Monocle's List of 25 Most Livable Cities for 2009

1. Zurich
2. Copenhagen
3. Tokyo
4. Munchen
5. Helsinki
6. Stockholm
7. Wien
8. Paris
9. Melbourne
10. Berlin
11. Honolulu
12. Madrid
13. Sydney
14. Vancouver
15. Barcelona
16. Fukuoka
17. Oslo
18. Singapore
19. Montréal
20.Auckland
21. Amsterdam
22. Kyoto
23. Hamburg
24. Genève
25. Lisboa

Tyler Brûlé writes in the weekend Financial Times: "The inaugural issue of Monocle's 'world's most liveable city' award, in 2007, was Munich, which scored high in all our designated categories. Then, last year, the German city was beaten by Copenhagen due to the Danish capital's strong environmental efforts, subway network expansion and diverse neighborhoods.

For 2009, we decided to tweak the metrics a bit, looking at three new factors: the independence of a city's retail and restaurant scene (let's call it the Zara/Starbucks index), the ease with which small business owners can start up operations and planned infrastructure improvements. More broadly, we considered the way in which locals and visitor are able to navigate and use everything from public parks to the local property market. In our view, places with the best quality of life are those with the fewest daily obstructions, allowing residents to be both productive and free of unnecessary stress."