The following appeared as part of an article in a magazine on lifestyles.
"Two years ago, City L was listed 14th in an annual survey that ranks cities according to the quality of life that can be enjoyed by those living in them. This information will enable people who are moving to the state in which City L is located to confidently identify one place, at least, where schools are good, housing is affordable, people are friendly, the environment is safe, and the arts flourish."
Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The argument that City L ranks 14th among major cities in terms of quality of life and hence should be the basis for people to move to this city because of affordable housing, friendly people, safe environment and good schools is not strong for the following key reasons – there is no mention about the parameter used in the survey, the age group of the people who participated in the survey, and the company which performed the survey.

For each age group, the definition of quality of life is based on individual needs and how much the city has to offer in response. For instance, It is possible that majority of people involved in the survey were recent college graduates who would rank City L highly if the city offers them with better job prospects. In which case the survey will not be a true indication of whether the City has affordable housing, friendly people etc. as the argument states.

It is also possible that the people involved in the survey belong to certain part of the city which is well developed and have better infrastructure. In which case the response would be much more favorable compared to the response from people who live in parts of the city which is not that well developed.

Finally it is important to know whether the survey was performed by a non-profit independent organization and will the survey benefit the organization directly or indirectly. There are instances where companies, as a marketing technique, employ the services of private survey team which in return will provide survey data favorable to the companies cause. As stated the argument appeared as a part of an article in one of the magazines on lifestyles, it is possible that this was initiated by one of the developers in the City targeting certain section of the society.

In conclusion, per the survey City L might be highly ranked, it certainly doesn’t substantiate the argument that people should consider moving there. A much more detailed survey data will be required before one can ascertain whether he should move to City L.