Liveable Helsinki: a work in progress

New BGTW member Tim Bird reports on the Finnish capital

Greetings from the world's "most liveable city"! According to Monocle magazine, this is the accolade earned by my home city Helsinki in Finland.

I'm not sure that the survey panel have been here on a blustery grey day in late January with the drifting snow up to our knees and the wind intensifying a frost of minus 15, or around the railway station late on a Friday night.

But I suppose I shouldn't be too cynical. On long, warm, light-filled summer days - and it's been warmer here than in much of the UK this summer - there really is nowhere else we'd rather be. Helsinki's citizens have long been too modest: "what did you come HERE for?" is a common incredulous question.

So it’s time they sang their own praises. It’s a green, generally efficient,
safe, largely poverty-free and spacious place to live.

However, and lest the Finnish capital gets too smug, it would be unfair not to warn prospective visitors of a few imperfections. Monocle’s Fennophile editor Tyler Bruler identifies Helsinki’s food and dining culture as a prime factor in the city’s success. Well, yes, there are plenty of good restaurants, but too many of them are closed on Sundays - or even closed completely for July, a peak tourism month.

Paradoxically, one problem with a city that continuously invests in and develops its infrastructure is that large sections of it are turned into building sites or holes in the ground for the duration of the summer. Coordination between authorities in this respect leaves plenty to be desired. Helsinki, it seems, is an eternal work in progress. The quality of life index score will go through the roof if ever it gets finished.