全球爆吐槽:宜居城市=无聊城市

Melbourne: So lovely. So... livable.

墨尔本：如此怡人。如此……宜居。

Every year, the Economist Intelligence Unit releases a list of 140 cities and ranks them in terms of their 'livability.' For the third year running, Melbourne has topped the list, edging out Vienna and Vancouver. In fact, there was so little change in this year's rankings that only 13 of all the surveyed cities changed their scores over the past six months, while the rankings of the top 10 cities remained exactly the same as last year.

每年，经济学人智库(Economist Intelligence Unit)都会发布一份包含140个城市的榜单，按照“宜居度”对其进行排名。墨尔本连续第三年夺冠，排在其后的是维也纳和温哥华。实际上，今年的榜单与此前几乎没有什么变化，受调查的全部城市中只有13座城市过去六个月的得分出现了变化，而排在前10位的城市排名与去年一模一样。

Using both qualitative and quantitative measures, the rankings rate 'relative comfort' for more than 30 factors across five categories: stability, healthcare, education, infrastructure, and culture and environment. The final scores are calculated as a percentage ranging from 1 ('intolerable') to a perfect score of 100 ('ideal').

使用定性及定量分析方法，该排行榜对五大类中的30多个因素进行了“相对舒适度”评估。这五大类是：稳定性、医疗、教育、基础设施、文化和环境。最终得分从1（“无法忍受”）到满分100（“理想城市”）。

Tellingly, in addition to being ranked in relation to other cities on the list, they're also ranked relative to New York - a city that everyone, apparently, has an opinion on.

很明显，从榜单上，既可以看出一座城市相对于其他城市的排名，也可以看出相对于纽约的排名。纽约这座城市貌似每个人都对其有着自己的看法。

So which cities came closest to 'ideal'? Take a look at the top 10:

那么哪些城市最接近“理想城市”呢？以下为榜单中的前10名：

1. Melbourne, Australia (97.5)

1. 澳大利亚墨尔本 (97.5)

2. Vienna, Austria (97.4)

2. 奥地利维也纳 (97.4)

3. Vancouver, Canada (97.3)

3. 加拿大温哥华 (97.3)

4. Toronto, Canada (97.2)

4. 加拿大多伦多 (97.2)

5. Calgary, Canada (96.6)

5. 加拿大卡尔加里 (96.6)

5. Adelaide, Australia (96.6)

5. 澳大利亚阿德莱德 (96.6)

7. Sydney, Australia (96.1)

7. 澳大利亚悉尼 (96.1)

8. Helsinki, Finland (96.0)

8. 芬兰赫尔辛基 (96.0)

9. Perth, Australia (95.9)

9. 澳大利亚珀斯 (95.9)

10. Auckland, New Zealand (95.7)

10. 新西兰奥克兰 (95.7)

Half of the cities are in Australia and New Zealand, three are in Canada, and two are in Europe. The common denominators: They're all medium-size cities in prosperous countries, with relatively low population densities.

其中一半的城市位于澳大利亚和新西兰，三座位于加拿大，两座位于欧洲。它们的共同点是：都是富裕国家中的中型城市，人口密度相对较低。

It's an equation that leads to low crime rates, functional infrastructure and plenty of recreational activities for residents. So, while laid-back Melbourne may lack the glitter and verve of, say, Paris (No. 16, with 94.8 percentage points), Tokyo (No. 18, with 94.7), London (No. 55, with 87.2) or New York (No. 56, with 86.6), it trumps all of them in terms of crime, congestion and public transport (though commuters on the Myki might beg to differ).

这样的城市犯罪率低，基础设施完善，居民娱乐活动丰富。所以，悠闲的墨尔本也许缺少巴黎（排名第16，得分94.8）、东京（排名第18，得分94.7）、伦敦（排名第55，得分87.2）或纽约（排名第56，得分86.6）等城市的绚烂活力，但在犯罪率、交通通畅和公共交通方面更胜一筹。

Does that mean non-Melbournians should all pack up and decamp to Australia's most livable metropolis? Not necessarily.

这是否意味着非墨尔本人都应该打好行李，移居到澳大利亚最宜居的都市里？不一定。

'I find Melbourne a really boring town, so more livable means really dull,' a male police officer in Sydney told us, though he wouldn't give his name because he was working undercover in a park.

悉尼的一位男警察对我们说，我发现墨尔本是一个非常无聊的城市，所以更宜居意味着无聊透顶。不过他不愿透露自己的姓名，因为他当时正在一个公园里便装执行任务。

'I live in Sydney because it's interesting, not because it's comfortable,' he added. (Note to readers: We checked his badge, and he's the genuine article.)

他还说，我住在悉尼，因为这里有趣，而不是因为这里舒适。（读者请注意：我们查验了他的警徽，他确实是名警察。）

Though the top 10 cities in the EIU's rankings may be pleasant and easy to live in, they're not high on most people's lists of top cities to visit (for that, see Bangkok). After all, they can hardly be described as dynamic. Before Melbourne assumed the No. 1 ranking, it was Vancouver that came out on top - a spot it occupied for almost a decade owing to the fact that as a city, it's incredibly stable.

