Forbes: The World's Cleanest Cities

[MNdude]

http://www.forbes.com/2007/04/16/worlds-cleanest-cities-biz-logistics-cx_rm_0416cleanest_slide_3.html?thisSpeed=15000

The list:

#1 Calgary
#2 Honolulu
#3 Helsinki, Finland
#4 Ottawa
#5 Minneapolis
#6 (Tie) Oslo, Norway
#6 (Tie) Stockholm, Sweden
#6 (Tie) Zurich, Switzerland
#9 Katsuyama, Japan
#10 (Tie) Bern, Switzerland
#10 (Tie) Montreal
#10 (Tie) Vancouver, Canada
#10 (Tie) Boston
#10 (Tie) Lexington, Ky.
#10 (Tie) Pittsburgh
#10 (Tie) Nürnberg, Germany
#10 (Tie) Geneva
#18 Auckland, New Zealand
#18 (Tie) Wellington, New Zealand
#20 Dublin, Ireland
#21 (Tie) Amsterdam, the Netherlands
#21 (Tie) Toronto
#23 Lyon, France
#24 Copenhagen, Denmark
#25 (Tie) Kobe, Japan
#25 (Tie) Omuta , Japan

[Evergrey]

I still don't understand why Lexington, KY is always included in these rankings.

[BnaBreaker]

I still don't understand why Lexington, KY is always included in these rankings.

:shrug: It's not that there is anything wrong with it of course, it's just that I see it as a pretty average small American city. I'd react the same way if I saw Worcester, or Tallahassee, or Fresno on one of these lists as well.

[Evergrey]

:shrug: It's not that there is anything wrong with it of course, it's just that I see it as a pretty average small American city. I'd react the same way if I saw Worcester, or Tallahassee, or Fresno on one of these lists as well.

well yeah... nothing against Lexington... but it shows up on every one of these world city rankings... yet there's never any other US city near its size that is included... and there's usually some much larger cities that seem to be omitted... it's like all these lists use them same set of cities... and somehow Lexington made it into that set

[skrish]

Nice to see 5 Canadian cities in the top 25

[kool maudit]

montreal?

...ok.

i guess we'll take it.

[ssiguy]

I know Calgary quite well and this is an award it justly deserves. Calgary is spotless, you really can eat off the streets. For a city that most Canadians like to harass it is a true feather in her cap.

Interesting to note that Australian cities always rank high on quality of life indexes yet are nowhere to be found on the list.

[Calgarian]

Oh yeah, Calgary's the best.

[JAM]

Why is Singapore not on this list?

[skrish]

Why is Singapore not on this list?

Yeah, I was wondering about that

[Scoutthedog]

Wow...I bet nobody would be expecting to see Pittsburgh on this list sixty or so years ago. lol. Excellent job!

[Evergrey]

Wow...I bet nobody would be expecting to see Pittsburgh on this list sixty or so years ago. lol. Excellent job!

Thanks... we're also named "America's Most Livable City" by Places Rated Almanac today. :banana:

[waterloowarrior]

"Cleanest" is just what Forbes calls it... it's actually just a repackaged version of the Health and Sanitation list by Mercer - it's all about sanitation, water supply, air quality, waste, health care systems/availabilit. etc - not who has the streets with the least garbage on them.

[bnk]

http://www.forbes.com/2007/04/16/worlds-cleanest-cities-biz-logistics-cx_rm_0416cleanest_slide_3.html?thisSpeed=15000

The list:
#10 (Tie) Bern, Switzerland
#10 (Tie) Montreal
#10 (Tie) Vancouver, Canada
#10 (Tie) Boston
#10 (Tie) Lexington, Ky.
#10 (Tie) Pittsburgh
#10 (Tie) Nürnberg, Germany
#10 (Tie) Geneva


Ok you 10's duke it out. Why are you cleaner than the other?:haha:

Another City List.:rolleyes:

[holladay]

this list is so bogus

[seaskyfan]

Boston, Massachusetts?

Really?

[BTinSF]

Singapore? You get, like, caned for littering there. :whip:

[tayser]

Well, Australia sucks.

*pout*

[niwell]

Interesting, I guess? I can't see how Montreal is possibly cleaner than Toronto though, unless grafitti doesn't count! Not that I'm complaining.

