According to the 2011 annual ranking of the most livable cities in the world, compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Calgary is the 5th place in the list. Vancouver remains the most livable city in the world.
The ranking scores 140 cities on 30 factors spread across five areas: stability, health care, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure. These numbers are then weighted and combined to produce an overall figure. Seven of the top ten cities are in Australia and Canada. Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, is in 140th place. Somewhere between the extremes sit London and New York in 53rd and 56th places.
This list definitely makes all those folks in Calgary proud. A little bit surprised (pleasantly), I myself was happy to see it in the top 5, as it is also one of my favorite cities in the world, from both business and pleasure points of view.
Doing business in the oil and gas section of Calgary is easy because majority of oil and service companies are located within 10 by 10 blocks of downtown. These offices all have “T2P” in their zip codes and most of them are all connected by the Plus 15 or +15 skyway network, the world's most extensive pedestrian skywalk system with a total length of 9.9 miles and 59 bridges. The system is so named because the skywalks are approximately 15 feet above street level.
Because of the closeness of those companies in downtown, they do not use post masters for mails or packages. They use bicycle messengers (aka bike couriers). Courier companies use bike messengers because bicycle is less subject to unexpected holdups in city traffic jams, and is not deterred by parking limitations, fees or fines in high density development. Benefits include environmental friendly business, predictable delivery time, etc.
We have been enjoying business association with quite a few companies in Calgary and Edmonton. Personally, I like Calgary so much that I found all excuses to visit the city.
Houston is too flat. As Mr. Jim Dech, one of our folks in Maurer Engineering 15 years ago, said: “If you stand on a can of Coke, you see everywhere.” Calgary is just the opposite, as it is located in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately 50 miles east of the Canadian Rockies. One could actually live in the Mountain and commute to work every day.
For me, not many things excite me more than driving to the Mountains after business meetings in Calgary and immersing myself in the beauties of mountains, lakes and hot spring. Banff, Sulphur Mountain, Lake Louise, Jasper, etc. remind me one of a whole new world different in everyway from Houston. As the railroad builder William Cornelius Van Horne said, “If we can’t export the scenery, we’ll import the tourists.”
Once I became one of the imported tourists, Calgary has become one of my favorite cities.
Allow me to share some of the pictures taken in my previous trips.
