BY KENNY CHEE

GOOD news, Singapore: The city-state has bounced back into the top 20 in Monocle's list of the world's most liveable cities.

Last year it was No. 22. It reached No. 17 in 2007, and is No. 18 in this year's survey by the London-based lifestyle and global-affairs magazine.

Zurich is No. 1. Two Asian cities - Tokyo (No. 3) and Fukuoka (No. 16) in Japan - are ahead of Singapore.

The survey, featured in the July/August issue which hits newsstands tomorrow, said that 'Singapore is adding a softer side to its reputation as a business city'. It added that with its 'own Formula One road race and upcoming casinos, Singapore is aiming to replicate the glamour of Monaco'.

The city's planners were also praised for promoting 'brave, landmark projects', such as the 'UFO-shaped Supreme Court'.

Without elaborating upon what Singapore could improve on, Monocle said the city could 'encourage media freedom'.

The magazine's editorial team selects the cities based on such factors as shopping hours and access to green spaces.

This year, it added three factors to its criteria, such as the number of Zara and Starbucks stores in the city, and the ease of setting up a business in it.

Dr Pow Choon Piew, a lecturer at the National University of Singapore's geography department, said some of the new factors were in Singapore's favour, such as the upgrading of public infrastructure.

In April, American human resource consultancy Mercer ranked Singapore No. 1 for infrastructure in its global survey of the top cities to live in. Dr Pow said Singapore might not perform as well in areas such as 'culture and the softer aspects of the environment', though he added that there are signs of improvement.

Mr Derrick Kon, Mercer's global-mobility leader for information product solutions in Singapore, said there are 'some restrictions in Singapore perhaps not seen in Western cities'.

'Some films are censored, but censorship is less strict now than it was in the past,' he said.

Nonetheless, Dr Pow said that 'any form of ranking provides only some form of indication or generalisation', noting that surveys, including Monocle's and Mercer's, do not place much emphasis on what the city's people think of their hometowns.

As Singapore businessman Goh Chien Yen, 36, who has lived for five years in Geneva, said: 'Singapore should just try to be itself because cities that dare to do so are interesting for its people. This in turn attracts more people to them.'

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