Many neighbourhoods dating from the early sixties in western European cities have reached the end of their useful life and have been slated for restructuring or are already in the process. Much is known about the prevalence and background of problems in these neighbourhoods and about the effects of measures taken so far. Less is known about the factors that keep neighbourhoods physically, economically and socially vital, however. What makes them 'good' or 'viable'? Some say that certain neighbourhood types are vulnerable by design, particularly the areas built after the World War II throughout western Europe. The main objective of this paper is to introduce a comprehensive approach for measuring the frequency of perceived nuisance in the residential environment. To that end, it presents some preliminary subgroup analyses investigating whether subsets of residents rate nuisance differently. A residential nuisance scale is empirically tested using multivariate analysis. The results of an exploratory factor analysis offer empirical support for the claim that the proposed model of reported frequency of residential nuisance is useful. Reliability and validity tests confirm the adequacy of the Residential Nuisance Scale-Dutch Language Version (RNS-DLV), since it correlates as expected with various criterion measures. In the future, this compact and valid instrument can serve as the dependent or independent variable in research carried out in the Netherlands and other European countries. Such research could elucidate which physical-spatial and socio-cultural factors determine the perception of nuisance in different neighbourhood types by relating the RNS to a measure of residential environmental satisfaction.
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