful attitude and pollution, you should definitely move here.
Anyway, I had a good laugh. See you in 2020 when we finally have a plan for public transit and when our currently built condos crumble to the ground. You represent Toronto the nice and good - not so good underneath the surface!
Yes, Toronto is not a major city, let alone a World-Class city. What's the point in getting mad at anyone who points out this fact? I would much prefer a city full of people who can recognise improvements and push for them than a populus content to point to these lists that somehow justify their belief that they are already in one of the Great Cities.
Erm, why on earth would any of the Great Cities have "affordable" detached houses close to the core? This is the sort of thing people look for in the suburbs, not in cties where you should seek maximum density to support a larger number and variety of cultural features, events, markets etc.
What both you and N apparently fail to grasp is that the survey was focused solely on "livability" as defined by the criteria set out by the Economist - it wasn't asserting that the list was a list of the world's greatest cities (whatever that means), just the most livable. Does that mean the list suggests that Toronto is a "better" city than New York or London, which ranked lower on the list? Nope, the Economist certainly wasn't saying that, and neither am I.
Besides, N decided that the Economists' criteria was flawed and took it upon himself to create his own criteria of what makes a city livable in order to apparently make the point that Toronto doesn't belong on any list of the most livable cities. All I have done in my posts is use his own criteria to challenge his assertion by asking how he has concluded, based on that, that Toronto is out of place compared to the other cities on that list. I simply asked him to explain how the other cities on the Economist's list are better for those factors that appear to be the most important to N in determining livability.
Instead of actually addressing the points I raised, all he's dones since is make some silly comment about glass falling from condos in 20 years. All that tells me is that he just doesn't really like it here, even if he doesn't know why.
This is not to say I believe Toronto has no flaws - Our mayor and most of our city council are small-minded idiots, our transit and alternative transportation infrastructure (i.e. bikes) is years behind where it should be because of the short-term thinking of Council and the people who vote for them. Our sports teams all suck. I'm certainly not oblivious to the City's problems.
Instead, what I believe is that there is a tendency in this city to fixate, almost obsessively on the negative (if you doubt it, just read a newspaper, or any internet comment board some time) without acknowledging that this city has its attributes , a fact that is consistently recognized in independent reports focusing on matters like livability and economic prowess. Clearly both you and N disagree and that's of course your prerogative.
The reason why I get irked sometimes by commenters like N, is that their dislike of the city is so intense that they can't simply accept that despite it faults, its still considered a good place to live. It ain't New York or Paris, but what is? Folks like N, and maybe you too Bally, seem to be constant "the grass is greener types" when it comes to Toronto. Even where a fairly independent source like the Economist, or KPMG or one of the other sources that publish these kinds of lists, and Toronto places well on it, as it almost always does, someone like N decides to re-set the criteria (badly, in his case) to fit his own conclusion that Toronto sucks. And then when they're called out on it, seem to be at a loss for words. That to me, shows bitterness
That tells me that I ain't the one with the blinders when it comes to this City. Cheers
As a non-native Torontonian, one thing that continues to amaze me after years of living here is how many residents hate on Toronto! Its like everyone would rather be in New York, LA, London, Dubai... anywhere but here! Geeeez, I don't get it. I'm from Buffalo (cue snickering and snide comments), and I love the hell out of my hometown. I lived in Mexico City for awhile - one of the largest, most violent cities in the world - and residents were so proud of their city, regardless of the problems! Meanwhile, in Canada... *sounds of negative whining*
Sure, there is room for improvement, but that should be a motivation to make Toronto better, not throw up your hands in defeat and call it a 'second class' city. Lighten up ya'll... you've got it good living here, and if you think there's a way to make it better then why not step up to the plate and show Toronto some love?
One of the greatest cities in the world. #1 in my books, and I'm so happy I live here.
Maybe my current positivity can be attributed purely to the fact that I just got back from a run along Toronto's waterfront (beautiful!), but whatevs. Cheer up everyone, you live in one of the best cities of the world. That's something to be pretty damn excited about.