The latest issue of Monocle just dropped in my mailbox. The cover story this time is quality of life in various global cities. Helsinki did quite well, being 5th on the list. Defects listed with the city included shops being closed on Sundays and low immigration levels. From my view the city is doing many things right, including increasing rail transport and transforming the old harbour areas into interesting new neighborhoods. The policy on airports sucks, though.

Some of my favourite European cities did quite well, too, with Zürich being 4th and Barcelona 15th. Istanbul however showed up 3rd on the "Winning Losers" list. With Istanbul complaints were around religious tensions and freedom of expression. I could add the often very long travel times between various parts of the city, though they're likely to get improved once the Marmaray tunnel is complete. However, I wouldn't mind living in any of these three cities some day. Maybe once our working model is more nomadistic...