Forbes List of World’s Cleanest Cities, Where’s Singapore?
Based on figures derived from studies by the Mercer Human Resources Consulting that cull from 300 cities, Forbes.com describes the top 25 cleanest cities in the world. Of the 13 countries listed, European and U.S. cities top the charts, followed by Japan, the only Asian country in the list. Singapore is not in the list. We try so hard to be clean but still we aren’t the cleanest, considering the size of our tiny island, we have such a small room to maintain compared to the larger cities. I guess the studies don’t just look at clean air and environments. Singapore probably lost marks due to our lack of clean people.
The List
#1 Calgary
#2 Honolulu
#3 Helsinki, Finland
#4 Ottawa
#5 Minneapolis
#6 (Tie) Oslo, Norway
#6 (Tie) Stockholm, Sweden
#6 (Tie) Zurich, Switzerland
#9 Katsuyama, Japan
#10 (Tie) Bern, Switzerland
#10 (Tie) Montreal
#10 (Tie) Vancouver, Canada
#10 (Tie) Boston
#10 (Tie) Lexington, Ky.
#10 (Tie) Pittsburgh
#10 (Tie) Nürnberg, Germany
#10 (Tie) Geneva
#18 Auckland, New Zealand
#18 (Tie) Wellington, New Zealand
#20 Dublin, Ireland
#21 (Tie) Amsterdam, the Netherlands
#21 (Tie) Toronto
#23 Lyon, France
#24 Copenhagen, Denmark
#25 (Tie) Kobe, Japan
#25 (Tie) Omuta , Japan
Link: Forbes.com (Link to Slideshow)
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Martyn on Apr 26, 07 – 10:20 pm
No surprise at all. Take our washrooms in coffeeshops as a good example. Didn’t you notice that 8 out of 10 washrooms are dirty and smelly?
~Z~ on Apr 26, 07 – 10:34 pm
What are the standards exactly? Rather than Singapore style keeping of the streets litter-free, I think it’s quite likely that the cities on the list have more environmentally friendly policies and practices, for example.
sieteocho on Apr 26, 07 – 10:55 pm
No big deal what.
First there is the perception that Chinese people are dirty and smelly, and that could have affected the results. Then we are a tropical country where everybody’s sweaty and sticky. And lastly we’re up against the Japs who are so anal retentive you wonder whether their digestive systems are functioning properly.
sieteocho on Apr 26, 07 – 10:58 pm
And also how many of these cities have 4 million people?
Aen on Apr 27, 07 – 1:01 am
Thanks for your honest comments Martyn, ~Z~ and sieteocho.
First of all, I have no problems with Singapore not being in the list. It is sort of expected. The only clean places here are the places the government shows to the world. In fact, we aren’t really clean at all.
There are lots of places here that people don’t get to see. The suburbs, neighborhoods, coffeeshops, wet markets and shared lifts of HDB flats inhibited by multiple races. If you have observed, there are lots of surface polishing and deeper inside, it’s nothing like the outside. Places more exposed to passing eyes, e.g. Roadsides, Shopping Centres, Town Centres, public places are usually cleaner. When you get deeper into the buildings, farther away from town, you don’t see polished stuff anymore. Take for example my neighborhood, flats facing the main roads are more brightly painted and we have all sorts of decorations (though poorly designed and ugly). People driving pass will see the neighborhood as clean and attractive. If you live there, you’ll know it’s only the surface. Almost 3 days a week, at least one of the lifts of my block will be flooded by you-know-what from you-know-what people. For goodness sake! Singapore is so highly educated but we still have people peeing in lifts all the time. Block level, the lifts’ lobby and exteriors are all beautified with fake marble tiles and nicer lighting. The ground floor staircases are also tiled. From the 2nd floor up, what people don’t see, it is still the old plain grey concrete, with the occasional dog poo and litter.
