Using quality indicators to assess urban regeneration in residential areas

With the recent and emerging trends such as creative and smart city concepts, the main focus of urban regeneration programs has been shifted from economic growth to human development, and from fixed plans to flexible human-based programs. With no longer new expansions, but rather focusing on abandoned areas within the borders of the cities, which is now happening in the Netherlands, urban regeneration is becoming a tool to improve cities and citizens potentials. Using technology and smart city methods to promote efficiency and functionality of living spaces is both bottom-up and top-down process, which engages citizens, and all the non-profit organizations with the final aim that is, improving the citizens’ quality of life.In this regard, measuring and modeling citizen’s quality life is now the best tool to evaluate the suitability and long-term success of urban regeneration program and approaches. In this research project, the concept of Quality of life has been studied and redefined and quantitative methods were used to explore the extent of the relationship between different life domains, built environment and general perceived quality of life. The study specifically looking at the Strijp-S district regeneration program initiated by the municipality of Eindhoven, as a creative and smart city program. To evaluate the current success of the program, data collected from the households in both "Strijp-S" and the neighboring area "Schoot", for making a comparison. An online survey platform, based on categorized sets of attributes, developed to cover different life domains satisfaction, such as housing, neighborhood, transportation, work and all the main activities of the residents.Respondents identified their living characteristic, such as housing type, means of daily transport, etc. and then evaluate and rate their satisfaction regarding all these living aspects. Finally, they have been asked to rate the general satisfaction for each domain, and the general perceived quality of life. For the purpose of the research, different quantitative and statistical methods used to analysis the data, and to show the direct and indirect impacts of each indicator on quality of life. The final results of the research reveal the differences of the impacts of the built environment attributes on the residents’ life satisfaction in different areas. Findings also highlight the effectiveness of smart city’s strategies in promoting neighborhood satisfaction, and accordingly contribute to the success of urban regeneration program