City liveability rankings tell a biased story – our research in Dhaka explains why

Mon, 14 Aug 2023 11:58:13 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://theconversation.com/city-liveability-rankings-tell-a-biased-story-our-research-in-dhaka-explains-why-208262>

"Like many fast-growing megacities in Asia and Africa, Dhaka, in Bangladesh, is
often stigmatised as one of the most unliveable cities on earth, due to
overcrowding, slums and substandard housing. The Bangladeshi capital boasts
around 23 million residents.

In the 2023 edition of its annual global liveability index, the Economist
Intelligence Unit (the research and analysis division of the Economist Group)
ranked the Bangladeshi capital 166 out of 173 cities. As Helemul Alam of the
Daily Star put it, that ranking makes it the “seventh least liveable city in
the world”. While such lists tell a compelling story, it is an inherently
biased one.

The Economist’s global liveability index is based on the experiences of
expats rather than citizens. This kind of ranking inevitably privileges the
perspectives of certain urban occupants and workers over others, often
overlooking communities in urban peripheries.

We have shown that people move back and forth between urban and rural places.
They shift between jobs, localities and accommodations."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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