In the last two years alone, the beautiful city of Trivandrum has been ranked twice as the best city to live in, beating Pune and Kolkata; in 2014 however it ranked second among 21 major cities from 18 states in a survey based on 115 parameters. The survey was carried out by ASICS (Annual Survey of India’s City-Systems) which aims to serve as an annual health check-up on the quality of life in the cities with regards to laws, policies and institutional processes.
This was the fourth survey carried out by ASICS and does not include the north-eastern states. The better a city scores in the ASICS, the better is the quality of life delivered to its citizens over the medium and long-term. The parameters used include city administration, political contribution of citizens, financial capacity of the city, taxation, etc.
Cities are basically very complex systems of democracy and if we are to diagnose the urban problems and solve them too, then we need to break down the cities into systems-based framework which consists of four major aspects: Urban planning and Designing, Urban capacities and Resources, Empowered and Legitimate Political Representation and Transparency and Accountability and Participation.
Democracy refers to a great working relationship between the leaders and the citizens; Trivandrum is a good example of how democracies should function – by devolving power to the local bodies, such as the Panchayat system.
Trivandrum is the beautiful evergreen capital city of Kerala state. Though it is officially the political hub of the state, Trivandrum is also considered a major academic center with its numerous schools and colleges spread all over area. Of recent, it has also become popular as an IT hub, with the setting up of the Techno Park, home to many IT industries. The incursion of these techies has changed the very fabric of city life and changed it from being a sleepy city that went to bed at 9pm, and made it into a more action-packed one. With the sudden increase in population due to the incoming young generation of techies, the demand for homes, especially apartments has gone up substantially and builders are doing their best to keep up with the demand vs. supply ratio.
The city is surrounded by numerous palm-fringed beaches that are a balm to the soul after a long day spent at work and many sunset-gazers can be seen thronging the beaches in the evening with their kids. Kovalam, a world-famous beach is also half an hours’ drive from here.
Trivandrum is also known as Thiruvananthapuram, but that’s quite a mouthful, so most people still stick to using the shorter name. Amongst the five big cities in Kerala, Trivandrum is again the adjudged the best city to live in. As it is the state capital, the infrastructure here is great as compared to other cities and basic facilities like water and electricity supply are quite consistent here. Numerous malls are also coming up all over the city aside from other entertainment avenues like cinema halls, Nishagandhi auditorium, Vylopilly Samskriti Bhavan, Chandrashekharan Nair Stadium and VJT Hall, to name a few, making Trivandrum a great place to stay in.
