What makes Vienna more liveable than Melbourne? Or anywhere else?

I like Melbourne — for the lifestyle, the coffee, the culture, the food, even the weather (though not so much the football code they follow ) —  so I was a bit disappointed to read that it has been displaced as the “world’s most liveable city” by Vienna.

But then I thought: What the hell is a “liveable” city? And why does this matter?

I first came across the term decades ago when the Brisbane Ciy Council unilaterally declared my home town as “Australia’s most liveable city”.

That was, of course, nonsense, and so is the Economist Intelligence Unit’s global liveability index on which this latest assessment is based.

Any city capable of sustaining life is, by definition, liveable. Trying to quantify how one is “more liveabe” than another is making the assumption that we are all looking for the same thing, and that everything in life can be boiled down to some sort of mathematical formula.

I could name dozens of cities I’ve enjoyed visiting, would like to see again and wouldn’t mind living in. Each of them has its own unique characteristics. And that’s the point.

Even if some sort of “science” is involved, not every experience can be objectively compared to another.

So don’t grieve for what you’ve lost Melbourne, because apart from the odd newspaper headline, it ain’t worth a thing.

Just keep doing what you do do well, and the visitors will still keep coming.

See also: Who says which bar is best?