There's only two cities on that list that even play proper sports.

'corse it does.

Sorry, but it's sport not sports. Just a bugbear of mine
Please don't say Calgary or anywhere based in Oz.

The rankings are so close, it makes me wonder why the positions change so little year on year. I mean Vancouver scores 98% and 10th place Auckland scores 95.7%. No-one is going to notice a 2.3% difference in ratings.

It makes me smile the leap that people make from what the survey is about to what you see in the headlines. The survey basically ranks 140 cities across 5 areas to determine hardship allowances for expats. Vancouver ranks as the city with the 'least hardships'. The headlines you see are best city in the world/best place on earth etc.

Whilst in a survey like this, I can see why Vancouver would do well, I'm still staggered that it rates highly in terms of culture !! Mind you it didn't seem to hurt Calgary either. Perhaps that is explanation enough.

I was using it in the plural sense as in football and cricket.

1. sport (noun/singular): Johhny loves sport.
2. sports (noun/plural): Johnny plays two sports; football and tennis.
3. sports (adjective): Johhny reads the sports news every day.

Just read this on yahoo:
http://uk.travel.yahoo.com/p-promo-3360769

Hoping to go Vancouver if I get accepted on IEC!
London No53 in that list lol

I merged your post into the existing thread...

Sorry for double post kind of got over excited and didnt look

Still dont believe London is 53?..people who do these surveys must be the same that compile the worlds top 100 sexiest women list surely.

Would you please start that thread? (With pics natch).

These types of studies tend to be very subjective and amount to rather narrow qualitative measures and no one will agree what makes a city the best, it is simply too subjective. Moreover, smaller prosperous cities tend to do better in these studies due to the narrow factors considered, so the rankings should be taken with a pinch of salt and do nothing to indicate how likable a place may be, regardless of its livability but are more of a ‘what they are getting right’ sort of a study. I liked the climate better in Miami when I lived there and the archetecture better in Edinbrugh when I lived there but Vancouver is much more livable in my view...

On the world stage Vancouver has done nothing to shape the world like dynamic cities such as London, Rome or New York and I struggle calling it world class yet. But as truly great such cities are, how truly livable are they? While they hit the mark on general vibrancy, culture, economy and world influence, where do they stand on day to day livability (depending on how one defines it of course)? How accessible are green spaces, what is the crime like, how about over-crowding, the commute......etc

Mercer and the Economist tend to focus on such tangibles as education, stability, healthcare, air quality, etc while Monocle (Vancouver was number 16 the last time) focuses more on factors that amount to quality of life, access to parks, restaurants, sport facilities, etc. Larger power houses like London and New York tend to not make the grade in these studies as they are typically heavily balanced towards certain factors and don't hit a broader range of factors. London might be great for history and culture, but where are the uncrowded green spaces and parks, and opportunities to pursue outdoor activities.

While Vancouver falls off the mark in some areas, it sure is livable and offers a very high standard of livability overall. Like it or love it, it is livable.

Let the snide comments begin....

Rains all the time.....well at least you get 10 out of 10 for being original...yawn....(did you know that TO gets more rain during the summer than Vancouver

It's snowing where I am. It's a winter wonderland in my back garden.

feels cold enough to snow here, but none as of yet...or rain for that matter.

Hyde Park, Green Park, St. James' Park, Kensington Gardens, Hampstead Heath, Hackney Marshes, Primrose Hill, are the first few green spaces that spring to mind. In this regard London is way better than Toronto, though probably not Vancouver due to it raining all the time there.