I am sick and tired of people confusing Vienna with Venice -Vienna is the capital of Austria, Venice is the North Italian city built on water and sinking (but an incredible place - you should visit there). Anyway, lots is being done to prevent it from sinking.
Vienna (Austria) has a first-class public transport system, you really don't need a car in this city. The city administration goes all-out to make the city livable for its citizens, lots of parks with great plantings, every winter an ice scating ring is established in front of the Council House right in the centre, markets, many wonderful museums representing some of the world greatest artists, great architecture, great tourist facilities of every price range, public and free concerts in parks, lots of cultural activities; extensive theatre and opera programs, even an English-speaking Theatre and cinema ...... and it is pretty, and the people are friendly, the younger generation speak English, and it feels very safe.
The only drawback is the winter weather, which is what drove me to look for warmer climes.
Same with Vancouver - very beautiful city and many of the above.
The criteria for picking the livability of a place are mostly; are they people friendly? and is the public transport system any good? On that score alone, Australian cities have a long way to go - Melbourne is the best.
I love Sydney, but feel it has become something of an architectural jumble, public transport is not good and old-fashioned, but still better than Perth's. The areas round the harbour are magic. Perth is a wonderful and clean city, but somewhat bland - public transport in its infancy, impossible to live without a car here. Again the areas around the Swan River, and Fremantle are really beautiful.
I found Melbourne very interesting and livable, but the climate difficult; I've been there 4-times and every time I left the house I had to take an umbrella and layer my clothes, because the weather is unpredictable. This was some time ago, maybe global warming has changed that.
With more people expected to live in our cities, we need to re-think our ways of living on smaller blocks, or organise quality apartment living. Now here is a challenge I haven't seen anyone tackle yet in this country: two- or three-story apartment buildings could be planned in such a way, so that everyone has a large balcony or even small backyard by using hilly sites to advantage - as seen overseas, but no, our developer/architects are single-home and large, Tuscan-style, bores.
I am pleased that Melbourne scored third place; it proves the judges = (and I believe the people living in those cities also have an input) are not Eurocentric.
There should also be a vote on the most fascinating cities in the world, and it would look totally different - Venice, New York, London, Paris and some Asian cities would have to be in that one.
But then, I also like the country, that's where you find the nicest people IMO - and this also applies overseas.
