Melbourne came out on top as the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) most liveable city for the fifth year in a row, beating Vienna in Austria to the top spot, in a year dominated by Australasian cities.
The city of Adelaide joined Melbourne on the list, placing fifth for the fourth year in a row, sharing fifth place with Calgary in Canada.
Australian cities Sydney and Perth placed seventh and eighth, respectively. While New Zealand’s Auckland took ninth place.
However, all eyes were on Melbourne, which beat off 140 cities from around the world for the prestigious title, securing a perfect score of 100 in healthcare, education and infrastructure, culture and environment, and sport.
City of Melbourne’s Director of City Design and Projects Rob Adams identified the following as key factors that make Melbourne’s liveability status so high:
- Inherited factors such as clean air and water
- Features that have come out of good planning and nurturing such as a great network of parks and gardens, a simple grid pattern of streets that provides legibility and easy accessibility, good public transport infrastructure that reduces reliance on the motor vehicle and a great heritage of buildings, fine boulevards, streets and lanes the product of the 19th century development funded from the gold rush.
- Successive generations that have incrementally added to the detail and qualities of Melbourne in the realisation that without spectacular geographic features care needed to be taken to build on Melbourne's strengths.
- A community that through its desire to participate in public life has nurtured the Arts, sport and knowledge to make Melbourne a leader in all these fields.
- Human factors such as tolerance, multiculturalism and regard for safety.
According to Adams, winning the award helps drive visitation, investment and migration to the city, contributing to the financial viability, social cohesion and sustainability of Melbourne.
“It also makes us realise how hard it was to achieve this position and how easily it could be taken away if we do not promote the right type of development and better utilisation and development of our infrastructure for the 21st century,” he said.
The Labor Government is investing $20 billion in major transport infrastructure and $5.4 billion in health and education to create jobs and deliver a stronger economy.
Major projects currently being carried out in the city include the renewal of Queen Victoria Markets and working with the State Government on Melbourne Metro.
In addition to these major projects, the department has a number of projects underway that are looking to increase the open space in the central city as well as the upgrade of Elizabeth Street and Southbank Boulevard that are looking to get a better balance between the different modes of transport. The city is also expanding and upgrading its community infrastructure through the construct of a boating hub in Docklands and renewal of the Carlton pool.
“The city continues to increase its investment in capital projects while lowering the rates from 13 cents in the hundred dollars in 1996 to just over 4 cents in the hundred dollars in 2015,” said Adams.
“Melbourne over the past 30 years has become a smart city getting more out of less while building on its strengths in an incremental program of improvements.”
The five most liveable countries in 2015
Rank (out of 140): Country (City)
1. Australia (Melbourne)
2. Austria (Vienna)
3. Canada (Vancouver)
4. Canada (Toronto)
5. Australia (Adelaide)
5. Canada (Calgary)
7. Sydney (Australia)
8. Perth (Australia)
9. Auckland (New Zealand)
10= Helsinki (Finland)
10= Zurich (Switzerland)