Comments on: Mercer’s Best Places to Live in 2009: Quality of Life?

By: William

William — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 01:56:01 +0000

Interesting post.
My criteria would be Transportation options.
I have never been to Europe/Canada/Australia, but I find interesting I do not see major Asian capitals in here (Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo).

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By: Carla

Carla — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:07:20 +0000

Well clean, safe, lots of great Renaissance architecture, great food, polite and friendly people in a family friendly environment are what my husband and I look for so we always end up in Europe. And if you are going to live somewhere, infrastructure is certainly a high priority especially for business people. Can’t live somewhere without the Internet.

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By: Carla

Carla — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:58:51 +0000

Because you are a tourist there. Living in a city and visiting a city are two different things. Safety are the utmost concern for most people and most major Latin and African cities in particular are considered the most dangerous places to live and travel to. Sorry but beheadings, kidnappings and being robbed are not my idea of vacation adventures either.

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By: JB

JB — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:41:43 +0000

http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=30910

Evidence this recent article that talks about a major livability component in the top cities that is not measured by the Mercer survey. There are several European cities in the top 10 that would never survive my “insularity” index.

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By: Ryukyu Mike

Ryukyu Mike — Sat, 02 May 2009 22:27:32 +0000

Tim,
Have to check that ferry thing out for you; I’m headed to the Naha Dragon Boat races in a few minutes.
What keeps me from claiming I’m an EXPERT on Okinawa is I’ve created my own little expat bubble and probably don’t have half the information and internatiolan traveler needs to know.
Since joining the Matador gang, I’ve decided I need to research a few things before I start lying and calling myself an expert !
Get back to you, shortly.

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By: admin

admin — Sat, 02 May 2009 00:34:34 +0000

Eva–

You make a great point, but I think I may have given the impression that I was criticizing expats in general when I was actually trying to take aim at the Mercer ratings and the way they judge quality of life. I was trying to explain that the Mercer ratings encourage a way of judging place based on corporate, capitalist criteria, and based on a vision of quality of life that is very much in keeping with this sort of corporate ethic. They base all of the ratings off of New York – a major center of U.S consumer culture.

I see the point of the Mercer ratings, and I understand that they target a particular audience, but I think that the kind of goals they represent – livable cities which all conform to this greater corporate vision of quality life – are somewhat sad and boring.

As for expat culture– I definitely didn’t do a good enough job of clarifying that I don’t think all expats, or all expats that live in these cities, or all expats that follow the Mercer ratings are “corporatized automatons.” I’m an expat and many of my closest friends are expats, so that’d be hypocritical right from the start. When I said “an expat culture that demands imported French wines…” etc, I didn’t mean the expat culture overall, but rather a particular segment of that culture that searches to implant whatever definition of home they have on the place they’ve moved.

And while I see your point that many expats are seeking out community, I think there are just as many expats who seek to create little bubbles in the places they live, shopping in foreign grocery stores, going out to restaurants with familiar food with other foreigners, etc. I’m not sure these people are fearful of being overseas, nor do I think they’re looking for a local community. I’ve seen this in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico–the most spectacular example of expats living in gated communities totally isolated from the locals and shopping at foreign supermarkets. It’s there in China, too– there is a really pronounced expat neighborhood and there are plenty of people that never leave it and spend their time complaining about these Chinese realities that seem to creep into their expat world (poverty, people sleeping in the streets, crime, different ways of talking/negotiating, spitting, etc.) Don’t get me wrong– I’m not against complaining in a particular place (see my comments on this article: http://thetravelersnotebook.com/how-to/how-to-avoid-being-an-ugly-american-tourist/) but I think shutting oneself off from a place and expecting it to conform to these sort of internationalized standards of “quality of life” is rather depressing.

Thanks for keeping me on my toes, Eva!

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By: Tim Patterson

Tim Patterson — Fri, 01 May 2009 13:18:19 +0000

Careful Mike, you might find Sarah on your doorstep if you keep talking about those iced coffee machines! Any ferries from Nagoya to Naha?

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By: Ryukyu Mike

Ryukyu Mike — Fri, 01 May 2009 06:16:14 +0000

Iced coffee machines on every street, beaches everywhere; jungles and mountains, too ! Rent a house for $350 a month and the landlord delivers fresh veges and flowers, he grows, several times a week. But the bathtubs are small….

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By: Caitlin

Caitlin — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:23:13 +0000

Interesting article. I too agree with your criteria, especially #3 and #4.

I have lived in Ottawa and Toronto. Though I’m relatively happy here in Ottawa for the time being because of friends I have, it does lack the stuff that makes me love a city – diversity, unpredictability, public spaces and public life. Toronto fits that description a lot more – it has vibrant, diverse neighborhoods and people really do live their life in public a lot more.

Anyways, if those 30 cities (all in the “North”) are where the best quality of life is, how come I feel so much happier when I’m in a vibrant and chaotic city in Africa or Latin America?

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By: Tim Patterson

Tim Patterson — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:27:58 +0000

Right on, Sarah. Let’s draw up our own list! My criteria – not too expensive, fairly safe but not stodgy, good access to the wild, thriving youth culture…oh, and I prefer towns with less than 2,000 people. But maybe that last one is a stretch.

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