[Presswood]

edit double post

[Presswood]

In the media in Quebec , we always hear about how dirty Montreal is and we need to do sumthing about it ... it's strange to see it rank 10th cleanest city... this list is whatever...

[sprtsluvr8]

:shrug: It's not that there is anything wrong with it of course, it's just that I see it as a pretty average small American city. I'd react the same way if I saw Worcester, or Tallahassee, or Fresno on one of these lists as well.


I believe you said the same thing about Winston Salem being on another list of world cities. Lexington and Winston Salem are neither small cities, both having a population of 200,000 plus...much larger than Tallahassee. Maybe it's CLEAN! That IS the topic of the list isn't it? I think it's great to see some overlooked cities make the top 10 or 20 or whatever...instead of the same old tired names we usually see at the top.

[BnaBreaker]

I believe you said the same thing about Winston Salem being on another list of world cities. Lexington and Winston Salem are neither small cities, both having a population of 200,000 plus...much larger than Tallahassee. Maybe it's CLEAN! That IS the topic of the list isn't it? I think it's great to see some overlooked cities make the top 10 or 20 or whatever...instead of the same old tired names we usually see at the top.


200,000 people is pretty small. Granted, my categorization is based on my subjective opinion, but it definitely isn't "large". Let's put it this way: if Lexington is a "large city" then what would you categorize New York as? Larger? In anycase, it doesn't even matter. It almost sounds as if you took it as a knock, which isn't the case. It's okay to be small. I live in South Bend, which is even smaller than both of those cities and I like it...but if it ever showed up on any "best___in the world" lists i'd be dumbfounded.

Regarding the list, it is just a pointless list and I realize most 'best of' lists are far from accurate, but that should be the point in my opinion, not to 'give everyone a turn'. This isn't kindergarten.

[nath05]

sweet....i guess:shrug:

[staff]

Stockholm that high up? Forbes need to get around more.

[entheosfog]

http://www.forbes.com/2007/04/16/worlds-cleanest-cities-biz-logistics-cx_rm_0416cleanest_slide_3.html?thisSpeed=15000

The list:

#1 Calgary


And to think, some people in this city think we have a problem with litter and the core looking 'trashy'. It's one of the most clean (to the point of being sterile) cities I've ever seen in North America.

[glowrock]

Another useless list... Boston certainly doesn't qualify as one of the "cleanest" cities. Toronto certainly does, and from everything I've heard/read, so does Calgary.

Singapore missing is quite weird, too...

Aaron (Glowrock)

[waterloowarrior]

"Cleanest" is just what Forbes calls it... it's actually just a repackaged version of the Health and Sanitation list by Mercer - it's all about sanitation, water supply, air quality, waste, health care systems/availabilit. etc - not who has the streets with the least garbage on them.
:previous::previous::previous::previous::previous::previous::previous:

[AZheat]

I also think this list is bogus. I've been to Singapore and they're almost fanatical about keeping things clean which isn't such a bad thing. That is one city where you just don't toss out litter because it's taken very seriously.

[FREKI]

#24 :(

[Minato Ku]

Yes, it is less than Lyon
but Lyon is the 23rd place ? It is not that clean. I agree that it is more about Health and Sanitation list than World's Cleanest Cities. :)

[mrherodotus]

I can't see how Pittsburgh makes this list. While it's not the dirtiest city around, I wouldn't call it clean either.

[LordMandeep]

Toronto is very clean in some areas, it has trashy areas but nothing like collapsed buildings...

[Sulley]

Where's Philadelphia and New Orleans?

;)

[BTinSF]

Stockholm that high up? Forbes need to get around more.

Sure didn't used to be. Back in the 70's, Stockholm was the ONLY European city where I recall seeing drunks laying around on the sidewalks like you see in some of America's skid rows.

Maybe it has gotten better.

[LordMandeep]

Well imo Paris and even Londo is very clean in its core, however once you leave the core, you see the dark side.

[MonkeyRonin]

"Cleanest" is just what Forbes calls it... it's actually just a repackaged version of the Health and Sanitation list by Mercer - it's all about sanitation, water supply, air quality, waste, health care systems/availabilit. etc - not who has the streets with the least garbage on them.

