For our Quality-of-Life issue, Monocle has been busy researching the world’s top cities. And with a re-jig of the way each urban centre is assessed, this year’s top 25 promises some surprises.

We've been doing our homework and crunching the numbers for our survey of the top 25 liveable cities, but we know it's not just about statistics.

Great cities adapt and change like their residents. The process of finding a favourite has been a global undertaking that confirmed and renewed our love of exciting urban centres. The following make up Monocle’s top 25.

There’s no shame coming second, particularly when phase two of your new metro is about to go live, your airport is a joy, you can bike safely through the city and you have so many stunning residents.

Three of the five cities on this page have been in our bottom five for the past two years, and Montréal has slipped. Maybe somebody at city hall needs to start trying a bit harder. Meanwhile, we welcome Seattle to the fold…

Months of good-natured, frequently late-night and occasionally jetlagged debate have resulted in this: our definitive (and a little subjective) guide to the world’s most liveable cities. Here’s how we came to our conclus…

The city has the luxury of sitting on Asia’s doorstep. This is great news but it needs to put it to use.

What do you really want out of a city? And what can you do without? With the environment top of the agenda in mayors’ offices around the world, *Monocle* looks beyond the recycling bins and congestion charges to see what…

Vienna is back at the heart of Europe – its well-connected airline helped put it in fifth place.

The elusive alchemy that makes a good city a great place to live is something we’ve been dedicated to understanding since Monocle began. With a sharper eye than ever, we present our top 25.

Whether it’s due to poor infrastructure, inherent inefficiency or the occasional war, these five cities have not made the Top 25 list – but that doesn’t mean they’re not great places to live.

The fastest flying times from Europe to Asia’s hubs make Helsinki more than Nokia-town.

Integrated transport, breathtaking technology, great service and the best bars make this our top big city.

An eye for detail, good street style and strong public services make this a pleasant place to build a nest.

Monocle’s researchers have spent the past months putting the world’s leading cities to the test to find the best places for you to make your base. Last year Copenhagen was the winner of our survey but in 2009 the award goes…

They may not have come top in Monocle’s chart but the cities ranked 11 to 20 are still all great places to live. They didn’t make the first 10 because some lacked a real metropolitan buzz, while others failed to deliver on…