That was what I meant by “lack of clean people” in my article. Singaporeans still have a long way to go before the garbage of our country dies out from natural selection. Fines and Urine Detectors (I still don’t believe our lifts have them) are not enough to deter them from routinely peeing in our lifts. What’s worst than smelly lifts? Like martyn said, it is smelly restrooms. I don’t know about the ladies but dirty males toilets are unforgiveable. We guys have dicks and no matter how tiny penises some of our males have, they still function well as a aiming device. How can you miss really narrow stream of pee on big urinal?? It’s like having a bull’s eye as big as the board itself and totally missing the board even at half a step away!
strypes on Apr 27, 07 – 9:45 pm
We just ’say’ we are clean. Doesn’t mean shite.
~Z~ on Apr 28, 07 – 12:39 am
Speaking of which, I’ve seen shit outside the bowl in some squatting toilets. I can’t imagine how bad it’d have to be for that to happen.
And yeah, I want to unleash some Punisher style vigilante justice every time I see people litter when there’s a bin not five steps away.
Aen on Apr 28, 07 – 2:45 am
@ ~Z~: Some people have their assholes on some other parts of the bodies. Like… in the head.
Walter on Apr 28, 07 – 7:23 am
Hi Aen, thanks for popping by my blog and interesting to know another blogger from the world of marketing communications. Its sad how people don’t treat Singapore as their home and continue to dirty and litter it like nobody’s business. Being an ecologist and naturalist by training (although my job is quite different now), I still feel a twinge in my heart about how mankind is abusing his environment.
jupilier on Apr 28, 07 – 4:34 pm
I am really surprised that Singapore did not make it into the list.
I have lived and worked in some of those cities listed and believe me, they are not near the cleanliness of Singapore.
michael
Aen on Apr 28, 07 – 6:06 pm
@ Walter: I think Singaporeans don’t dirty the place because they want to. At least not for the toilets. It must have be their brains. Some of these acts are just illogical like how ~Z~ described stray shit around toilet bowls. I believe we have a huge populaton of retards here.
@ jupiller: That’s interesting! I’d love to know more and how you are comparing. I have never been to these countries.
Walter on Apr 28, 07 – 10:20 pm
Yeah… the stray shit issue is really unbelievable but it still happens! I wonder why people can withstand living in such filth…
Aen on Apr 30, 07 – 5:03 am
Lots of hits from tomorrow.sg!
neutral on May 06, 07 – 10:39 pm
Singapore Slimming, Beauty & Health Blog - [url removed]
[Note from AEN: Please do not spam irrelevant ads on this site. If you wish to do a link exchange, please go through proper channels and ask politely instead of posting spam. Thank you.]
Katarina on May 31, 07 – 2:41 am
Based on the comments in the survey (public transportation, closing of coal plants, etc), I’m guessing they’re talking about pollution, not whether people poo in the bowl or next to it. I don’t know what Singapore’s environmental practices are, but it is surrounded by horrible polluters (China, India, etc) so it’s not likely to make this list, perhaps through no fault of its own.
Konig on Jun 07, 07 – 3:37 pm
you got to be kidding me. this list is absolute bullshit, you can trust me on that. Toronto Montreal are definitely not cleaner but i have no complaints about ottawa and vancouver.
otto on Jan 31, 08 – 6:57 am
it surely was an interesting survey..cleanest cities worldwide….being a swiss national..obviously proud of the good ranking of the 2 swiss cities zuerich and berne and also geneva….an item people go out with their petdogs always bring along small plastic bags when the pet is having a sh…then picks it up…places it in nearby garbage containers…and the compliance is in the high 90%…by the way the wealth of a people has little to do with cleanliness and order….its the character of the people…having worked in many places like canada,australia england…now retiring happily in the philippines…where other challenges are present…not only s s s sand sun and sex…ciao
SNR on Mar 07, 08 – 1:03 am
Proud to be a responsible Calgarian!!!
Shannon on Apr 17, 08 – 3:01 am
ewwww Copenhagen is practically a giant ash tray!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ang Kian Hin on May 10, 08 – 12:57 am
Although this article is a year old, I still don’t think Singapore would get anywhere near top 25 this year either. In fact, it might get further and further away. More and more litter are being seen near the void deck area. I’m not sure about other neighbourhood areas though. For my area, about 1 hour after the cleaners have cleaned up the area, you can see litter again. Is it that difficult to throw the rubbish into the rubbish bin? I myself dont find it difficult to throw into the rubbish bin. Is it that tough? I would like to ask my fellow Singaporeans.