If that were the case I'd have to wonder how Toronto got between Amsterdam and Lyon, and, on that list in the first place :haha:

[waterloowarrior]

If that were the case I'd have to wonder how Toronto got between Amsterdam and Lyon, and, on that list in the first place :haha:

lol! I guess other things balance it out. here are the Mercer links btw
http://www.mercerhr.com/referencecontent.jhtml?idContent=1173105#sanitation

http://www.mercerhr.com/referencecontent.jhtml?idContent=1128060#top50health

[rockyi]

Yay! Another "Forbes" list! :sleep:

[alleystreetindustry]

hold up! is that pittsburgh i see on the list!? holy cow. that was something i didn't see coming.

[Evergrey]

hold up! is that pittsburgh i see on the list!? holy cow. that was something i didn't see coming.



neither did i... how could a city that looks like this in 2007 possibly rank highly on this list?

http://www.gasp-pgh.org/pgh-img/pgh1906.jpg

:yuck:

[Modern Design]

http://www.forbes.com/2007/04/16/worlds-cleanest-cities-biz-logistics-cx_rm_0416cleanest_slide_3.html?thisSpeed=15000

The list:

#1 Calgary
#2 Honolulu
#3 Helsinki, Finland
#4 Ottawa
#5 Minneapolis
#6 (Tie) Oslo, Norway
#6 (Tie) Stockholm, Sweden
#6 (Tie) Zurich, Switzerland
#9 Katsuyama, Japan
#10 (Tie) Bern, Switzerland
#10 (Tie) Montreal
#10 (Tie) Vancouver, Canada
#10 (Tie) Boston
#10 (Tie) Lexington, Ky.
#10 (Tie) Pittsburgh
#10 (Tie) Nürnberg, Germany
#10 (Tie) Geneva
#18 Auckland, New Zealand
#18 (Tie) Wellington, New Zealand
#20 Dublin, Ireland
#21 (Tie) Amsterdam, the Netherlands
#21 (Tie) Toronto
#23 Lyon, France
#24 Copenhagen, Denmark
#25 (Tie) Kobe, Japan
#25 (Tie) Omuta , Japan

Another lame list...Vancouver is one of the dirtiest cities i´ve visited...\Boston cleaner then Geneva..yeah right:koko:

[Avian001]

Some highlights from the articles. It has nothing to do with graffiti or litter or a public perception of cleanliness:


"Producing energy for industry, homes and transportation has to be planned and executed reasonably, and this means some form of regulation and control."

"In addition a city has to look closely at its transportation infrastructure (roads, rail, air, subways) and their impact upon being clean or going dirty or staying dirty. The logistics infrastructure is also critical in terms of efficiency that can translate into money and fuel savings that in turn affect cleanliness (air quality, water quality and ground quality)."

"It is interesting to note that size does not appear to be a factor either in terms of size of population or physical size of the city."

"The most common trait in common to each is a focus on high tech, education and headquartering of national and international companies along with an extensive public transit system."

[ssiguy]

I think Toronto "looks" cleaner than Montreal but Toronto's smog/pollution is far worse than Montreal's. Montreal has never had a smog elert day unklike Toronto which now gets dozens per year.
Vancouver is relativly clean overall but the thing that helps Vancouver is that it has very little smog. Being a coastal city the smog from the city all fillters to the Fraser Valley. As soon as you hit Surrey the smog can be very bad with a constant brown haze over it all summer.

[Rail Claimore]

Any list like this that doesn't have Singapore and 9 Japanese cities in the top 10 is bogus.

[R@ptor]

Any list like this that doesn't have Singapore and 9 Japanese cities in the top 10 is bogus.

True. This list is nothing else than a bad joke. You could also add cities like Reykjavik, Lausanne and Luxembourg City.

[PhilippeMtl]

Montreal in this list?

I certainly love Montreal but I have to admit than my city is dirty.

[JManc]

what's montreal doing there? it was no houston (nasty) but i still saw shit strewn around the streets and sidewalks.

[snhaetnhlaonncg]

seems a bit shady. i guess they consider singapore too clean for this list.

[WESTSEATTLEGUY]

Where's Seattle on this list and portland OR?

[MtnClimber]

Where's Seattle on this list and portland OR?

People in Seattle put to much trash in their yards.

[cur_sed]

I'd like to see the exact methodology for the Forbes version - from the article, there seems to be as much an emphasis on the 'green' side of things (environmentally friendly power generation, good public transport etc) as the sanitation factors.