Brum - the 55th most liveable city in the world

By Stuart Pemble on Mar 17, 08 04:46 PM in Commercial Property

Not, I'll admit, the headline I had envisaged when I said that I would do a report on what happened at MIPIM, but this is a remarkably gossip-free follow up to my previous blog.

Instead, here's a genuine statistic for you. We are apparently the 55th most liveable city in the world. And don't just take my word for it. Mercer Human Resource Consulting (who appear to specialise in placing international executives in the city of their dreams) have done the research.

So, and taking some names from the list which meet the (admittedly arbitrary) test of "places where the Pembles might like to go on holiday", Brum is already a better place to live than LA, Rome, Miami, Hong Kong, Prague, Budapest (which managed to survive Mrs P's hen weekend last summer, so is clearly made of stern stuff), Dubai, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.

Now, if I am honest, and despite being a huge fan of Brum, I think that's already a pretty remarkable list. But, my surprise notwithstanding, the independent experts at Mercer reckon our overall quality of life is better than that in some pretty fantastic cities.

And here's the ambitious bit. At MIPIM, Councillor Mike Whitby announced Brum's plan to hit number 25 on the list. Assuming everyone else stays in the same place in the table, this would mean that rich executives are going to turn down their postings in Dublin, Honolulu, San Francisco, Adelaide, Brisbane, Paris and New York (as well as that large conurbation on the banks of the River Thames) in favour of Broad Street, Brindleyplace and the Balti Triangle. To support this goal, there are plans to invest a further £17 billion in our city, including £193 million on the new library alone, and all of the investments are to have a "distinctive Brummie feel" (whatever that is).

So, and with apologies for ending with a question, what do we all think? Is it a realisable goal or pure pie in the sky? Speaking personally, I would love it to be the former.

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6 Comments

Sid Langley said:

How are the 54 cities rating higher than Brum on wi-fi interconnectivity?

March 18, 2008 8:22 AM

Steve X said:

Honolulu and Brisbane will soon be looking on with envy at the Birmingham beach.

Neither Paris or New York has a statue of Tony Hancock on a roundabout.

I'll admit the SF Golden Gate bridge has a bit more going for it than the Lancaster Circus flyover, but I'm more interested in the cities below 55th place.
I'd like to know which places can only aspire to be as lovely as Birmingham...

March 18, 2008 12:34 PM

Derek Belm said:

I must confess to misreading "liveable" as "loveable" when I first scanned this story.
I formulated a response along the lines that I was surprised that Birmingham had made it as high as 55 in a list of the most "loveable" places. Indeed, I was taken aback that any large city was in actual fact deemed loveable enough for inclusion.
To me loveable refers to a place where I feel relaxed, at ease with myself and at peace with the world and cities provide the polar opposite experience. To me, a loveable place to live would provide the sort of tranquility and calming qualities that by their very nature large cities cannot provide.
But it was liveable, not loveable, so that's OK then.
As regards "liveable" then I think Birmingham can be proud of a fairly strong showing, given the weight of competition it is up against - we live in a big world, after all.
It is good to have ambitions so I wholeheartedly agree that Birmingham should aim next to reach no.25.
It isn't quite reaching for the stars, but due to light pollution that isn't possible in large cities these days anyway.

March 18, 2008 7:54 PM

Stuart Pemble

said:

Thanks to everyone for their comments.

Sid: I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to the wi-fi connectivity question.

Steve: if you click on the word ‘research’ in the blog, you should see the table showing all 100 cities on the list.

Derek: you raise a very interesting point but I think it probably all comes down to personal taste. I actually think that cities can be loveable as well as liveable, but that may be because I prefer living in them to the countryside. And, not that I’m blind to its problems, but I really do like living and working in Brum.

March 19, 2008 10:35 AM

richard said:

I have a lot of affection for Birmingham, so much so that I moved from London to the area in 2001 after my parents had decided Birmingham in the 70's was not a good place to bring up children.

All said and done, I now live in New York and I'm a little disturbed how Birmingham comes anywhere near to having amazing mass transit, unrestricted retail therapy, safe streets, and the ability to pretty much get what you want 24/7.

Birmingham has come on leaps and bounds, but I'm not too sure I'd want to locate back there. Maybe I'm missing something?

March 21, 2008 3:45 AM

Stuart Pemble

said:

Thanks Richard. Not to take away from the joys of the Big Apple, and whilst we don't have the skyscrapers, the subway or the Staten Island Ferry, I'd say that Brum does better than New York in lots of ways. It's cheaper to live here for one. And the curry is definitely superior. I suppose it depends on what counts when it comes to quality of life.

March 31, 2008 3:47 PM