What makes a nice place? A place so nice you want to go there over and over again, live there, whisper sweet nothings to it, want to have its babies? Oddly enough, despite endless academic “townscape” studies, nobody has ever done a proper analysis of what makes one place — whether it be a town, neighbourhood, or street — better than another. Quality-of-life surveys are always suspect: we all want zero crime and pollution, fantastic schools, incredible neighbours, cheerful independent local shops. Yet some of the most interesting, liveliest places, especially in cities, fail on many or all of these counts. And for sure it has nothing to do with gruesome exercises such as Britain in Bloom — there’s more to life than kitsch floral displays.

This is why the new Academy of Urbanism — basically all Britain’s better people involved in planning, designing and building our towns and cities, modernists and traditionalists alike — launched its awards scheme earlier this year to find out what the British public thinks are great places to live. Now, after combing through swathes of nominations in five categories, a shortlist has been announced.

First, the criteria. Great places must “establish a high quality of living, nurture a healthy and creative way of life, support economic, social, political and cultural activity, and deliver robust, distinctive and attractive environments for our villages, towns and cities”. Fair enough. So, which is to be the European city of the year — London, Edinburgh or Dublin, all of which are riding high at the moment? Which is the “great town”: the medieval cathedral city of Lincoln, the foodie-heaven Shropshire market town of Ludlow, or the artist-and-surfer paradise of St Ives in Cornwall? The “great neighbourhood” finalists are the regeneration zones of Clerkenwell in London, Glasgow’s Merchant City, and the bustling student quarter of Clifton in Bristol.

The “great place” shortlist is Borough Market (another foodie heaven) in Southwark, London, the lush urban retreat of St Stephen’s Green in Dublin, and the only all-new development on the list, Birmingham’s commercial canalside district of Brindleyplace.

At street level, it’s a striking mix: posh Marylebone High Street vies with seething multicultural Brick Lane (west and east London respectively) and Edinburgh’s evocative Royal Mile, from castle to Scottish parliament.

It’s a tricky one to judge. Do I prefer London to Dublin? Come to that, do I prefer Edinburgh to Glasgow, which apparently just missed the cut for the city nomination, although its Merchant City turns up in another category? Perhaps the two great Scottish cities should be considered as one? That will never wash; the rivalry is too intense.

Ludlow seems to be everyone’s favourite English market town, and it’s certainly wonderful, even without all its Michelin-starred restaurants. But for me it’s just too Range Roverish these days. I find nearby Bridgnorth (which didn’t make the cut) a bit more, you know, real. And it’s got a funicular railway down to the River Severn.

Brick Lane is a good candidate. A few years ago, this east London thoroughfare would be nobody’s choice for a “great street”. In the early 1990s it faced virtual demolition. So what’s changed? Not so much the place — though it’s less dodgy than it was — more our attitudes to it. We just don’t see it as some kind of inner-city front line for racial tension any more.

The finalists in each category will all be visited by the academy’s judges between now and awards night on November 10. So what’s the secret of a great place? “It’s all about organising life,” says the architect John Thompson, the academy’s chairman. “The best things in life tend to happen in spaces, not in buildings. We want to get people to think about that.”

The Academy of Urbanism, www.academyofurbanism.org.uk

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