It is well known that Vancouver is one of the world’s most livable cities. Every year, publications created “Top Cities” lists centred on livability, crime rates, health care, culture and environment; and every year, Vancouver makes it into the top 10. Something about our city makes Vancouver irresistible, our city has a vibe that keeps tourists and immigrants coming in steady.
This year, Vancouver is featured in Best City Top 10 lists in Business Insider, The Huffington Post, CBC, and Telegraph.
This is great, but unfortunately we are not number one. It looks like there’s definitely room for improvement, nobody is perfect right? Perhaps if we took note from our competitors, Vancouver will be able to top the list in the future. Here’s our list of things that Vancouver could learn from the four-time annual winner of the ‘world’s most livable city’: Melbourne, Australia.
Image Angela Rutherford
1. Clean up our back allies
Despite the growing population of university students and artists in the downtown east side, wandering the back allies of Vancouver is largely ill-advised. This is due to (but not limited to) the lack of affordable housing, war on addiction, and large homeless population that is concentrated heavily in the central city area. In Melbourne, their wide streets are often covered in local street art, lined with restaurant patios, and filled with people. Getting the back allies of Vancouver to a state where people living in them is no longer a prevalent social issue would be the first step. Moving toward allies that not only are safer, but can be utilized in ways which would benefit our city and all of the people in it. Take a look at the funkiest lane ways in Melbourne on CNN Travel here (http://travel.cnn.com/sydney/visit/melbournes-7-funkiest-laneways-454568)
2. Offer a free beer with a haircut
Melbourne has ‘more than a few’ of these shops where you can get more than a haircut. These barber shop fusions in some cases even include billiards! At the end of the day, let’s be honest, there’s few bad things to be said about places that offer your a free beer with their service- and in Vancouver, our local crafts are a thing of beauty. What’s better than killing time during a haircut than enjoying a free beer, or drowning out your sorrows of a ‘trim gone wrong’ with a brew?
3. Go watch burlesque
Melbourne has a ton of burlesque joints which feature both male and female performers. Not only do burlesque bars provide the nostalgia of a 1920’s experience, but also a larger-perspective on sexuality within itself. Contrary to regular strip joints, burlesque is fun, flirty, and in some situations comedic. Sitting through something so vibrant and different requires a sort of open-mindedness toward sexuality that is much more vast than we typically see and in our city. The big note about burlesque shows is that they encourage empowerment, and the appreciation of sexuality in many veins including body image, race, gender, the an all around celebration of individual sexuality. What better way to help break away from traditional societal attitudes toward something as fluid as sexuality? It can only improve your sex life to learn more about it.
4. Have a MOOMBA festival in Vancouver
This annual Melbourne festival runs for 4 days on labour day weekend, and would be a perfect summer send-off in Vancouver. Moomba is the oldest and longest running festival in Melbourne and features the families of generations in the city, and brings in over 1 million people. Traditionally, the event includes a parade, crowning of ‘Moomba monarchs’, fireworks, carnivals, and river activities including water sports as well as a bird man rally. An event like this would be great to embrace Vancouver’s culture as well as local artists including musicians and other performers. You can’t really go too far in celebrating where we live when we live in such a great place.
Image via Alan Lam
5. Get a better sense of humour
This is probably the easiest point to implement. It’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of Vancity living, and sometimes Vancouverites can be a little… Uptight. Learning to take things with a grain of salt and laugh in the face of ridicule -like after the 2011 Stanley Cup finals- is something that could really improve the quality of life for many people in the lower mainland. Don’t be overcome with stress, loosen the tie and laugh a little. We do have a great niche of comedy in our city, but taking it to new heights would only benefit us in the long run. In Australia, the well known Melbourne International Comedy Festival is supposed to be a blast.
Written by: Alycia Sundar
