Quality of living

Alberto, my neighbour, a young italian banker was in tears, when UniCredito moved him from Vienna to Milan - astonishing Milan being his hometown. How come? "The city is lively but not crowded. You never have to wait in queue or make reservations in a restaurant - though their quality is undisputed. I even can go jogging at midnight, without taking the slightest risk, I dont need a car to go sailing on the old Danube lakes or to hike in the Vienna Woods. The town is neat and clean as no other, all works, and people are charming with a widespread knowledge of foreign languages".
That means, it is not the "Imperial Touch", the (maybe hidden) beauties of the town - see NYT "45 places to go in 2012" - or arts and sciences - but the quality of living. So Californian based Mercer is not so wrong afer all.

The IBK staffers in the 79/80s called Basingstoke, Boringstoke.

All Germanic cities, in my experience, are dull. What can one expect?
The city I have lived in that has the best infrastructure is Hong Kong. And it also functions twenty-four hours a day, like all great cities. Probably the most exciting place I've lived, although Bangkok, Paris and Tokyo are also good. I've visited New York and London and liked them too.
In Vienna in the middle of tha afternoon I couldn't even get anything to eat, just pastries, confections and other rubbish. One must eat during meal hours!
When I lived in Vancouver there was a twenty-four hour a day, seven day a week supermarket just down the street - a supermarket, not a convenience store. I would be surprised to find that in boring old German, Swiss and Austrian cities. I am, however, prepared to be disabused.

Boooooooooring...

So, what exactly are “the benefits of their low population densities”? I have recently moved to a low-density Canadian city and so far I have only been fighting with its drawbacks.

I have lived in Australia, S. Germany and N America (in a 5 of the top 20 cities), @Anjin-san, have you? If you believe that Melbourne has no arts, fine dining, wineries - as well as lovely gardens/parks, vibrant sporting scene & excellent infrastructure - then you are clearly very ill-informed. I would put Melbourne in the top 10; and I most definitely would take Munchen over Wien.

"Those with no ears for Classical Music, no eyes for Modern Art or Architecture, and no taste for sweets may find Vienna totally boring... They may even enjoy living in cities with none of the above... like Vancouver or Melbourne"

As always, it depends on what you value. You can't have excitement and laid back, bustling and open spaces at the same time. Some cities are relatively unmitigated disasters but most have both good points and bad....depending on what you are looking for.

I like Chicago...but I grew up there, Paris and Rio de Janeiro. All German cities suffer because of weather....but they certainly beat Kabul since I had to wear a bullet proof vest there.

Connect the Dots said: "frugal sustainable stability may prove to be the most durable luxury".

I want THIS PERSON running any/all countries!!!!

The reason that I like to spend my time in Barcelona, rather than any other European city is that one does not need an automobile.Better weather than Vienna or Vancouver.Beaches and mountains nearby. The best food in the world. Music, literature. The best football team in the world. Won the David Cup at tennis, again.

Here's a local article explaining what I mean:

`"Petra Stolba from the Austria Tourism Office described the situation as disastrous for a country reliant on its tourism industry:

“Guests, especially those from the USA, Italy and England, are shocked by the smoky bars,” she said"

http://www.viennareview.net/austriaeu/smoking-central-europe-4869.html

I live in Vienna. It's lovely. But I'm a non-smoker and you can't escape the smoke anywhere - at work, in cafés and bars even in the hall where I play football. When it comes to quality of life that has an impact.

I lived in Vienna for about two years and wrote this piece about this survey: http://jvr.posterous.com/that-mercer-ranking-of-vienna-austria

Quite frankly, I think Mercer is very clear about the fact that its survey only covers easy-to-measure conveniences and doesn't capture the feel or actual joy of living in a particular place.

Well, I've been to Wien on my erasmus (it is a study abroad program - students exchange). I must say it really is beautiful city. I wrote about my experience here: Erasmus in Vienna.
What I really loved about the city is the fact that it is so open - people are really friendly (at least I can say that for students). It is not the cheapest city though. It is very expensive, espacely if you come from eastern part of Europe. But still, I will never forget this great city!! :)
tej

As a NZer from Auckland with family in Zurich, both definitely have their pluses, but probably more for families with children, although maternity benefits where I live in London are actually better than both.

For me at 25 when I made the decision to move, neither of these places had what I have in London.

There are reasons why places like London, New York etc are so populous & expensive. In terms of art, culture & being close to the movers & shakers a big city will always be the place to be, especially if you are young & single.

Older & with an economic crisis perhaps the choices are now less clear, but that probably says more about me than the desirability of London

Ranking cities is impossible , surveyors somehow assume they know what the current and prospective inhabitants want. Dirty Mumbai might mean a lot more to a poor North Indian peasant than what Vancouver could ever mean to a first year University of BC student from the Canadian priaries. Kinshasa might be more glamorous to a Congolese villager than Paris can ever be for a French farmer-worse, the farmer might actually hate the city for its crassness. Not that Paris features high on these rankings, but guess I made my point!

Vienna offers incredible value for money. For $1,500 you'll get a tiny badly isolated jail-like room in London or a nice apartment in Vienna's first district.

The only time I have been to Frankfurt, the taxi driver from the Airport asked me in a strong German accent “Why do to want to come to this boring city?”. I was only there for a meeting and didn't even see the city, but I have always imagined it to be a boring place ever since. I was surprised to see it in the top 10 best places to live. Perhaps I have been unfair.

I feel like these polls can swing different ways based on the events that take place in one year. Just because a random bomb is detonated by a terrorist in a city that has had relative peace for hundreds of years, doesn't mean that it is now a war zone. Quality of living is a personal experience and changes from person to person. Somebody who wants a small town experience, but is stuck in Vienna with job contracts might make a good living and own a big house, but they might be miserable stuck in a city. I think these polls are best to show the cities that have the most income, have the best shopping, or provide the best education; but quality of life is something that you would have to interview every single person to understand.

Well, Mercer managed to pick the world's most staid and dull cities didn't it? Much prefer the EIU version.

Considering the comments I am seeing, I have to wonder how many of you have ever visited, let alone lived in, any of these cities. I have lived in Vienna and Frankfurt, and am currently living in Zurich, which of the 8 cities I have lived in is by far the best (the Alps less than an hour away allowing easy ski trips during the winter season, and the lake and river make summers feel like a perpetual on vacation-- leave work at 17h, ride your bike down to the river and hang out on the lounge chairs with a cocktail until the sun goes down). There aren't many cities that are small enough to allow one to cross the city by bike in less than 30 minutes, or where no matter where you live, you are never more than 10 minutes away from a giant park.

These rankings take into account a lot of things besides the "fun" stuff (night life, culture, etc.), like safety, efficiency of public transport, pollution, education, purchasing power, and these cities fare very well in those areas.
I may be wrong, but I see this ranking as a list of desirable locations to settle down or raise a family, not the top ten of where to attend a rave party (though Zurich does bring in millions of people each year for the Street Parade...)