7/23 Topic I: Quality of Life and Quality of Death

How do you evaluate a city? I believe almost everyone has heard of the "World's Most Liveable Cities," most famously surveyed by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). Vancouver, with excellent infrastructure and low crime rate, often tops the chart. Recently, the same research company published another report, ranking various countries on the quality of death.

Please read the following two articles:
Olympics host Vancouver ranked world's most liveable city
It's official: Britain is best place in the world to die

During our meeting, we could exchange views on the following issues:
1. Among the indicators (for quality of life and for quality of death), which ones would be of most importance to you?
2. Do you think that there are other concerns that should have been included in the survey?
3. An NYT/IHT Op-Ed contributor once criticized that the EIU "clearly equates livability with speaking English" and that it goes in "heavily for old British Empire towns in Canada and the antipodal down-unders." Do you think that the survey is biased or that it just so happens that no cities in Asia, Africa, or South America qualifies as top 10 places to live?
4. Turning to the best places to die, do you think traditional perceptions of death would influence the quality of death in a country? If so, how?
Additionally, if you have travelled to one of the most liveable cities in the world, please do share your experience with us. (Experiences in best places to die are welcome as well!)

If you're interested in further details of the surveys, you can visit the EIU's website and read the related press releases:
Winter Olympics host, Vancouver, ranked world's most liveable city
The UK has the highest quality of death

Lastly, if you wish to see what the world's best places to live look like:
The World's Best Places To Live 2010

And just FYI, Taiwan is ranked 14th on the quality of death survey.