Quality of life: 02 Copenhagen

The city sets the standard for low-emission urban living Copenhagen’s community-focused architecture coupled with the Danes’ civic commitment to looking after one another and their unyielding bicycle-obsession are all reasons why this city always ranks so

Quality of life: 12 Sydney

There’s been fresh investment in the arts and a new cycle network

Quality of life: The liveable cities index

We’ve been doing our homework and crunching the numbers for our survey of the top 25 liveable cities, But we know it’s not just about statistics.

Quality of life: 01 Munich

When it comes to clichés about Germans, Dr Michael Kerkloh has heard the lot.

Quality of life: 03 Zurich

A new entrepreneurial spirit is attracting fresh ideas to the city The financial turmoil of the past couple of years has done Zürich good.

Quality of life: 04 Tokyo

Despite the vast number of residents, Tokyo is clean, punctual and polite Japan’s capital is like no other major metropolis.

Quality of life: 05 Helsinki

One sunny day in Helsinki almost makes up for all those dark months.

Quality of life: 06 Stockholm

Sweden’s capital is a benchmark for eco-city living. But is that enough?

Quality of life: 07 Paris

Finally, Paris addresses its troubled suburbs and edges up our rankings Postcard-perfect streets, charming cafés, independent boutiques and iconic cultural attractions continue to make Paris hard to beat.

Quality of life: 09 Melbourne

It lacks the good looks of Sydney, but Melbourne means business.

Quality of life: 10 Madrid

The country faces a tricky financial future, but the capital is looking good.

Quality of life: 11 Berlin

Berlin is fun but does it have the resources to polish its rough edges?

Quality of life: 13 Honolulu

A cosy city that’s perfectly poised between Asia and the Americas .

Quality of life: 14 Fukuoka

Japan’s eighth largest city punches above its weight in every way.

Quality of life: 15 Geneva

Small-town living in a city with a firm eye on the future.

Quality of life: 16 Vancouver

The city needs to make the most of its Olympic dividend.

Quality of life: 17 Barcelona

Intercontinental connectivity and near faultless urban planning.

Quality of life: 18 Oslo

The city is making the most of its attributes and getting connected.

Quality of life: 19 Montreal

Trams could help get this car-loving city on track for the top.

Quality of life: 20 Auckland

A non-mover in the charts but a city on the cusp of healthy change.

Quality of life: 21 Singapore

The tiny island still packs a punch as the powerhouse of Southeast Asia.

Quality of life: 22 Portland

This Northwest mini-metropolis is still flying high.

Quality of life: 23 Kyoto

So far, changes have been cosmetic and the routine is getting tired.

Quality of life: 24 Hamburg

Already clean and green, Hamburg is receiving a modern makeover.

Quality of life: 25 Lisbon

Amid low crime rates, sunny Lisbon continues its cultural boom.

Affairs Essays: A man of the people

Minneapolis mayor RT Rybak has a unique brand of governing.

Affairs Essays: Civic slickers

The right mayor can reinvent and rejuvenate a city, boosting infrastructure, speeding integration and fostering the arts.

Affairs Report: Diplomacy rules

Geneva: a world-shaper, a knowledge economy, a cultural hub and a city on the rise in our Quality of Life index.

Americas Briefing: New park life

Large-scale urban renewal might have fallen out of favour in some cities – grassroots revivals are the way ahead according to advocates of the late urban thinker Jane Jacobs – but it’s working just fine for New York City mayor Michael R Bloomberg.

Americas Briefing: Favela novela

The Brazilian government is pinning its hopes on libraries to promote social inclusion in some of the country’s poorest communities.

Americas Briefing: Rafael Viñoli

Rafael Viñoly Architects was founded in 1983. Among its current projects is the regeneration of London’s iconic Battersea Power Station.

Americas Briefing: Brain gain

In May, Canada’s universities went on an unprecedented binge of academic poachings, banking on scientific innovation to bolster future economic growth.

Quality of life: 08 Vienna

It’s cultured, clean, well manicured and well connected Is it any surprise that we still love Vienna so much?

Americas Briefing: Powerful post

In Latin America, serving as mayor can be a launch pad for the presidency.

Europe Briefing: In the saddle

Q&A: Michael Braum

Europe Briefing: Law unto itself

Protection by patent laws isn’t enough for the Russian bosses behind Moscow’s innovation city, or “Innograd”, in Skolkovo.

Europe Briefing: A new calling

Europe Briefing: What a drag

Spain’s non-smoking majority may soon breathe freely in the country’s tapas bars.

Asia Briefing: Ruan Yisen

Director, National Research Centre for Historic Cities

Asia Briefing: Contain yourself

A Japanese company is rewriting the rules of farming with the launch of a portable vegetable factory.

Asia Briefing: Baby boost

With the world’s lowest fertility rate – one child per woman – Taiwan faces the prospect of an ageing population and a shortage of workers to support them.

Africa/Middle East Briefing: Zvika Mintz

Founder, GeoPlanning.

