In 2005, DogFriendly.com found Chicago as the most dog-friendly North American city. This is the best city to visit if you have a dog. Chicago (Illinois) is followed by Vancouver (Canada, British Columbia) and Boston (Massachusetts).

The survey looked at the quality dog-friendly places, number of hotels that welcome well-behaved dogs, the way dogs are welcome on public transportation, and reasonably regulations for well-behaved and leashed dogs in public places. The ninth-placed Toronto (Canada, Ontario) was later disqualified because of a newly adopted Ontario province law affecting visitors and residents with dogs. Continue reading »

The annual 2005 survey of Money Magazine, for the best small US cities to live in, places Moorestown (New Jersey) on the top spot, followed by Bainbridge Island (Washington) and Naperville (Illinois).

This is the first available online survey of this kind, for best small American cities, of CNN/Money Magazine. Editors started with more than 1,300 cities and finally settled on a top of 100 cities. Many small American cities have good schools, great jobs and  affordable housing. Population is typically in the tens of thousands, but life is good and cost of living may be cheaper. Continue reading »

According to the independent UK organization Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the Canadian city of Vancouver has been found in 2005 as the most livable city in the world, followed by Melbourne (Australia) and Vienna (Austria).

The EIU looked at more than one hundred cities in terms of infrastructure, personal risk, availability of goods and services, and other factors, such as the low risk for terror attacks. The survey takes over 40 factors into consideration which are weighted across five different categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. Cities from Canada, Australia and Western Europe top the list. The survey has produced a mixed picture of the world’s cities. Continue reading »