Winza

According to this study, South Yarra is the most liveable suburb in Melbourne because it is close to the CBD, has good access to public transport and it is a shopping and eating precinct, hence it has the highest rating of 53. Meanwhile, places like Ashburton (where I live) and Port Melbourne scored 42 and 37 respectively and they are just as good as South Yarra to live in. That is in my perspective anyway.

The Liveable report is therefore not a good indicator of suburb liveability. First of all, the indicators should not be weighed equally as some indicators are more important than others. For example, coast proximity is not very important as a factor compared to other indicators such as shopping facilities and public transport and yet these three indicators are equally weighed. A weighing factor should be incorporated for a more useful planning tool.

Secondly, although this report is said to be objective, I am surprised to that there are many missing factors. I personally consider things such as housing prices, proximity to hospitals, noise and air pollution as factors that will strongly affect liveability. Although South Yarra is the “best” place to live in, I will not consider living there, as noise pollution can be heavy especially during weekends. And what about NIMBY factors? People wouldn’t want to live next to a factory or a landfill. It seems to me that the study hasn’t been thoroughly researched to include all possible factors.

It is also impossible to define and rank suburb liveability using this method because different people have different perceptions. A new migrant, a yuppie (young urban professional) and a family with children will not look at each suburb the same way. For example, a Yuppie might find South Yarra more suitable for living but an Asian migrant might not because they would rather live in a suburb that has a community that they can communicate with. And despite most people work in the city, not all of them do and so the importance of CBD proximity can vary among the population. A wealthy person would like to live in Toorak or Albert Park, but those not as wealthy might prefer suburbs where things are cheaper. And so it is impossible to have a fully objective methodology for this study because not everyone has the same perception and things always change depending on the time of the year.

Choosing the right place to live in is not based on what others say or the overall suburbs rankings, it is based on what people believe is suitable.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 20th, 2005 at 20:01 and is filed under General, Melbourne. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.