Dispatch
Lockdown blues Melbourne has ceded its status as the world’s most liveable city to Auckland, and experts don’t see it regaining its crown anytime soon By Liam Aran Barnes
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ometimes a predictable setback can hurt as much as a dramatic fall from grace.
Such is the case with Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria in Australia, whose treasured reputation as one of the world’s most desirable cities in which to live has suffered due to its rocky (to say the least) pandemic. When The Economist Intelligence Unit published its latest global liveability rankings in June 2021, it reflected what many people had been expecting.
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HARSH LOCKDOWNS LEFT MELBOURNE’S CBD LYING GHOSTLY AND EMPTY FOR LONG PERIODS
Auckland, New Zealand’s booming capital, was named the world’s most livable city. Melbourne dropped to eighth spot after eight consecutive years at the top of the list, tied with Geneva in Switzerland and below rival Aussie cities Adelaide and Perth. Melbourne’s precipitous fall attracted headlines. But after a pandemic marked by rolling lockdowns—including a brutal fourmonth stint that was one of the world’s strictest—few analysts were surprised at the very public hit. Indeed, the ability to contain the spread of the pandemic while maintaining a high
