What makes a good city a great place to live? That’s what Monocle has been dedicated to find out. For the last seven years, the magazine has conducted a quality of life survey, and established a top 25 of the most livable cities in the world.
This year, Copenhagen tops the ranking. In this video by Gabriel Leigh for Monocle, you can find out more about why the Danish capital is a favorite, from intelligent, human-centric urban planning, to the rise of urban cuisine and cultural exports, the feeling of community, and more. “Copenhagen is a city for everyone”.
“World-conquering urban quality of life requires the trickiest of balancing acts between progress and preservation, stimulation and security, global and local. Perfection is unobtainable but Copenhagen is striking one of the best deals right now.” – Monocle
The metrics are a mix of the scientific and subjective and considers everything from public saftely, flight connections, tolerance, cultural outlets and some 30 other parameters. Monocle’s founder, Tyler Brûlé, explains:
“From the moment I touch down in a city, I find I’m always asking whether or not I could live there and then I start the process of constructing this fantasy lifestyle,” I explained. “Does the airport work? How was the drive into the city? Is the scale human or overwhelming? Are locals chirpy or chippy? What’s the quality of the local housing stock? Are there plenty of independent shopkeepers? Is there a good international newsstand within walking distance of the modernist timber bungalow I’d live in?” – Read more here.
Two other Scandinavian cities are also in the top 25: Helsinki and Stockholm respectively hold the third and seventh places. The full details can be found in Monocle’s July/August 2013 issue.
