23 Cities Ranked for Friendliness
Surprisingly to some Melbourne came first for friendliest, followed by Paris, based on the 5 indicator methodology used by the authors, covering 23 cities. Our quick analysis below. What do you think?
Ad hoc posts on the world's city (and sometimes country) rankings.
As experts on city data since 2007, and place data, we list results, and briefly analyse them. Add some insights. Then we let you make up your own mind.
Note we have our own 'big daddy' master ranking - the Innovation Cities Index of 500 cities on 162 indicators - right here
This time some fine insurance folks at William Russell are setting out to measure friendliness in 23 most visited cities worldwide.
This Ranking
The friendliest cities in the world (from 23)
1/ Melbourne
2/ Paris
3/ Vienna
4/ Madrid
5/ Brussels
according to Author: William Russell
Authors Method
"We recognise that some cultures may have different expectations when it comes to friendliness, so we looked at a number of factors, including:
resident happiness**
safety
LGBT+ inclusivity
top attractions
highest-rated hotel."
from the page.
Summary
"Wherever you travel or relocate to, knowing that the locals are welcoming and friendly makes the endeavour much easier. The buzzing sense of adventure and curiosity in a new city, as well as being surrounded by happy people can take your visit to new heights. After all, travelling is all about expanding your horizons and ultimately, boosting your mood. So, which cities in the world are considered the friendliest?"
from the page.
Our Analysis
Provocation
Are they measuring actual friendliness here? Are there better ways to measure friendliness? Or are they measuring what is easy to measure?
Our Pluses
Interesting concept to measure friendliness of cities
New metric for cities
Fresh thinking by fine folks at William Russell.
Our Minuses
Debatable methodology always to determine 'friendliness'
Is Melbourne really that friendly?*
Small sample.
*It was once. But I would have to say many islands and smaller cities worldwide are friendlier. Strangers say hello to each other and chat with each other - not something that happens in Melbourne outside of alcohol and sport.
**Gut reaction -
And since the lockdowns, I would have to say most Melbournians would dispute Melbourne is a very 'happy' city, ditto most Parisians any time. (Talk to a French person.) Vienna, ok. Brussels? Really???
Interesting Questions
What would be better ways to measure friendliness?
While hotels are easy to measure this is 'paid friendliness' not actual friendliness. And goes some way to explain why Melbourne and Paris do well.
What would work better?
They also rank least friendliest cities and Lisbon(!!) is on that list behind Buenos Aires? That is not what hard data on people migration patterns or tourism say.
Is this optimally measuring friendliness?
Make Up Your Own Mind
Heres' the study:
https://www.william-russell.com/blog/worlds-friendliest-cities/
Here's a news story about it from Australia:
What do you think?
Disagree?
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Photo by https://unsplash.com/@thegreenfield - Steven Groeneveld