Once again, we've been busy applying the annual Monocle metrics test to cities across the globe. Here are the results.

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.

Copenhagen saddles up for the world's biggest urban cycling contest, Russia's "Silicon Valley" gets to live by its own rules, and Istanbul, the call to prayer becomes easier to the ear.

Minneapolis mayor RT Rybak has a unique brand of governing. Reelected to his third term last year, he’s marketing the city’s tap water, pushing farm-to-plate food initiatives and is a believer in people doing their civic duty. Is this the model for America’s urban renaissance?

The right mayor can reinvent and rejuvenate a city, boosting infrastructure, speeding integration and fostering the arts. For our cities special, we profile 10 of the freshest movers and shakers in urban politics worldwide, pinpointing their greatest successes.

Geneva: a world-shaper, a knowledge economy, a cultural hub and a city on the rise in our Quality of Life index. But how long can it hold on to its unique role? Property is hard to find, living costs are high and there are rival cities keen to take on its mantle. At the same time, no one can fault the lifestyle. Or can they?

Mayor Bloomberg gives the go-ahead for a new park in New York, Brazil overhauls in libraries in a bid to address its social problems, and Canada goes scouting for new Scientific talent.

Portable farms from Japan, cash for babies in Taiwan, China and South Korea finally find something they can both agree on.

A call for better treatment of Lebanon's army of maids and nannies, plus a transport boost in São Tomé and why Africa didn't make out 25 most liveable cities.

Auckland has big ideas for New Zealand's first "Super City," Melbourne re-stocks its tree population and the Gold Coast's bikini-clad meter maids face extinction.

Kajima, one of Japan’s largest engineering firms, built the country’s first concrete dam and nuclear reactor. Now it’s at the forefront again, this time in the field of urban biodiversity. We meet the man who sees the future in the birds and the bees.Name: Yoriyuki Yamada Employer: Kajima Job: Head of biodiversity

Honolulu, our top-ranking US city for the third year running, wants to shed its honeymoon hotspot image. The film industry, renewable energy and agriculture are helping transform it into a new Pacific power.

A good radio station can be the voice of a city, the meeting place for like-minded folk. But in New York, Alanna Heiss has turned the dial to create something unique – AIR, a radio station for the city’s art crowd.

The Austrian capital is experiencing a second cultural wave but this time, instead of opera and art museums, it’s electronic music and pop-up galleries causing all the buzz.

Quality of life isn’t just about cycle lanes and roof gardens; our cities need inspirational thinking and ideas from the cultural sphere, too. Here, we profile five players – from a South African rock band to a Tokyo web designer – who have managed to engage with residents and improve their neighbourhoods.

With those festivals and summer film releases upon us, here’s a hand with your artistic intake.

The celebrated Danish architect Jan Gehl believes that drawing the focus of a city’s infrastructure away from the obsession with concrete and traffic systems and towards the needs of its inhabitants makes for a better quality of life.

The World Design Capital for 2012 is having a design renaissance. Helsinki officials, academics and designers are inspired by the chance to prove it isn’t stuck in the shade of its mid-century heritage. Three key facts: 1: Three per cent of city budget goes on culture. 2: Bars open until 02.00. 3:Parks make up 40 per cent of the city.

These 10 creative ventures – online, community-focused and commercial – are remaking American cities. They include the founders of museum hotels across the Midwest, the organiser of a neighbourhood Art Walk and an entrepreneur who’s created websites for citizens with a social conscience.

Floating homes on a man-made lake, a beautiful bamboo recyclable inflight food tray, and fine Finnish furniture.

Summer prints for women and tailored shirts and jackets for men. Plus a new boutique in Houston, Texas, selling casual menswear.

A country club doesn’t need to be an exclusive haven for the super-rich – in fact, it doesn’t even need to be in the country. Here, we outline our dream for a perfect health club: open to all, accessible by bicycle and offering only the finest service.

Portugal’s second city has great architecture and good food but it’s the escapes along the coast that give it its quality of life credentials. Pack your trunks, tote and Sisley spray and head for the boardwalks.

Monocle meets the two visionaries who have shown that the fortunes of an entire neighbourhood can be transformed simply by setting up a weekly market selling local produce.

From Dutch bread-making philanthropists to a pioneering food co-op in the heart of London, vernacular retail is thriving. Even an established supermarket giant is getting in on the local act.

Big supermarkets are banned, independent businesses abound and there’s a human scale on the shop floor. All of this makes Paris Europe’s retail capital.

Cities from Tokyo to Turin work because when you you really need to get away, they have rural, beach or mountain retreats on the doorstep. Here are five urbanite playgrounds.

For Alain Ducasse's 'last meal', the Michelin-starred chef and famed restauranteur pays tribute to Monaco and the restaurant that sealed his reputation. He's also used to contemplating his demise. In 1984 he survived a plane crash that killed the five people with him.

Like many of you, we are preparing for our summer holidays. But after a short break in Beirut we’ll be back to provide you with plenty of music, chat and reportage to entertain and inform you while you’re stretched out on your lounger. Our Summer Series audio programme returns and we’re also hard at work on a special-edition newspaper version of Monocle, writes Tyler Brûlé.

International architecture firms and boutique hotel chains are the latest to catch on that Beirut is the friendliest, most vibrant and ever-changing city in the Middle East. We also profile four more metropolises whose idiosyncrasies and charm mean that, despite their problems, they remain exceptional places to live.

Istanbul is like the Med on steroids; stronger coffee, crazier roads and very animated, opinionated people. But the pace of life is more relaxed than in western Europe and the party scene doesn’t stop until dawn.

Away from the dark world of the Camorra, the city’s real innocence and romance shine through – whether in the family-run restaurants, selling locally caught fish as they have done for generations, or the young couples kissing on Vespas in nearby beauty spots.

Rio is blessed with more raw natural beauty than probably any other city on Earth. This, coupled with the conviviality of its residents, the forthcoming Olympics and efforts to finally reduce the poverty gap and improve infrastructure, mean the next few years promise to be among the most exciting in the city’s long and rich history.

The right mixture of progress and chaos is what makes the capital of Taiwan such a fun place to live. Where else would you find the world's most advanced chashless payment system as well as sprawling, hectic night markets?