I Always Knew Osaka was Great －やっぱり大阪はめっちゃええ－

Congratulations, Osaka!  You win the silver medal in the category of “World’s Most Liveable City”.

There is a yearly ranking of the world’s cities by a group called the Economist Intelligence Unit.  The group considers a number of factors, such as how stable life in the city is, how well developed its infrastructure is, how good its healthcare provision is, and how well it educates its citizens.  Then it compares 143 major cities around the world, and ranks them from 1st to 143rd.  In the 2021 list, Osaka came 2nd, and Tokyo came 5th.  The overall winner was Auckland in New Zealand.  Adelaide (Australia) came third, and Wellington (New Zealand) came fourth.

The EIU, who made the list, said that the coronavirus pandemic affected this year’s results.  Many European cities fell down the list because their health systems suffered greater problems than cities in New Zealand, Australia and Japan.

But are the EIU using the correct criteria to judge cities?  How would the different cities rank according to these factors?

Best Street Food:  Bangkok and Singapore move up the list.  Osaka still does well.

Best Green Spaces and Access to Nature:  My hometown, Glasgow does well.  Sydney does well.  Osaka falls.

Best Musical Culture:  Glasgow shoots to the top of the list.  New Orleans creeps up.  Tokyo also does well.

Best Alcohol Culture and Access:  Dublin makes an entry.  Osaka and Tokyo still do well.

What would you include in the criteria for deciding the most liveable city on the planet?

Vocabulary:

to be stable – to be able to withstand shocks, changes, difficulties, etc.; not subject to too much change

infrastructure – things such as roads, water pipes, railway lines, etc., wich are useful to human societies or economies