Coffee at Zurich train station: charming old with the new

London, England (GenevaLunch) – Zurich has another feather in its cap, after being selected as the world’s most livable city by the latest edition of Monocle magazine in London. Copenhagen is number two and Tokyo number three. Poor Geneva is relegated to slot number 24 out of 25, down one place from 2008, but cheered on for its easy access to lake and mountain as its main assets. What they say about Zurich: “And in this year’s winner is Zurich, where the city’s investment in tranpsort is remarkable” and the main station makeover is the key asset mentioned.

Monocle’s list dates back to 2007, making it a relative newcomer in the cities-we-love lists business. Mercer does it as a quality of life list for businesses and their employees and The Economist Intelligence Unit does it for its readers, ranking cities by quantifying “the challenges that might be presented to an individual’s lifestyle.” The EIU list, which came out 11 June 2009, ranks Geneva eighth and Zurich tenth. It gives six of the top 10 slots to North American cities, whereas Monocle sniffs at them and has only one in its top 25. It counts the number of cinemas and other comfort factors for its list.

Monocle is edited by Tyler Brûlé, who may be best known outside London and Switzerland as the author of a weekly column for the Financial Times, “The Fast Lane”, although he earned fame in Switzerland as the creator of the Swiss airline makeover logo. In London, he is the darling of media and design circles for creating Wallpaper, a magazine he sold for a tidy sum to Time-Life and later Monocle, a lifestyle magazine for well-heeled, well-traveled, trendy business people. The editor, who has for years regularly spent time in Zurich and Graubuenden, has made no secret of his affection for Zurich over the years.

Ed. note: he is known, too, as a proponent of publication names that are not traditional, an aid to marketing. In that respect he served as an inspiration for GenevaLunch (the news: nibble or feast), which has indeed benefitted from his marketing wisdom.

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