O "Global Liveability Index" para 2019 acaba de ser publicado pela EIU - Unidade de Inteligência do The Economist -
Viena, a cidade mais agradável do mundo
- Juliana A. Saad
- 17 de janeiro de 2019
Encantei-me com Viena à primeira vista. Com seu clima elegante recheado de arte, música, castelos, jardins, vinhedos, cultura e cosmopolitismo, a capital da Áustria (que foi lar de um dos casais mais conhecidos da realeza, a Imperatriz Sissi e seu marido Franz Joseph), é a combinação perfeita de passado e presente, ótima para flanar e explorar. Lá está a fenomenal obra-prima do vienense Gustav Klimt, “O Beijo”, no segundo andar do Museu Belvedere. Conhecer Viena é andar a pé admirando a arquitetura, descobrir palácios imperiais como Schönbrunn ou Hofburg (foto), namorar nos belos jardins, explorar museus, passar horas entre a xícara fumegante e as tortas e doces estonteantes dos cafés vienenses (o Demel é obrigatório). Além de curtir concertos, galerias de arte e designers locais e hospedar-se em hotéis de classe mundial, como o chiquérrimo Imperial Hotel, em plena Ringstrasse (a via que circunda o centro e os principais pontos da cidade), com o bar, restô e café mais animados do pedaço.
Among the 56 cities that have registered improvements to their overall liveability rankings over
the past five years, four cities stand out. Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire, Hanoi in Vietnam, Kiev in Ukraine
and Belgrade in Serbia have seen increases of 5 percentage points or more. In the last 12 months
Belgrade has jumped further up the index, from 82nd place to 77th, as a result of upgrades to its
infrastructure and healthcare scores; it is now mid-ranked among cities in Eastern Europe. Hanoi has
seen improvements almost across the board this year, with higher stability, culture, education and
infrastructure scores. However, in a diverse region, it remains in the bottom third of Asian cities.
Following largely peaceful and democratic presidential and parliamentary elections in Ukraine in
2019, we have upgraded Kiev’s stability rating relative to a year ago, enabling a small rise in its ranking;
however, the legacy impact of the city’s previously low stability scores (due to the ongoing conflict
with Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine) continues to weigh on Kiev’s overall ranking. Finally,
Abidjan’s upward trajectory has stalled in the past year, but Côte d’Ivoire’s diversifying economy and
strengthening governance have driven upgrades in previous years.
Conflict and economic crisis define the cities that have struggled in our index over the past year. We
have downgraded scores in four of the five categories for Caracas in Venezuela, as the government’s
fight for legitimacy has impeded its ability to provide basic services for its citizens. Its stability score
has not moved, but only because it was very low a year ago. The effect has been to pull the city down
another five places in the index, to 131st place. New Delhi has also fallen down the index because of
downgrades not just to its culture and environment score, but also stability, owing to rising crime rates.
Detroit in the US is another city that continues to struggle, with major depopulation and urban decay
resulting in a high incidence of crime, a collapse in local government tax revenue, swathes of vacant
homes and inadequate infrastructure.
Overall, our index remains dominated by medium-sized cities in wealthy countries. These cities
have well-funded public healthcare systems, compulsory and high-quality education, and functional
road and rail infrastructure. The provision of these services is assisted by the presence of fully
democratic electoral systems and generally low levels of corruption. The presence of Tokyo in the top
ten demonstrates that it is possible to scale up these characteristics, but maintaining these levels of
performance in cities with two, three or four times as many people is challenging, especially when
such cities also tend to be greater magnets for crime and terrorism. This is why other large “global”
cities in advanced economies, such as London and New York, score lower than Vienna and Melbourne
(and Tokyo) for stability and infrastructure but are able to match (or exceed) them for culture and
environment.
We note the continued gradual improvement of cities in emerging markets in infrastructure,
education and healthcare, as well as, in many cases, stability. However, these gains appear to be coming
under threat from the effects of climate change, which in the index is reflected in the culture and
environment category. The incidence of extreme weather events, such as flooding and heatwaves,
is rising around the world, and cities in emerging markets are often the most directly affected and
the least resilient. That said, we see climate change as a global phenomenon, which threatens the
liveability of cities at the very top of the index too. Only a co-ordinated global effort to limit the rising
temperature of the planet will succeed in maintaining current levels of liveability across the world.
The ten most liveable cities
Country City Rank Overall Rating (100=ideal)
* Stability
- Healthcare
- Culture & * Environment
- Education
- Infrastructure
Austria Vienna 1 99.1 100 100 96.3 100 100
Australia Melbourne 2 98.4 95 100 98.6 100 100
Australia Sydney 3 98.1 95 100 97.2 100 100
Japan Osaka 4 97.7 100 100 93.5 100 96.4
Canada Calgary 5 97.5 100 100 90 100 100
Canada Vancouver 6 97.3 95 100 100 100 92.9
Canada Toronto 7 97.2 100 100 97.2 100 89.3
Japan Tokyo 7 97.2 100 100 94.4 100 92.9
Denmark Copenhagen 9 96.8 95 95.8 95.4 100 100
Australia Adelaide 10 96.6 95 100 94.2 100 96.4
The ten least liveable cities
Country City Rank Overall Rating
(100=ideal)
Venezuela Caracas 131 46.9 35 33.3 56.3 66.7 53.6
Algeria Algiers 132 44.1 50 45.8 45.4 50 30.4
Cameroon Douala 133 44 60 25 48.4 33.3 42.9
Zimbabwe Harare 134 42.6 40 20.8 58.6 66.7 35.7
PNG Port Moresby 135 41 30 37.5 47 50 46.4
Pakistan Karachi 136 40.9 20 45.8 38.7 66.7 51.8
Libya Tripoli 137 40.4 35 41.7 40.3 50 41.1
Bangladesh Dhaka 138 39.2 55 29.2 40.5 41.7 26.8
Nigeria Lagos 139 38.5 20 37.5 53.5 33.3 46.4
Syria Damascus 140 30.7 20 29.2 40.5 33.3 32.1