This unique volume aims to provide a first comprehensive assessment on attributes, conditions and characters which constitute a liveable city. The book posits that the degree of liveability depends on five themes: satisfaction with the freedom from want; satisfaction with the state of the natural environment and its management; satisfaction with freedom from fear; satisfaction with the socio-cultural conditions; and satisfaction with public governance.

The authors attempt to be more constructive through performing policy simulations by first identifying relative weaknesses and strengths of 64 global cities across major continents including European, Asian, Middle Eastern, North and South American cities. The book also ranks and simulates 36 Asian cities separately, of which many are emerging third-world cities that are in need of policy guidance.

Contents:What Makes a City More Liveable?The Empirical Framework: Methodology, Data and Computation AlgorithmThe Empirical Findings and Policy SimulationThe Liveable City-States of Hong Kong and SingaporeThe Global Liveable Cities Index in PerspectiveReadership: Academics, researchers and students of urban planning, management; senior city officials and related practitioners; policy makers; senior management of multinational corporations.

Wing Thye Woo