ST : Singapore: Asia's most liveable city?

Jun 26, 2010

Singapore: Asia's most liveable city?

On Monday, the second annual World Cities Summit will kick into high gear. Mayors, urban planners and officials from around the globe will gather here to exchange ideas on how to develop liveable and sustainable cities for the future. Host country Singapore was recently ranked the most liveable city in Asia, and 28th in the world, in a survey of 450 cities. Insight finds out what Singapore's report card looks like, and the value of such rankings.

By Cassandra Chew

JAPANESE businessman Takahashi Kenichi fell in love with char kway teow and bak kut teh when he first came here to work in 1993.

'The flavours of these foods cannot be found in Japan,' says the Yokohama native and restaurant-chain owner.

The 54-year-old also found it easier to do business in Singapore than in nearby, politically tumultuous Thailand.

Confident that he could have a high quality of life here, Mr Takahashi left behind the cold Japanese winters for the perennial sunshine on this tiny isle.

Expatriates like him have helped Singapore retain the accolade of being Asia's most liveable city in the Mercer rankings, for the sixth consecutive year.

For the last 15 years, human resource consulting firm Mercer has been compiling a liveability index for cities.

This year, its survey spanned 450 cities. Singapore came in 28th, while Austrian capital Vienna topped the charts.

Singapore has held the top spot in Asia since it overtook Tokyo in 2004.

The Mercer survey ranks cities according to 39 factors, ranging from the ease of buying fresh fish for the table, to the reach of law enforcement. It is conducted by Mercer employees, together with partner firms and quality-of-life experts.

Multinational companies that relocate staff from one city to another use these findings to determine the appropriate amount of hardship allowance to pay their staff.

Naturally, the report concentrates on the needs and concerns of expats.

Those polled by Mercer say housing, education and banking services in Singapore are as good as they get.

In housing, however, their term of reference is likely to be the quality and upkeep of private housing, the choice for most expats, and not HDB homes. High-end estates popular with expats include areas in Tanglin, Bukit Timah and Newton.

As for education, what impresses expats is the wide choice of private and international schools on offer.

Parents can choose from a buffet that includes American, French, Swiss and Japanese schools. Others, like American investor Jim Rogers, 67, opt to send their children to good-quality local schools, so as to expose them to Mandarin.

Where money matters are concerned, expats value the ease with which they can access global banking services and exchange foreign currencies.

So what bothers expats about life here? The aspect that gets them literally hot under the collar is the climate.

Britain-born Lin Fou-Menuhin, 45, wishes the weather was cooler as he is 'very bad at handling the humidity'.

Apart from that quirk of destiny, which no government policy can remedy, two other factors that expats say impinge on their quality of life here are the lack of personal and press freedoms.

Another area Singapore failed to ace is in the range of recreational activities, with expats calling for more cultural exhibitions and museums, and a wider variety of theatrical and musical performances.

Mr Takahashi would also like to see more green spaces set aside for people to relax and play in.

If Singapore wants to better its 28th spot in the hotly contested race to be the world's most liveable city, Mercer's senior researcher Mariana Huston tells Insight that what it needs are more recreational activities, more room for personal freedom and less media censorship.

But experts say these rankings have their limitations.

Singapore Management University sociologist Chung Wai Keung says there is no objective way to measure what makes for a liveable city. He likens such surveys to university rankings, which should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Geography academic Pow Choon-Piew adds that these liveability surveys do not factor in what life is like for local residents, such as the urban poor.

Others argue that, in the light of climate change, the Mercer framework needs updating as it does not take into account growing interest in sustainability issues.

Two such issues that have come to the fore are recycling and cycling.

Urban development academic Shreekant Gupta notes that top-tier global cities like New York and Paris have declared car-free zones in key parts.

'It calms the city, not having cars, it makes the ambience different,' he says.

While Mercer's criteria have not changed, Ms Huston says its researchers now give greater consideration to sustainability issues when awarding scores.

As for Singapore, Dr Gupta says it too needs to go beyond what he calls 'first-generation issues', such as clean air and water, to excel in 'second-generation issues', such as being bicycle- and recycling-friendly.

That would bespeak its 'sophistication' and coming of age as a global city.

casschew@sph.com.sg


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How Mercer conducts its survey



HUMAN resource consulting firm Mercer has been conducting the Quality of Living survey for more than 15 years, since 1994.

It uses a questionnaire developed by its professionals to gather data.

This is done together with some of its multinational clients and experts in quality-of-life research.

Each city is evaluated in terms of 39 factors, under broad categories such as housing and economic environment.

During the data collection phase, field researchers and consultants supply the initial data, as well as evaluations and comments for the reports.

Then, the data is reviewed and analysed at Mercer's regional centres.

The findings are then compared and controlled in the final stage by global analysts to ensure consistency across the cities surveyed.

The Quality Of Living reports cover about 450 cities globally.