Liveability is a set of criteria of what a place is like to live in, such as environmental quality, safety, access to shops and services and cultural activities, the conditions of a decent life for all inhabitants of cities and communities including their physical and mental well being. Today it means a 10 to 20 minute walk to services, schools and green spaces. Access to green spaces is becoming as essential as running water and insulated homes so it’s rapidly becoming a marketing ploy by marketers. Melbourne was voted one of the world’s most liveable cities, 7 years in a row. Why? It offers a cohesive and stable society, healthcare, education, and world-class infrastructure. All of which does make Melbourne a magnificent city in which to live and work when compared to other cities. One of the criteria is good transport infrastructure, try telling that to a Melbournian commuter who has to travel in from the urban fringe! The Global Liveability Index focuses on things that matter to expats working in global cities, not citizens. This is different to what is important to the average person living in Melbourne or any other global city - such as housing affordability, walkability, access to public transport and education, and even the number of bike paths. Auckland, in New Zealand, took the top spot in 2021, perhaps due to the city’s ability to contain the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic faster and could lift restrictions earlier, unlike others around the world. However, not everyone can enjoy the benefits of an expat, roughly one in four Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand living in the greater Auckland region, the ranking has little relevance to them. The New Zealand Treasury’s Living Standards Framework looks at a more robust liveability criteria: civic engagement and governance, cultural identity, environment, health, housing, income and consumption, jobs and earnings, knowledge and skills, time use, safety and security, social connections and subjective well-being. Yet when assessed on these criteria the reality of housing, employment, poverty and health the Māori rate poorly. These ranking maybe indicators but are very subjective.
Poverty in Australia seldom fits the skid-row scenario, compared to Orwell's starvation on the road. Urban deprivation, the socio-economic conditions are more likely to mean being behind, unable to afford what others take for granted. It means being left behind, having your adulthood delayed by unemployment, your parenting distorted by low income, and your individuality, and that of your neighbourhood, submerged in an expectation of drab sameness. The Lowest Rung: Voices of Australian Poverty by Mark Peel suggests the poor lack initiative, and encourages us to focus on what is wrong with them and their decisions, rather than what might be wrong with the context in which those decisions are made. He continues “We are measuring poverty, thus detaching it from inequality. Often displaced from inner suburbs by accumulating misfortune; sickness, accidents, retrenchment, or marriage to gamblers. They struggle every day to become normal.” Education, formal or otherwise is a potential path out. As indigenous leader Noel Pearson said, “'indigenous education is a shameful failure.” It is the one essential ingredient above all others that would raise the indigenous communities of northern Australia out of poverty and Third World conditions. It is a denial of opportunity.
Melbourne is a great city for the globally mobile and highly educated who can afford to live in it. If you can afford it, and have some fresh air, parks to wander in, mountains to see and beaches to sun bathe, so then it is a good life. However, the lack of social equality is still a major hurdle and the poor have fared worse in the pandemic. This has been seen in aged care with huge numbers of deaths. World wide, from Melbourne to New York, the worse hit areas tending to be the lower socio-economic.
Australia is an urban sprawl, the population mostly hugs the Eastern coast line and the continent has a great barren centre, where it can be hot during the day and cold at night. Most Australians live in citis, and not on the beach which is the common view from abroad. Sydney and Melbourne are the two biggest cities, roughly 5 million each and yet, I have found Melbourne a quiet place to live, on the streets, in the parks and even on the beaches, unless its a 35 plus degree day. There is the faux competitiveness between the two cities, Sydney is often referred to a tart, Melbourne’s a lady. Sydney, has the iconic beauty of its harbour with its bridge and the Opera House. Melbourne has its lane ways, its beauty is hidden. Sydney’s physicality, is exposed for all to see, its light, fierce and dominating. Melbourne is subdued, stylish, a city lived on the street. I have found Melbourne never to be crowded in the parks, beaches, even the city, obviously there are exceptions, peak commuter time or hot weather driving people to the beach or parks, which I like but never as busy as Alicante in the evening or on its beach in high summer. In Alicante, we step out of our apartment and are in the middle of pedestrians, in Melbourne we step out of our home and see very few people, unless we walk up High Street, Northcote, its main thoroughfare.
Global cities must balance four pillars of urban life, advises Richard Longworth, author of a report on global cities published by the Chicago Council. The first is civic. They need effective city government supported by active non-government institutions, such as ‘‘think tanks’’ and foundations, especially those ‘‘embedded in the global society’’. The second is commercial. Global cities require a powerful business and finance community with global connections. The third is outstanding education and research. That means high-ranking universities and top-quality schools. The fourth is cultural - the arts and entertainment that give a global city its soul. ‘‘Global citizens will go to the place where their brains and education can be best used, but they also want to have fun,’’ says Longworth. Diversity, high art, fine restaurants, and vibrant night life in a global city help attract and retain the young, educated and mobile talent. All available in Sydney Melbourne and these offer these city delights, though fine dining its not for us. Global cities are increasingly integrated with the international flow of capital, goods, people and ideas. Author and urban theorist Richard Florida calls this ‘‘winner-take all urbanism’’. Dublin, Ireland’s capital city is an example, where it has sucked the economic vibrancy from surrounding country towns and turned them into dormitory suburbs, one Irish researcher found these country towns much to offer, architecture, streetscapes and interested groups.
Quality of life is affected by the environment, an increasing body of research suggests that our health is affected by the environment, and the cities we live in. The air quality can affect the respiratory function, and green spaces is known to improve well-being. Where there is a greater density of fast-food outlets, people are likely to be more obese. Statistics from the UK’s government reveals insights about the concentration of certain amenities that may damage or promote health. For example, on average, people in Britain are located as close to a pub or bar as they are to their nearest GP (1.1km) and 42% of people are within a kilometre of a gambling outlet. The data reviewed the availability of health services (GP surgeries, dentists, pharmacies), retail outlets (fast-food outlets, pubs, gambling shops), parks and recreational spaces, and levels of air pollution to reveal that detrimental environmental factors tend to be concentrated in poorer areas. 62% of people who live in the 10% most deprived areas are within one kilometre of a fast-food outlet, compared with 24% in the 10% least deprived areas. Read about life skills here. Buy the books here.
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© Hugh Vaughan 2023