Africa`s best and worst cities to live in

Source: Fin24, 22/08/2016

It will come as no surprise to Harare residents that they live in a
city ranked among the world`s worst. With police barricades set up
across the city`s potholed roads so that law-enforcers can bully cash
out of motorists in what can only be a private money-earner, life
cannot be described as normal in the ailing Zimbabwean capital.


Perhaps we should take surveys like these with a pinch of
salt, as Harare is lumped with cities like Syria`s Damascus –
surprising when you consider that civil war has driven millions of
Syrians to other countries? Crime-wracked Lagos, Nigeria`s largest
city, also makes the list of Africa`s worst places to live, in a
report released by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Cape Town
residents will no doubt wonder why their glorious city, with its
pristine beaches and mesmerising Table Mountain, failed to make it to
the world`s top 10 most liveable cities. Apparently the Mother City
has stiff competition from Australian cities Melbourne, Adelaide and
Perth as well as several cities in Canada. However, an Africa survey
highlights gems across the continent, with Cape Town coming in first
as the most desirable city in which to live and Johannesburg rated as
fourth-best city on the African continent. Accra, in Ghana, Kenya`s
Nairobi and Botswana`s Gaborone are also said to be great places to
call home. – Jackie Cameron


By Eugenie du Preez
Cape Town – Worldwide terrorism continues to shake up stability, said
the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) in its global liveability
ranking released in August.


Its report entitled A Summary of the Liveability Ranking and Overview
said the impact of this drop in stability shows up most clearly when a
five-year view of the global average scores is taken. Overall, the
global average liveability score has slipped by 0.9% to 74.8% over the
past five years, with one-quarter of this decline coming in the past
year.


The key factor in this fall has been weakening stability, with
conflict a key factor in undermining wider liveability.


So what global cities are the best ones to live in? Melbourne in
Australia tops the list, with Austria`s capital Vienna hard at its
heels. In third and fourth places are Canada`s Vancouver and Toronto,
with another Canadian city, Calgary, sharing joint fifth place with
Adelaide in Australia.


Next come Perth in Australia and Auckland in New Zealand, with the
Finnish capital Helsinki and Hamburg in Germany occupying the last
slots among the top ten.


Although the top five cities remain unchanged, increasing instability
across the world over the past year has caused volatility in the
scores of many cities. An example of this is Sydney, which has dropped
four places and fallen out of the top ten most liveable cities because
of a heightened perceived threat of terrorism.


Population density plays a significant role, and the cities with the
highest scores tend to be mid-sized cities in wealthier countries with
relatively low densities. "These can foster a range of recreational
activities without leading to high crime levels or overburdened
infrastructure," the report stated.


Six of the top ten most liveable cities are in Australia and Canada,
with low densities of 3.1 and 3.9 people per square kilometre.


Finland and New Zealand – also in the top ten – both have
densities of about 18 per square kilometre, compared with a global
(land) average of 57 and the US average of 35 people.


African cities are among the world`s ten least liveable cities:
Zimbabwe`s capital Harare, Algiers in Algeria and Lagos flounder among
the world`s least liveable cities.


US cities have dropped further in recent scores, partly from unrest
related to the deaths of black people in police custody or unarmed
citizens shot on the street. Paris has also seen a steep drop in its
ranking, after a rising number of terrorist attacks in the city and
other parts of France.


But with high scores already in place, these declines have not moved
any of these cities into a lower liveability tier. "Although 17.2
percentage points separate Melbourne in first place from Warsaw in
65th place, all cities in this tier can lay claim to being on an equal
footing in terms of presenting few, if any, challenges to residents`
lifestyles," said the report.


"Global business centres tend to be victims of their own success. The
`big city buzz` that they enjoy can overstretch infrastructure and
cause higher crime rates," the report stated. While the prestigious
hubs of New York, London, Paris and Tokyo offer abundant recreational
activities, they also have more than their share of crime, congestion
and public transport problems.


"The question is how much wages, the cost of living and personal taste
for a location can offset liveability factors," said the report So,
even though the global centres don`t do as well as mid-sized cities in
the liveability stakes, they still fall inside the highest tier and
should therefore be seen as broadly comparable, especially when
contrasted with the worst-scoring locations.


Cape Town the jewel in Africa`s crown
Although the EIU report made no mention of South African cities, a
recent survey by africa.com lists two South African cities among
Africa`s top ten most liveable cities: Cape Town comes out on top and
Johannesburg is at number four. Accra in Ghana is number two, Nairobi
in Kenya is number three and Botswana`s Gaberone is number
five.


Libreville in Gabon, Tunisia`s Tunis, Dar es Salaam in Tanzania,
Namibia`s Windhoek and Kigali in Rwanda complete the top ten.


Meanwhile, the EIU says of its research methodology: "The concept of
liveability is simple: it assesses which locations around the world
provide the best or the worst living conditions. Assessing liveability
has a broad range of uses, from benchmarking perceptions of
development levels to assigning a hardship allowance as part of
expatriate relocation packages." – Fin24