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Sydney to me seems to be an athletically minded city where many people are active in sports. I don't associate the place with a heavy drinking culture. Most people seem to get up early and turn in early similar to here in Vancouver. I can see why some young folk would find that a turn off. For me personally who is not a heavy drinker, I don't mind at all.
Lists can of course be meaningful or meaningless. When it comes to point awarding of cities, more probably the latter.
Quite possibly if liking Vancouver, one would give a tick to Sydney, on those grounds, although Vancouver would win out on things like better cycling prospects by far, a more compact city, perhaps more physical geographic substance, (I mean the mountains and water is some combination) but lacks the 'brand' name related to Sydney, pushing Sydney, I'd imagine into a least one tier above Vancouver in city measurement. Both cities fall down on affordability. Could homelessness be worse in Van? Certainly a lot of folk begging on the streets. Perhaps even, or a slight edge to Van.
Early to rise and early to bed, is normally more associated with the countryside. Not as a point of awesomeness of a city, seeking world status. A city worth its salt will offer far more at night, than purely the pursuit of alcohol. From cultural pursuits to sitting and communicating with friends or people so inclined, though more an Asian or European thing.
I'd say Sydney, nice enough to visit, but not rounded enough in what is on offer, to warrant the terrific expense of living in that city.
For folk that prefer a quieter life, Perth or Adelaide should more than suit requirements.
Sydney is awesome except the cost of living is generally too high in my opinion. Better have a big bank account to live there.
Pretty much.
And one of the reasons if someone leaves Sydney, they usually never go back there.
I am from there originally, but been gone a very long time.
The "best city in the world" is a title used too liberally by many cities, and I don't equate it to Sydney.
Sydney as aspects of London, removing the world city status. Once London was affordable though expensive, but one could live within one's means and enjoy living in one of the world's greatest cities.
Sydney came later onto the game of out pricing itself, with some indicators showing it to more expensive than London, but of course with far less 'boom for your buck'. London remains a world city of some gravity, Sydney is not.
I'd suggest a place to cash in the chips, while can and move to somewhere more enticing and affordable with money in the bank. That's if a home owner of course. If not, the rent must be killing, and unless highly paid is there a point to remaining?
The "best city in the world" is a title used too liberally by many cities, and I don't equate it to Sydney.
I don't equate it to any city. Every city has it's plusses and minuses. Sydney has a great standard of living, but if you're out in the far western suburbs you're not really in "Sydney" as most people would think of it. Sydney is pretty much two cities now; the expensive inner core that has a highly paid, global workforce, and the rest. That seems to be a trend around the world.
Sydney as aspects of London, removing the world city status. Once London was affordable though expensive, but one could live within one's means and enjoy living in one of the world's greatest cities.
Sydney came later onto the game of out pricing itself, with some indicators showing it to more expensive than London, but of course with far less 'boom for your buck'. London remains a world city of some gravity, Sydney is not.
I'd suggest a place to cash in the chips, while can and move to somewhere more enticing and affordable with money in the bank. That's if a home owner of course. If not, the rent must be killing, and unless highly paid is there a point to remaining?
By the late 90s and lead up to the 2000 Sydney Olympics, that was about the time Sydney smashed it's way into the Top 10 and then Top 5 of "most expensive cities in the world" to live in.
Other cities and regional areas were some time after that, and the likes of Perth later still. (ie with the resources boom late in the '00s).
The GFC in 2008 stalled momentum a little bit, but not for long.
A 'decent' city let alone the 'best', would be one where its teachers, nurses, firemen, and a host of others can afford to live without sacrificing an overwhelming part of their salary in order to survive. The issues are exaggerated in Australia with little in the way of social housing or indeed rent control, unlike large parts of Europe where these are in place. Sydney, is something of a speculators city always looking to turn a fast buck above all. Hardly enduring characteristics.
By the late 90s and lead up to the 2000 Sydney Olympics, that was about the time Sydney smashed it's way into the Top 10 and then Top 5 of "most expensive cities in the world" to live in.
Other cities and regional areas were some time after that, and the likes of Perth later still. (ie with the resources boom late in the '00s).
The GFC in 2008 stalled momentum a little bit, but not for long.
Yes I recall as much. Allowing, no encouraging overseas speculation helped considerably as well in making Sydney, the worlds second most unaffordable city last time I looked.
Perth, IMO, remains way over priced as well, considering 'boom' conditions have long dissipated. Some prices have declined in further out places, but from very high levels, but closer to the city, remain as expensive as ever. There is great resistance in realistic pricing and luckily WA hasn't had the 'success' of encouraging foreign housing investors as have East Coast cities. Although India has been in the radar recently.
It's got to a point of impacting severely on living standards though and causing growing disharmony.
One poster commented it is happening everywhere, to an extent this is true, but if living in Sydney there isn't a great deal of choice of where to move ...
In Europe due to great transport links and multiple cities and big towns within reach this is more an option. For example could work in Stuttgart and live in a village (one third the rent) in a big house instead of a flat, a half hour drive on the autobahn to city. Train service was available as well.
Australia has become not an investors, but speculators feast. One can only suppose it will take the entire pack to collapse in order to reset again....
In Europe due to great transport links and multiple cities and big towns within reach this is more an option. For example could work in Stuttgart and live in a village (one third the rent) in a big house instead of a flat, a half hour drive on the autobahn to city. Train service was available as well.
That is true. Unfortunately, Australia still plans its public transport for cities than have 2m not 5m+; the light rail being a great example of how stupid planning is in Sydney. High speed rail running from Newcastle to Canberra will fix affordability. At least they're building a metro.
The cost to rectify mistakes made and poor city planning, makes it extremely difficult for Australian cities en mass. But when you have record population growth (unneeded I should add, outside of attempting to keep the real estate market from totally collapsing) converging on principally two cities, there are naturally enough, going to be severe problems digesting such numbers. Besides poor infrastructure in place and gigantic costs involved to get anywhere close to the eight ball, let along catching it or getting ahead of it, becomes a tall order. A tall order indeed, if not near impossible.
Affordability issues reflect all aspects of life. From child care costs, right through to ageing costs and poor outcomes. When a city becomes increasingly a place to live to work and not vice versa, there is a problem. It's called life quality. It's about a stress free life when out of the work force due to a favourite in Australia, restructuring, where too often over fifty, too expensive workers are eased out and cheaper younger or migrants brought in at rates well under established norms. The difficulty around are discrimination in Australia. The poorer welfare system in place than a few decades ago. The extreme cost of utilities from power to water. A whole number of things play out to advance inequality, but I do suspect a ever growing number of Sydneysiders as with many Australians, feel their living standards have gone backwards over recent years. Of course the trade off with many, usually older, was to allow their houses to become wildly inflated, giving them the sense of being rich beyond belief. Time will tell how that all works out.
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