VIENNA & MELBOURNE – most liveable and loveable

Vienna has been declared the number one city in the annual Global Liveability Index for the second year in a row, narrowly beating Melbourne. After displacing Melbourne from the top spot in 2018, ending a record run of seven consecutive years, the Austrian capital once again prevailed this year. But only just. The two cities continue to be separated by 0.7 percentage points, with Vienna scoring 99.1 out of 100 and Melbourne 98.4.

Flinder Street Station in Melbourne

The Economist Intelligence Unit's 2019 ranking examines and ranks 140 cities on 30 factors bunched into five categories—stability, health care, culture and environment, education and infrastructure and brings out its list. By “liveability”, it really means liveability for well-off expats and in well off suburbs. The tool used to rate the world’s cities was originally developed to figure out how much hardship money you’d need to pay an executive you were going to post to some far-flung outpost. So it measures things such as crime and political stability (How likely are you to get mugged there? How about kidnapped for a ransom or tear-gassed during street protests in yet another revolution?); housing affordability (for expats whose companies are paying the rent); access to and quality of (private) education and healthcare; and infrastructure (Do the lights come on when you flick the switch? Do they stay on? Can you drink the water? Is there water?)

The tool doesn’t measure the inequality of life within a city but if there are wide variations, as you see in the mega cities of India like Delhi and Mumbai they fail to make to even first 100 in the list. The air quality of Delhi during winters and the water logging of Mumbai during monsoons don’t help either.

Green walkway in Vienna

I have stayed in Melbourne and I know the city like the back of my hand. I have visited Vienna on multiple occasions and stayed in different suburbs and I know the city well enough to appreciate its livability status. Around 50 percent of both these cities comprises green areas. There are plenty of parks and gardens all over Vienna and Melbourne, easily accessible with public transport, by bike, or even on foot. The inner city has many green areas, among them Burggarten or Volksgarten in Vienna and Carlton Garden, Fitzroy Garden and Flagstaff garden in Melbourne, which are perfect for a quick break from sightseeing and for holding spontaneous picnics. Within Vienna’s city limits, you’ll also find many forested areas. Just a short trip on the tram can take you to places that will make you feel like you’re in the countryside. A ride on the Metro in Melbourne can take you to the Dandenong ranges, the National Parks like Werribee, Mornington peninsula, Wilson’s Promontory, Mount Buffalo, Port Campbell and the Grampians.

Melbourne Trams

Schlosspark Pötzleinsdorf in the district Währing in Vienna is great for extensive walks and has an impressive playground for kids, as well as a modern animal enclosure featuring sheep and goats. A real hit with children! Melbourne too is a heaven for walkers and hikers with Point Nepean walk and Bushranger’s Bay walking trail in Mornington peninsula, Werribee Gorge Circuit Walk, Toorongo Falls Circuit Walk and Tongue Point Walking Trail all within easy reach.

Yarra River in Melbourne

Rivers, estuaries and wetlands are central to everyday life, sustaining a complex ecosystem of plants, animals and people. The beautiful Danube flows through Vienna as does the Wein river, which is relatively small and meanders past the summer palace (Schönbrunn) . The Danube is navigable but the bit that crosses Vienna is a small canal and not the mighty river. Melbourne has the Yarra which winds its way through Greater Melbourne before emptying into Hobsons Bay in northernmost Port Phillip. Maribyrnong is a perennial river of the Port Phillip catchment, located in the north–western suburbs of Melbourne and along the Flemington Race Course.

Danube canal in Vienna

Both Vienna and Melbourne are well-known for its excellent urban infrastructure. Getting from A to B is fast and easy thanks to a network of underground trains (called “U-Bahn” in Vienna and metro in Melbourne), buses, and tramways. To get out of town for a bit, one simply hops on a bus or a train is all that is needed. Tickets for the public transport system remain affordable in both the cities. Reaching these cities by train is easy as both the Vienna central train station (“Hauptbahnhof”) and the Spencer Street station in Melbourne are in the city centre with excellent public transport connectivity. Similarly Flughafen Wien, Vianna’s International airport and Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport are both extremely well connected both to the outside world and to the inner city.