尽管经济学人智库发布的排行榜上排在前10位的城市可能舒适怡人，适宜居住，但在大部分人的旅行目的地城市名单中它们排名并不靠前（有关热门旅游城市，请参看有关曼谷的这篇文章）。毕竟，这些城市很难说有什么动态变化。在墨尔本夺冠之前，温哥华曾位居榜首。温哥华这座城市凭借其令人难以置信的稳定程度，占据榜首将近10年。

The question is, do you want to live in a livable (read 'tolerable') city or a dynamic one? The answer is entirely personal. Big cities like Tokyo, London and New York suffer in the rankings because of higher crime rates and overburdened infrastructure, dragging down perceptions of how 'comfortable' they are. Yet when it comes to recreational offerings - including nightlife, culture and entertainment - they're hard to beat.

问题是，你是希望住在一个宜居（背后的意思是“可忍受的”）城市还是一个动态变化的城市？答案完全因人而异。东京、伦敦和纽约等大城市由于高犯罪率和负担过重的基础设施而拖累了人们对其“舒适度”的感受，因此排名靠后。然而，在包括夜生活、文化和娱乐等消遣活动方面，它们是别的城市难以匹敌的。

Of course, where you live can be unstable or downright dangerous - which brings us to the lower rankings on the list. Below are the 10 least livable cities according to the report, bearing in mind that it was designed to cover cities that people might want to live in or travel to (which is why you won't find Kabul or Baghdad mentioned):

当然，你住的城市可能不稳定，甚至非常危险，排名靠后的城市正是如此。以下为报告中评出的10座最不宜居的城市，需要注意的是报告意在评估的是人们可能希望居住或游览的城市（正因为如此，榜单中没有提到喀布尔或巴格达）：

131. Tehran, Iran (45.8)

131. 伊朗德黑兰 (45.8)

132. Douala, Cameroon (43.3)

132. 喀麦隆杜阿拉 (43.3)

133. Tripoli, Libya (41.7)

133. 利比亚的黎波里 (41.7)

134. Karachi, Pakistan (40.9)

134. 巴基斯坦卡拉奇 (40.9)

134. Algiers, Algeria (40.9)

134. 阿尔及利亚阿尔及尔 (40.9)

136. Harare, Zimbabwe (40.7)

136. 津巴布韦哈拉雷 (40.7)

137. Lagos, Nigeria (38.9)

137. 尼日利亚拉各斯 (38.9)

137. Port Moresby, PNG (38.9)

137. 巴布亚新几内亚莫尔斯比港 (38.9)

139. Dhaka, Bangladesh (38.7)

139. 孟加拉国达卡 (38.7)

140. Damascus, Syria (38.4)

140. 叙利亚大马士革 (38.4)

The biggest downward trend was for cities in China due to unrest across the country. Everything from labor disputes to anti-Japanese protests prompted a decline in the livability rankings for Chinese cities overall, cancelling out improvements in other factors that would have otherwise boosted their positions on the list. As a result, 13 cities are at the very bottom tier of livability, with ratings below 50%.

排名下滑幅度最大的是中国的城市，原因是该国各地的不稳定状态。从劳动纠纷到反日抗议等各种问题导致中国城市整体宜居度排名下滑，抵消了其他因素得分上升可能带来的排名上升。结果是，中国有13座城市在宜居度方面排名在后50%梯队。

Between the two poles of the spectrum are plenty of cities considered highly livable, whether their defining qualities are convenience, ease and comfort, or energy, soul and grit. The report points out that more than a third of the cities in the rankings fall within the 'highest tier of livability,' with No. 1 (Melbourne) through No. 64 (Santiago, Chile) considered 'broadly comparable' despite more than 16 percentage points between them.

处于最宜居和最不宜居这两极之间，有很多被认为是非常宜居的城市，无论是在便利性、悠闲和舒适性，还是活力方面。该报告指出，榜单中有三分之一以上的城市处于“宜居度最高等级”，第一名（墨尔本）到第64名（智力 地亚哥）被认为是“大体差不多”，尽管墨尔本与 地亚哥之间有着16%以上的分差。

That may be why these rankings are such a heated source of debate. Embedded within the rankings are micro-rankings, in which cities with longtime rivalries pit themselves against each other: Hong Kong versus Singapore, for instance, or Melbourne versus Sydney (see above).

或许正因为如此，这份榜单引发了激烈的争论。榜单之中还有小榜单，素为对手的城市相互较量：比如，香港与新加坡，或墨尔本与悉尼。

What makes a city livable? Would you want to live in the world's most comfortable city, or the world's most dynamic and interesting?

决定一座城市宜居的要素是什么？你愿意住在全球最舒适的城市，还是最富变化、最有趣的城市？