Mercer's 2012 Quality of Living ranking highlights - Global

[evman150]

Originally Posted by Flame Of Liberty

Swimming in water that doesn't freeze your balls solid makes a bit of difference too.

It's not that bad. But ya, it's not great.

[nik-]

Originally Posted by Phaneufenstein

Not surprising...

The ######s at city planning have a lot to learn.

Just came back from Houston and wow did their highways and interchanges ever impress me.

You've got to be kidding. Houston is widely renowned as a planning disaster and their traffic is disgusting.

[Red Slinger]

Having now lived in both Australia and Canada (and spent some time in Austria and other parts of Europe) I find these rankings confusing.

There are some things that Calgary does very well. This study states that the infrastructure in Calgary doesn't rank but Perth does. I've generally found the infrastructure better in Calgary than in Perth. However, the quality of life (whatever that means) is very close.

Seems to me that there are a lot of subjective variables in a ranking like this.

By the way, it was 37C and sunny yesterday in Perth. Got home from work and jumped in the pool before grilling (not shrimp) on the Barby. Suck it Calgary! And you too Sydney!

[evman150]

See to me, 37 sounds awful. I don't even like that when I'm on vacation.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Red Slinger

Having now lived in both Australia and Canada (and spent some time in Austria and other parts of Europe) I find these rankings confusing.

There are some things that Calgary does very well. This study states that the infrastructure in Calgary doesn't rank but Perth does. I've generally found the infrastructure better in Calgary than in Perth. However, the quality of life (whatever that means) is very close.

Seems to me that there are a lot of subjective variables in a ranking like this.

By the way, it was 37C and sunny yesterday in Perth. Got home from work and jumped in the pool before grilling (not shrimp) on the Barby. Suck it Calgary! And you too Sydney!

37 is aggravating. Unless you're literally by the beach AND in the water most of the day, AND don't have to work or do anything but soak up sun. But if you have to do anything but laze around, then 37 is just intolerable.

Even if you're vacation though, 37 always feels a bit too hot. 26 - 30 is ideal, while anything in the low 30's is okay if it doesn't go on for days. But anything 35+ is just killer. Maybe I'm the only one that feels this way. I notice a lot of people seem to be of the "who gives a ****, give me 40 for all I care, hot weather is awesome!" variety.

[Flame Of Liberty]

37 is terribad if you are not submerged in water head to toe.

28-32 is a good range where its still warm/hot but you don't feel you are getting baked alive.

2 summers ago it was 40+ in shade for 6 days straight and that's pure hell.

[Red Slinger]

37 can be tough but it's very dry here so it feels more like 32 would in Calgary. Fortunately, there are plenty of beaches. Those come with some other benefits too.

[normtwofinger]

Your body acclimatizes. Most people who go to a hot weather location only go for a week to 10 days. If you were to spend 1 month straight, you would get used to the heat. In my town, for half the year, the low at night is 30 and shoots up to 40 to 45 during the day, plus the humidex. When the cool season comes, I feel like I'm going to freeze to death, and it only goes down to 20 at night. I lived in Calgary for 28 years and worked outside.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Bunk

Calgary is most often compared to cities multiple times its size. What Calgary needs to develop as it becomes a true big city is that big city buzz - just more of everything - whether it be streetlife, walkable neighbourhoods, shopping, dining, cultural activity. These things will come both naturally with densification and growth and some deliberate effort on the part of its citizens to create a better, more exciting city. Calgary does pretty well for a city its size and is a really fun place if you really get yourself out there in the community.

On the otherhand, it's hard to find a place on earth where the basics of a good quality of life are better - whether it be health and wellbeing, education, income, infrastructure, recreation, or environmental factors (air, water, ground quality).

In 2011, metro Calgary had a population of 1.214 million people. The US metro areas that are closest to us in size are Hartford CT, Richmond VA, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, and Raleigh NC.

I would stack Calgary up against all of those places for "interesting things to do" except for New Orleans.

[polak]

I bet the French Quarter gets boring pretty quick.

We have ALOT more at our disposal within a 2 hour drive as well.

[JD]

Originally Posted by polak

I bet the French Quarter gets boring pretty quick.

We have ALOT more at our disposal within a 2 hour drive as well.

Well, Calgary does have a lot in a 2-hour radius, but Hartford and Richmond are part of the Eastern Seaboard where there's anything a person wants within 2 hours.

To the weather thing, it is amazing how fast you can acclimatize to 40+ degree weather. I loved it when I was living in the Middle East.