New Flagship! - Page 3 - TopicStyle on May 22, 08 – 9:33 am
[…] Originally Posted by Thor German/Austrian/Swiss cities have a reputation of being the cleanest cities in the world. Get over it. I love the city of Germany, Is that in the country of Berlin or Munich? 3 of the top 10 cleanest cities are in Scandinavia Forbes List of World’s Cleanest Cities, Where’s Singapore? » AEN—Designer & Consul… […]
Mike Lee on Jun 20, 08 – 12:54 pm
PLEASE READ:
The forbes list is bias because the magazine is very eurocentric but yet because its an American owned mag, it has to show some American cities in order not to offend American investors.
Again, I can easily debate that many of these cities are not clean at all and Forbes does not show what are the criterias. This is another examples of Americans and europeans trying to use propaganda to put themselves in a higher level. I can tell you for a fact that Singapore is cleaner than Lyon, France and Boston, MA. I lived on both cities for many years as a consultant. Now I live in Singapore and trust me, its very clean.
Be careful with Western propaganda!
Jon on Jun 20, 08 – 12:55 pm
well said Mike, I totally agree with you. Boston is a dump!
James Keller on Jun 20, 08 – 12:58 pm
I love Singaporean women! They are so cute and so sexy, I remember that they hate asian men so I guess I am in advantage.
Brian Wong on Jun 20, 08 – 1:00 pm
To James:
thank you for your honesty, this is why we have some many dirty western perverts in our jail in Singapore waiting to hang! Keep it up….we will be glad to hang you too.
Finland on Jul 05, 08 – 10:12 pm
Dam these debates are stupid, oh singapore is the cleanest… oh its not our fault its the pollution from other countries, or oh our people are just retards…. go have a look around the web there are tons of these kinds of lists and all of them state that either finland, switzerland or iceland is the cleanest and non included singapore, that must be saying something, i have lived in singapore and yes on the outside its beutiful, but strict rules such as fines against littering or chewing gum or alot of greenery and plants through out the city do not justify that the country is one of the cleanest because the beuty that most people justify singapores cleansiness with is only present in a small portion of the country, and like what someone i know said its what the government wants you to see. There are some extremely foul places even in singapore such as some of the large apartment building complexes or local food courts. This is exactly what leaves singapore out of the list. because countries such as Finland, Switzerland or Iceland are clean and beutiful in every way and aspect, there are no ghettos, foul dumps or unpleasant places in these countries, even the industrial areas are designed to look somewhat pleasing. These places are beutiful and clean as whole and that is what singapore lacks. So for those that blame others, or whatever excuses they give for singapore not being on the list, they must accept that singapore has alot of flaws and the beauty and cleansiness that everyone justifies does not make up the whole city.
Aen on Jul 05, 08 – 11:54 pm
Finland, Singapore is indeed not clean. There are puddles of pee in my lifts/elevators once every week.
City detector on Aug 02, 08 – 8:40 am
on august 2008, singapore is the 5th cleanest city and 7th cleanest country in the world and the 2nd best economy and 8th busiest airport and the 11 greenest city in the world
singapore@ on Aug 02, 08 – 8:44 am
i agreee that singapore is quite clean , singapore is not so dirty as there are cleaners and you will see nothing dirty and singapore have a low pest like cockroach and etc . so, singapore is clean and green as no plants or trees were used and singapore have breathing fresh air!
dfsdfsdf DSDS on Aug 07, 08 – 3:51 pm
I M FROM CALGARY =]
Tony on Aug 11, 08 – 1:31 am
This list is totally wrong, obviously made up by americans and europeans. I’ve travelled to many cities in the world and Hong Kong is a lot cleaner than any european city. Amsterdam and Copenhaguen are really dirty (litter everywhere). In my experience the two dirtiest are Amsterdam and Rome. I believe Singapore and Hong Kong must be among the cleanest in the world.
Thien Nhan on Aug 19, 08 – 1:17 pm
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