The Economist: The World's Most Livable Cities

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This is a repost of the article that was originally written in the Economist on August 18th, 2016. Written by THE DATA TEAM.

Original Article

COMING up with a list of the world’s best cities is a near-impossible task. The bustle and hum of megacities like São Paulo or Tokyo might be too much for some people; others might struggle with the pace of life in Cleveland or Frankfurt. A ranking released on August 18th by our corporate cousin, the Economist Intelligence Unit, attempts instead to quantify the world’s most “liveable” cities—that is, which locations around the world provide the best or the worst living conditions. The index, measured out of 100, considers 30 factors related to safety, health care, educational resources, infrastructure and the environment to calculate scores for 140 cities.


Damascus is the lowest-ranked city with a rating of just 30.2 out of 100, scoring poorly in all categories (understandably, due to Syria’s ruinous civil war). Kiev, the only European city in the bottom ten, performs better for health care and education but has a low stability score due to Ukraine’s ongoing conflict with Russia.Those that score best tend to be mid-sized cities in wealthier countries. Melbourne tops the list for the sixth year in a row (see chart, right), and six of the top ten cities are in Australia or Canada. But Sydney, Australia’s largest city, drops out of the top ten due to fears over terrorism.

Increased instability over the past year has caused a drop in the score of nearly a fifth of the 140 cities surveyed (see chart, below). Ten of these cities are in western Europe, notably Paris, which has suffered multiple terrorist attacks. Some American cities, including Atlanta, San Francisco and Chicago have also dropped down the rankings after spikes in civil unrest.

Photos Courtesy of: Getty Images, Reuters, Alamy, Getty Images, Alamy

Source: http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2016/08/daily-chart-14

Creative Placemaking in Leichhardt, Australia-An Interview with Simone Sheridan

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I found out about the Jane Jacobs walk at an Urbanista Sydney meeting earlier this year. (Urbanista is a global, collaborative network amplifying the voice of women by supporting ideas, projects and actions that create positive change in our cities and communities.) At the time I was working with a place making organization, Place Partners, to coordinate a mural on a blank wall along with some other temporary space activation projects along one of Sydney’s most well-known streets—Oxford Street. I met other passionate women who were hosting their own walks and it inspired me to show off Parramatta Road and Norton Street, as I had noticed people saying a lot of generalized statements about both of those places since I moved there. I thought it was time to show off some my favorite places and local finds of the area while also using it as a chance to talk about some of the issues within the area relating to urban development.

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