Vienna has long been a centre of learning and music. The University of Vienna was founded on 12 March 1365 by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria and it has till date 15 Nobel laureates among its alumni. University College of Teacher Education, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Academy of Fine Arts and University of Music and Performing Arts are other notable teaching institutions in the city. Melbourne is home to some of Australia's largest university and prominent independent schools. Thus Melbourne University, Monash University, La Trobe University, Swinburne University of Technology and a host of other public schools and colleges makes the city an educational hub down under.

Culturally both Vienna and Melbourne are extremely rich. Beautiful Blue Danube waltz, Secession legacy, old Schonbrunn Imperial Palace, wonderful Baroque and Neo-Classical architecture, old glamorous 19th Century cafes where Sigmund Freud used to go out – shadows of an Old Imperial metropolis are all over the Austrian capital. Albertina, a museum set in an impressive building within the grand Hofburg Palace, the Belvedere Museum, Leopold Museum, Austria’s Museum of Modern Art and many other cultural hotspots provide the city a concentration of the cultural heritage, including the 20th century artifacts, makes it special, while its opulence continues to both inspire the daydreaming and challenge the rebellious.

Melbourne too is a city buzzing with dynamic and cutting-edge arts and culture. The East End Theatre District, Melbourne's hub of historic theatres host world-class stage and musical productions. The Southbank precinct  has the The Arts Centre, MTC, Malthouse, Recital Centre and the National Gallery of Victoria form Melbourne's beating cultural heart. At Federation Square, where art meets architecture, watch inspiring audio visual shows at ACMI, see the Aboriginal art collection at the Ian Potter Centre NGV, or catch a recital at The Edge Theatre. Inside and out, you'll discover the innovation and skill of local artists and designers at hole-in-the-wall galleries and theatres across the city.

Princess Theatre in Melbourne

But if there is an angle where Melbourne beats Vienna hands down it is the sports culture. Whether it is the cricket at the world famous M.C.G or it is the Australian Open Tennis at the Rod Laver Arena or it is the Footy at Telstra Dome and Etihad Stadium or the Melbourne Cup horse race at Flemington or the F1 Grand Prix at Albert Park, Melbourne is the sports capital of Australia. With 18 footy teams calling Melbourne home, and with Boxing Day Test Match Cricket an annual event to look forward to Vienna does not have anything even remotely comparable.

Vienna however is the ‘capital of classical music’ and a honeypot for those who consider themselves connoisseurs in concertos and masters of Mozart. Vienna’s love affair with art and music is a passionate and long enduring one. Classical music and Vienna are so synonymous today due to the role of the city being the hub throughout the 19th century. During this period a steady stream of composers, with many famous names included, flocked to the centre of Europe to establish themselves in the Viennese musical scene. Although many of the most reputable names that Vienna is often associated with did not originate from Vienna, such as Mozart and Beethoven, the city did home-grow many significant composers, including Johann Strauss I and Franz Schubert. The world's greatest orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic still rules supreme.

Marvelous Melbourne 

So you see, both these are extremely livable and lovable cities and there is very little to choose between them. Vienna has a rich history of several centuries whereas Melbourne was born on August 12, 1842. But whereas Melbourne has attracted tourists and explorers right from the days of gold rush Vienna remained eclipsed by far more popular European cities like Paris, Prague and London. Today you will see plenty of coach tours thronging to the Spanish Riding School, and excited tourists bumping along the cobbled streets of the old town in open horse-drawn carriages. But head for the main museum – the Kunsthistorisches, that fabulously grand neo-Renaissance palace of art and culture just off the Ringstrasse – and you will be able to walk in without queuing. This despite the fact that it has one of the greatest collections of old masters in Europe – easily rivaling the Prado, the National Gallery, the Hermitage and the Louvre. Yet it gets just 850,000 visitors a year – that's one tenth of the number which floods into the Louvre.

Bad that you are not living in one of these two cities, but if you have not visited them, think again…..what have you done with your life!