Tuesday, February 23, 2016

But of course I'd live in Vienna. In a heartbeat.


Note that this assessment of "quality of life" is found in the newspaper's business section. It reads like a campaign ad for Bernie Sanders, who if he lived in Vienna would be considered center-right.

Vienna named world's top city for quality of life, by Patrick Collinson (The Guardian)

Vienna is the world’s best city to live in; Baghdad is the worst, and London, Paris and New York do not even make it into the top 35, according to international research into quality of life.

Bullet points from the article:


  • The study examined social and economic conditions, health, education, housing and the environment, and is used by big companies to assess where they should locate and how much they should pay staff.
  • (Vienna's) social democratic government has a long tradition of investing in high-quality social housing, making Vienna almost uniquely affordable among major cities.
  • US cities perform relatively poorly in the study, largely because of issues around personal safety and crime.
  • “You don’t realise how safe Vienna is until you head abroad,” said (Helena) Hartlauer. “We also have terrific public transport, with the underground working 24 hours at weekends, and it only costs €1 per trip.”
  • “The fall of the Berlin Wall helped define Vienna as the hub for companies wanting to do business in central Europe.”
  • Zurich in Switzerland is named by Mercer as having the world’s second highest quality of life, but the Viennese say their city is far more fun.

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