Melbourne has surrendered the crown of "most liveable city" to Vienna; now it is time for the old Victorian stager to step aside and let the young and hungry newcomer Hobart win it back.

That city across Bass Strait, Melbourne, punch-drunk and weary after seven years defending the belt, has finally yielded in the latest rankings of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) annual Global Liveability Index fight to the death.

Hobart does traffic, just like Vienna, except they drive on the wrong side of the road. ( ABC News: Gregor Salmon )

Of course there are some still banging on that Melbourne still has some fight left in it, but the bell has rung and no-one is listening.

Can Hobart do what the Victorian capital could not; win at next year's competition?

Tasmania's capital city has everything Melbourne has, albeit in a smaller, more compact — and, arguably — superior form.

When it comes to the EIU's judging criteria of "stability, health care, culture and environment, education and infrastructure", Hobart can proudly lay claim to at least four, right out of the gate.

Granted, Hobart is not perfect, but at least we have no second place liveable city finishes against our name, unlike Melbourne.

Here are some other reasons why Hobart looks to be better placed than Melbourne when it comes to this coveted "liveability" thing.

Yes, places outside of Melbourne do have coffee. ( ABC News: Sam Ikin )

Buzz

You simply cannot pickup a newspaper or look at the internet lately without seeing the words "Hobart" and "boom" in close proximity.

Even Melburnians are deserting their city to come to Hobart, with the Spirit of Tasmania groaning under the weight of Victorians lugging suitcases full of money with which they snap up properties in a real estate market that screams "investment opportunity!".

While this has forced many Hobart people out of the city to areas they can afford (not Hobart) and helped exacerbate the homelessness problem, it has given politicians licence to say the state is in a "golden age".

Melbourne has the "hipster-proof fence", Hobart has the "flannelette curtain". ( Pixabay )

Culture

Hobart can wear black just as well as Melbourne can, if not better. And no-one looks better in the haute couture of a puffer jacket than a Hobartian.

Painting, sculpture, performance, photography, dance, music — Hobart has it all. Sometimes it even occurs outside of the 14 days of Dark Mofo, too!

If you go to the Melbourne Tourism website, they are spruiking the stage production of Rocky Horror Picture Show, a musical from 1975. Really?

In Hobart, the culture is so unrelentingly cutting edge and modern that thousands of people will queue in the open on a freezing night to watch a man climb into a hole in the ground and back out again three days later.

Sport

Melbourne likes to think of itself as the sporting capital of Australia but anyone who has tried getting a park at the Kingborough Sports Centre of a Friday night might argue otherwise.

In two of the country's sporting codes, Tasmanians are at the top of the heap.

Richmond's Jack Riewoldt is leading the goal kicking for the mighty Tigers in the AFL and Tim Paine is captaining our Test cricket team with a straight bat after the recent tampering with our nation's reputation.

Once Tasmania gets its own AFL team in the next year (or 20) and the Southern Huskies are unleashed on the NBL sometime before 2030 there will simply be no question about which city is the capital of sport.

Jack Riewoldt, leading the AFL's goalkicking tally, is a Tasmanian. ( AAP: Julian Smith )

Slogans

Melbourne has "the place to be" as the call-to-arms on its vehicle number plates, which is very small-target, timid stuff. The place to be, it seems, is in second place behind Vienna.

Tasmanian-registered vehicles boldly stride forth onto the highways and single carriageways of this great island with "explore the possibilities" as the mission statement emblazoned on their plates.

This, it could well be argued, is the kind of visionary thinking needed to bring it at the top level with the likes of the Viennese who, as far as we know, do not have messaging of any kind on their number plates and are therefore highly vulnerable in this department.

A summer day in Melbourne. ( ABC News: Margaret Burin )

Weather

Hobart even does bad weather better than Melbourne.

While Hobart might be referred to as Snowbart by sneering mainlanders, the truth of the matter is it hardly ever snows in Hobart, although it might in the coming days, with a cold front predicted to bring strong winds and possible snow to as low as 300 metres.

While it certainly does get cold, the bone-jarring winter chill in Hobart is often accompanied by cloudless, cobalt blue skies and the smell of freshly brewed coffee and wood fires, unlike Melbourne, where the drizzle goes on and on and on and the smell of coffee is overpowered by the pungent waft emanating from the Yarra.

Other stuff

Here are some of the other things Melbourne has taken to the table, along with the superior Hobart equivalent:

Hobart; apparently in danger of becoming too popular. ( Supplied: Hobart City Council )

Loveable, yes. Most liveable? Maybe

One person who believes Hobart has quite some work to do is University of Tasmania human geography and planning professor Jason Byrne, who said Hobart was lacking on several fronts, one being public transport infrastructure.

"It is terrible here. This is a totally car-dependent city with more than 80 per cent of trips made by people every day either as a driver or a passenger in a private automobile," he said.

"That is shame on us. We had Australia's first electrified tram network, we even beat Melbourne [but] we tore it out in the 1960s. We made some bad planning mistakes over time and they are coming back to reflect badly on the city."

Professor Byrne said Hobart could also improve in the areas of education and health care.

"But the key one here for Hobart is housing affordability, it is out of control," he said.

On second thoughts, maybe Professor Byrne is right. And Hobart's Mayor Ron Christie, who copped a lot of flak for his comments about the problems "mass tourism, skyscrapers and wealth" would bring, could he too be onto something?

Perhaps Hobart really is better off staying as Slowbart.

Good luck with next year's competition, Melbourne! You are welcome to it.

James Dunlevie was born and raised in Melbourne and now lives south of Hobart because he cannot afford a house in the city.