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Making our cities more liveable is a vital goal

The year-end mayoral elections in Taipei and Kaohsiung offer an opportunity to push new urban development strategies, lifestyle choices, consider urban problems and create a vision for the future. However, the debate over which candidate is more honest and whether a particular political heavyweight is willing to throw his hat in the ring has drowned out the debate on urban development in these two cities.

Between March and April of each year, the US firm Mercer Human Resource Consulting surveys more than two hundred cities worldwide and ranks them according to quality-of-living (QOL). The survey provides a detailed analysis of the inhabitable level of each major city and is a major resource for business people traveling between major cities in a globalized world.

Top scoring cities on the QOL index have established themselves as destinations capable of attracting greater trade and investment. Lower-ranking cities on the QOL index are considered relatively backwards and lack competitiveness in the world economy.

The only two cities in Taiwan that make this year's list are Taipei in 81st place and Kaohsiung in 101st. It is surprising that none of the mayoral hopefuls for either Taipei or Kaohsiung have aired their view on the positions of the two cities in this survey. In view of this, how should we look at the rankings?

Mercer's QOL study is based on detailed evaluation of several factors; including political, social and economic environment, medical and health services, schools and education, public administration and transport, recreation, consumer goods, housing and the natural environment. In most of the categories, Taipei City scored above average. But in terms of traffic congestion, Taipei fared pretty much the same as it did last year, getting a relatively low score.

Taipei's score was also relatively low with regard to drinking water, air pollution, leisure activities, climate and natural disasters, which is why it is ranked 81 on the list. Kaohsiung's score in every category was slightly lower than Taipei's, placing the port city in 101st position. In Asia, Singapore has overtaken Tokyo, Japan's highest scoring city, as the top Asian city, moving into 34th position. In Japan, Tokyo and Osaka are ranked 35th and 51st, respectively. Hong Kong ranked 68th and Seoul 89th.

This year's survey also places Shanghai and Beijing 103rd and 122nd position, respectively. Looking at the 2002 survey, it is easy to see that both Beijing and Shanghai are catching up with other cities around the world, for Shanghai and Beijing were placed 134th and 139th in 2002. However, both Taipei and Kaohsiung have hovered around the position over the past few years. Although their scores have been consistent, they have yet to progress as Beijing or Shanghai has. Shanghai is narrowing the gap between itself and Kaohsiung, and there is now just 2 points between them.

There are a variety of similar international assessments of cities, and the Mercer survey is just one of the more representative of these surveys. In the wake of the Kyoto Protocol, greenhouse gas emissions per capita is another important yardstick for a fundamental evaluation of a city. Kaohsiung's gas emissions per capita have reached 34.6 tonnes, three times higher than most major cities in the world, bucking the trend toward lower carbon emissions.

In times of election, politicians become reluctant to talk about issues that may affect urban progress. Only by tearing down our own restrictions and looking at the mayoral elections from a global perspective can we truly begin to solve these issues.

Liou Ming-lone is the chairman of the Environmental Quality Protection Foundation.

Translated by Daniel Cheng
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