Places I'd Rather Be Than Here...

Forbes released it's annual World's Best Places to Live list and Vienna sits atop at numer one. For the most part I think their criteria for these results are sound as can be. They make reasonable sense, and as far as the kind of place I think people, or at least I, would like to live, Forbes assesses 420 of the globe's major metropolises with a panache of accuracy, using New York City as a benchmark score of 100 for which to grade the rest. They rate these cities on the "basis of the political and social environment (including stability, crime and law enforcement); the strength of the economy, restrictions, such as censorship and limitations on personal freedom; the quality of healthcare as well as exposure to infectious diseases; and school quality." Added into the mix of all the aforementioned, recreation, theaters, sports activities, access to grocery markets, the availability and cost of housing, as well as the climate and susceptibility to natural disasters all received noteworthy attention. A virgin criterion put a new spin on things, though, and I think it's a brilliant way to analyze a city's desirability. Besides all of the other analytics, cities were now also rated on the basis of their infrastructure, including electrical supply, water availability, telephone and mail services, public transportation, traffic congestion and the range of international flights from local airports. Put together, this puts together what I would regard as the consummate city. 

What's saddening, however, is America's glaring absence here and the fall from grace that is more or less inferred by it. It's nonexistent on the top twenty. Kudos to Vancouver there on the left, the lone North American representative in the top ten with Ottawa and Toronto not too far behind in the bottom half of the top twenty, but America's nonappearance here is a glaring sign that The Land of the Free has got quite a lot of work to do if it wishes to truly reestablish itself a cultural and societal breeding ground of innovation and quality of life. Granted that our major cities' population surpasses many of these not-so-distended ones on the list, it doesn't quite absolve America of the many obstacles facing its urban solaces.

It'd be much too easy to cry foul and denigrate this as just another example of anti-American, Euro-favoring journalism, minus the Australian, New Zealand and Canadian cities showing up. As far as I'm concerned that's a major cop out and doesn't take into account any of the data used. If your gripe is with how Forbes assessed the cities and the methodology behind the measurements, that's one thing, but to shrug it off as further evidence of ill-will towards America is a lazy reaction. I think when you look at the criteria they used it isn't any wonder the United States' major cities aren't here. They don't hold up. Crime through the roof. Transportation nonexistent. Traffic a constant parking lot. Poverty everywhere. Affordable housing like finding the will-o'-the-wisp. Economy in ruin. The roads utter trash, pothole ridden and usually cluttered with trash. Air quality? What's that. City schools a joke and an insult to residents. 

But compiling a list of this nature is always asking for discrepancies and arguments. Everyone has their own opinion on what constitutes the topmost livable city, let alone a number of livable cities. The loudest argument I can imagine would be to point out that taxes in these cities and the countries they inhabit are much higher than that of those here in the states, which is true, but it seems the prevailing logic here is that these taxes obviate the citizens of some of the burdens and worries that face citizens here and that the less worries one has the better their quality of life might be. Climate could be another issue, as many of these aren't necessarily in the most tropical of regions. 

Whether or not the quality of life in these cities listed is better overall for all or most of their citizens isn't a question, I don't think. The question is whether or not America wants to go down that route. The tax rates are higher, that's for sure. And to do so would be no inexpensive nor short-term feat. The work that needs to and could be done is quite long. There's a whole world of investing in our own society that would need to be done, in technology, renewable energy, infrastructure, and probably a number of other areas. But faced with the current state of affairs, I do believe it's a question we should be asking ourselves and considering despite any partisan biases towards either decision. Otherwise my fear is that the the great and storied American cities we've all come to love will continue to face harder and harder times, and those who love them the most will suffer right along with them, their devoted citizenry.