Africa/Middle East Briefing: Nanny state

Africa/Middle East Briefing: Ghetto rising

Once a crime-infested slum, the Oluwole district of Nigeria’s capital Lagos (left) is now home to a shiny new market that will soon be joined by a mix of new offices, homes and shops.

Africa/Middle East Briefing: African Odyssey

Disappointingly, no African cities have made our Quality of Life survey.

Africa/Middle East Briefing: Ferry tales

While first world countries splash out on express trains to airports and high-speed rail to make their capitals more attractive to visitors and more pleasant to live in, the West African island nation of São Tomé and Principe is also becoming better-conne

Oceania Briefing: Super city life

For decades, Auckland has been a study in squandered potential.

Oceania Briefing: Edward Blakely

Urban policy expert.

Oceania Briefing: A new leaf

Melbourne council is to spend AU$7.2m (€5m) on protecting and preserving the city’s parks and gardens.

Oceania Briefing: Maid in Oz

In 1965, parking meters arrived on Australian holiday Mecca the Gold Coast.

Oceania Briefing: Taking flight

The launch of direct flights between Pacific island Palau and Australia has made life a little easier for one of the world’s smallest nations.

Business Report: The buzz driver - Nagoya

A good radio station can be the voice of a city, the meeting place for like-minded folk.

Business Report: Hula hopes - Honolulu

Honolulu, our top-ranking US  city for the third year running, wants to shed its honeymoon hotspot image.

Culture Report: Breath of fresh air - New York

A good radio station can be the voice of a city, the meeting place for like-minded folk.

Culture Briefing: Doing it in public - New York

WNYC is one of the US's premier public radio stations, as keen tapping its foot as addressing current affairs through editorial collaborations with the BBC and the New York Times.

Culture Report: Less waltz, More disco

The Austrian capital is experiencing a second cultural wave.

Culture Report: Creative directors - Global

Quality of life isn't just about cycle lanes and roof gardens; our cities need inspirational thinking and ideas from the cultural sphere, too.

Culture Report: The summer in culture - Global

The summer in culture.

Design Report: Gehl force - Copenhagen

The celebrated Danish architect Jan Gehl believes that drawing the focus of a city’s infrastructure away from the obsession with concrete and traffic systems and towards the needs of its inhabitants makes for a better quality of life.

Design Report: Finnish beginning - Helsinki

The World Design Capital for 2012 is having a design renaissance.

Design Briefing: Classic ceramics

Edith Heath founded the tableware and tiles company Heath Ceramics in 1948.

Design Briefing: Box of tricks - Global

Part of a drive by NetJets to reduce its carbon footprint, this new recyclable and reusable inflight catering box is by French designer India Mahdavi.

Design Briefing: Water runs deep - Germany

The eastern German village of Scado, formerly the site of a communist-era open-cast mine, is gradually being flooded.

Design Briefing: Q&A with Elisa Astori

Driade is joining the summer design hub at the Promenade du Port in Sardinia's Porto Cervo for the first time this year.

Design Report: Rebuilding America - USA

These 10 creative ventures – online, community-focused and commercial – are remaking American cities.

Design Briefing: Basic equation - Malawi

London-based John McAslan + Partners has, together with Arup, designed four prototype schools in rural Malawi.

Design Briefing: Natural beauty - Finland

Rudi Merz’s RM Series for Finnish firm Nikari is a breath of fresh air.

Fashion Briefing: New wave - Italy

Frei und Apple is a collection of vibrant T-shirts conceived by pattern designer Carina Negrone.

Fashion Briefing: Good wrinkles - Germany

The Möller family has been synonymous with classic menswear in Hanover since 1972.

Fashion Briefing: Under cover - Italy

Inspired by casual wear from the 1950s, this jacquard-cotton short and jacket set offers a smart option for covering up after a day at the beach.

Fashion Briefing: Button up - Italy

Kiton’s tailored collections have been some of the finest on offer since 1968, with founder Ciro Paone still at the helm.

Fashion Briefing: Petal power - Portugal

Marlene Torres’s womenswear collection features one-of-a-kind, hand-made pieces, such as this cotton floral-print dress.

Fashion Briefing: Q&A with Karen Walker

Q&A with Karen Walker.

Fashion Briefing: A new cowboy in town - Houston, Texas

To the outsider, Houston fashion may conjure images of cowboy boots and Stetson hats but Iris Trent Siff and Sacha Nelson are set to change that reputation.

Fashion Briefing: Home truths - Spain

Having studied and worked between the two countries, Elena Martin’s collection is designed in the UK and produced in Spain.

Fashion Briefing: Shoe shuffle - Taiwan

We found these house slippers in a market in Taiwan.

Design Report: The perfect urban club

Every city needs a Club Monocolo for keeping fit, informed and in perfect working order.

Fashion: Coast story - Porto

Portugal’s second city has great architecture and good food but it’s the escapes along the coast that give it its quality of life credentials.