Europe’s safest city has retained its title for the second year running – and it’s just a short hop from the UK. The Eurozone country, famed for its canal routes and relaxed atmosphere, ranked highly on the Safe Cities Index. It polled just behind Tokyo, Singapore and Osaka, which filled the top three spots. Yet just where is this destination, which can be reached by flight, boat or Eurostar?
The Safe Cities Index as deemed Amsterdam as the top ranked European city.
The capital of the Netherlands saw an improvement in its listing – with non European countries included – rising from sixth place in 2017 to fourth place in 2019.
The country ranked particularly highly for health security, which includes access to high quality healthcare.
Overall, the survey considered 60 cities worldwide across five continents.
It measured issues of urban safety, with indicators organised across the four pillars of digital, infrastructure, health and personal security.
With the inclusion of Amsterdam, Europe hosts six of the top 20 cities in the SCI2019, including Stockholm (12th), London (14th), Frankfurt (16th) and Zurich (tied 18th).
European cities generally perform well in the area of health security, with four European cities – Amsterdam, Stockholm, Frankfurt and Zurich – among the top ten.
Naka Kondo, senior editor of The Economist Intelligence Unit and editor of the SCI2019 report, said: “Overall, while wealth is among the most important determinants of safety, the levels of transparency – and governance – correlate as closely as income with index scores.
“Our research shows the many ways that transparency and accountability are essential in every pillar of urban security, from building safer bridges to developing the trust needed for relevant stakeholders to share information on cyber-attacks.
“The research highlights how different types of safety are thoroughly intertwined.
“While European cities like Amsterdam and Stockholm continue to do well in health security, other safety pillars such as digital security must go in concert with every aspect of urban safety to protect citizens from cyber threats.
“Policies, service planning and provision should also take this into account—and this year, we have decided to convene stakeholders from around the world in a Safe Cities Summit to discuss such matters around urban safety.”
Irene Mia, global editorial director of The Economist Intelligence Unit, added: “Of the 14 European cities in the Index, only Istanbul and Moscow fall below the average score of 71.2 globally.
“Although European cities generally perform well in health security, they tend to struggle in the category of digital security and London is the only European city in the top ten in this category.”
Express.co.uk recently reported how Amsterdam’s mayor made a huge pledge over the future of the well-renowned Red Light District.
Amsterdam is famed for its Red Light District yet the sight of attractive females in window boxes might soon be banished to the history books.
Politicians in the pretty canal town are issuing a crackdown own the amount of prostitution in the area, for fear of the “pressure” of tourism and the “humiliation” of the women involved.
Traditionally, women would pose in the clear boxes windows for passers-by to admire and sometimes, pay for some extra time spent with them.
Yet Amsterdam’s first female mayor, Femke Halsema, has vowed to take a stance against what she sees as an escalating problem.
