Index and Rankings

As many of you know, Mercer's 2008 Quality of Living Survey was released recently, along with a ranking of the major cities of the world. I'm not a big fan of either indexes or rankings, and was pleased to see I wasn't alone in that thought. Robert Kerr from Melbourne, Australia (Go Essendon Bombers!) had this to say after Melbourne ranked the 17th most liveable city in the world:

While we might express our civic pride and incredulity that Melbourne comes in below Sydney, the more important question to ask is whether or not these surveys tell us anything useful.

Is Melbourne really a better place to live than all but one city in the world? Or not as good as 16 others?

Indicators that reduce the concept of liveability to a single number are unlikely to shed much light on just how liveable a place is.

Instead, Victoria's liveability is best judged with a comprehensive set of indicators that reflect what's important to Victorians - not international pollsters.

So what makes a place liveable? The answer is likely to be different for everyone.

What do you think? Do you use a composite index in your community indicators report? Do you rank your community against other comparable cities? If so, why? If not, why not?