As a follow-up to my recent post questioning the value of the "most livable cities" rankings, here is an interesting article that raises a very pertinent point that I am embarrassed not to have thought of myself: generally, the more "livable" a city, the less affordable its housing. This does rather suggest a very stratified society in the "livable" cities, does it not?
Interestingly, Berlin, one of my favourite cities and certainly one of the most affordable European cities at present due to its municipal bankruptcy and high unemployment (factors that have contributed to it again becoming a centre for art and culture and nightlife), scraped in at number 22, behind fellow German cities Hamburg and Frankfurt, both lovely cities but also vastly less affordable in terms of housing and cost of living than Berlin.
