Wednesday 11 June 2008

Quality Copenhagen - Monocle Magazine, Me &, next, thee


The German King of steins and sausages is dead, according to the urban boffins at Monocle Magazine. Long live the Danish King of architecture and design. This month's offering from the sporn of Wallpaper* sees Munich, demoted to the second best city behind wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen. And, as scientifically dry as the trailer to Monocles' Global Quality of Life Survey is, a more low maintenance, barefoot and free SandWagon simply has to agree ... with their 'urban theorists' and editorial staff sitting at clinically clean desks, surrounded by tasteful wooden office furniture, designer-bespectacled blah blah blah...

Monocle's dedicated researchers spent the last 12 months, surveying - quantitatively and qualitatively - the world's cities to see how they stacked up in terms quality of life. Everything was considered, from crime statistics and average hours of sunshine to the availability of booze.

Anyone who has spent more than a day in London - witnessing the snot in their tissue turn blacker with every Tube trip - would, unstandably, 'pah' at the very idea of urban quality of life. 'Pah', get rich in The City...move to Cornwall, take to Tuscany.... But stop first and try Copenhagen on for size: Danish city of houseboats and bicycles, car-free streets, huge salads and Baltic Sea breezes. Copenhagen is indeed a city that makes you feel glad to be alive for the simple reasons, and its happy citizens seem to embody the concept of Lifestyle and a life immersed in style. Read more!