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Is London the world´s most attractive city?

Mistoffelees

13:53 / 06.12.05

People in 18 countries were asked and voted London on No. 1. You can find the other "winners" here.

I wonder how many of these people actually visited at least some of these cities? I´ve only seen/visited four yet, so I would find it awkward to be part of such a poll.

That survey was done worldwide for the first time, and is scheduled to be done once a year.

It´s funny, that people say, part of the reason London won, is it´s expensiveness. The reasoning being, it´s expensive, so it must be attractive, instead of it being expensive because of it being attractive to many people.

Whenever there´s such a poll, I don´t know of anyone that took part in it. So, what do you think, how representative is it? And if you live in London, do you actually think, it´s more attractive than Rome or Paris?

Sekhmet

13:57 / 06.12.05

"the index measured impressions rather than facts."

Most of these people probably haven't visited any of them. As evidence, I present the fact that Los Angeles also ranked in the top 10.

Slim

14:13 / 06.12.05

Washington D.C. was in the top 15 and it's not even one of the top 10 U.S. cities.

Mourne Kransky

14:39 / 06.12.05

It scored less well for affordable accommodation, climate and friendliness of people. So, a nice place to visit but not to set up home?

I love London but am very biased. Any faith I might have had in the "research" is shaken by the finding that London was the 13th cleanest city. Don't be ridiculous. London is filthy. Gorgeous, but undeniably filthy.

Mon Oncle Ignatius

15:27 / 06.12.05

And if you live in London, do you actually think, it´s more attractive than Rome or Paris?

It could depend on if Dalston is measurably more attractive than the Boulevard Strasbourg, for example. Both are quite vile in their own way, dynamic in others.

Some parts of London are great, others completely hideous. I guess its the totality of attractiveness which is being measured (supposedly).

I would put Paris above London myself, certainly.

Mourne Kransky

15:35 / 06.12.05

By attractive, they mean would attract you to live there though, do they not? And not simply attractive as in pretty to look at. Although crossing a Thames bridge at night when the riverside is lit up is a sight that's hard to beat.

grant

15:49 / 06.12.05

Parks. D.C. has great green spaces, and it seems like London does too. The parks in NY (other than Central) seem to be sort of small to me.

I've never been to Paris or Rome. Hamburg has a nice park, too, along with the waterfront.

West L.A. has some surprisingly nice parks, and, well the beach counts for an awful lot, especially if you're a visitor from someplace without one. I think San Francisco is a prettier city by far, but I live much nearer to a beach than to brownstones with wrought iron railings.

Mon Oncle Ignatius

15:50 / 06.12.05

In which case both Dalston and Blvd. Strasbourg would not attract me to live in either city very much, though I have inhabited the environs of the former for many years.

However, I suppose if I added up the attractive qualities of, for example, Stoke Newington, Highbury, Crouch End and Finchley Road (for example) then compared them to whatever good features are possessed by Wood Green, Finsbury Park, Clapton and Hornsey I might come to a better conclusion about (North) London's relative attractiveness to live in.

Then I'd have to start working on South London, and factoring in the up- and downsides of the West End into the equation, and it all becomes a nightmare of cod-objectivity and... and... better left as subjective I suppose.

How I could even begin to quantify the attractivness of, say, Rome when I've never been there I'm not exactly sure.

Mistoffelees

16:11 / 06.12.05

Hamburg has a nice park, too, along with the waterfront.

Another example of this list not being fair: Berlin was the only german city they could vote for. So there was no way for Hamburg ever to be considered attractive.

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