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Defining the quality of urban life: Which factors should be considered?

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  • Eva Psatha
  • Alex Deffner
  • Yannis Psycharis

Abstract

In 2010 the World Health Organisation dedicated the Word Health Day to urbanization and health, highlighting the impacts of urban living on physical and mental health. This is because it is increasingly acknowledged that cities face various problems that undermine the quality of urban life, e.g.social inequalities, urban crime, poor environment, and traffic congestion. Despite this fact, cities continue to play a vital role in development, as they offer higher education, specialized services and jobs. When it comes to an assessment of the living conditions and well-being in cities, economic indices have failed to capture the aforementioned contradiction of urban life. A concept able to monitor the multidimensional nature of cities seems to be the "quality of urban life" (QOUL). The multidimensionality of the QOUL concept reflects the variety of the examined dimensions, but also the range of the different uses of the term. Many different approaches of this concept can be found not only between papers of different disciplines (health sciences, social sciences or planning), but also in the context of the same scientific field. Thus, although there has recently been a remarkable number of comparative studies and papers concerning the evaluation of QOUL in different cities, the factors taken into account are far from being standard. In part, this is because the constituents of the QOUL depend on rather subjective factors, such as culture and tradition in the examined places. However, for a given place and a specific time period there can be an agreement concerning the determinants of QOUL. This will allow for relative research to be comparable and better interpretable. This paper starts with an analysis of the standard approaches of the QOUL concept as they can be found in the relative scientific literature. It continues with the analysis of QOUL determinants in societies, focusing in cities. The criteria taken into account for the measurement of the QOUL in the evaluation of cities and the city rankings are also examined. Finally, a range of factors which can be used as a standard set when examining the QOUL in European cities is proposed.

Suggested Citation

  • Eva Psatha & Alex Deffner & Yannis Psycharis, 2011. "Defining the quality of urban life: Which factors should be considered?," ERSA conference papers ersa11p785, European Regional Science Association.
  • Handle: RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p785
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Frey, Bruno S & Stutzer, Alois, 2000. "Happiness, Economy and Institutions," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(466), pages 918-938, October.
    2. Paschalis A. Arvanitidis & Konstantinos Lalenis & George Petrakos & Yannis Psycharis, 2009. "Economic aspects of urban green space: a survey of perceptions and attitudes," International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 11(1/2/3), pages 143-168.
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    1. Yildiz Akpolat & Fusun Kokalan Cimrin & Aykut Caliskan, 2021. "Assessments of Conceptual in Quality of Urban Life Measurements and Dimensional Recommendations," Journal of Economy Culture and Society, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 64(64), pages 313-335, December.
    2. Mouratidis, Kostas & Yiannakou, Athena, 2022. "What makes cities livable? Determinants of neighborhood satisfaction and neighborhood happiness in different contexts," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    3. DMSLB Dissanayake & Takehiro Morimoto & Yuji Murayama & Manjula Ranagalage & ENC Perera, 2020. "Analysis of Life Quality in a Tropical Mountain City Using a Multi-Criteria Geospatial Technique: A Case Study of Kandy City, Sri Lanka," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-22, April.
    4. Marius Constantin PROFIROIU & Carmen Valentina RADULESCU & Sorin BURLACU, 2019. "Aspects Of Quality Of Life In Urban Areas Of The European Union," Proceedings of Administration and Public Management International Conference, Research Centre in Public Administration and Public Services, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 15(1), pages 3-11, October.
    5. František Petrovič & František Murgaš, 2021. "Description Relationship between Urban Space and Quality of Urban Life. A Geographical Approach," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-13, December.
    6. Ilyes Bougouffa & Ariva Sugandi Permana, 2018. "A Study on the Linkages between Residential Satisfaction and the Overall Quality of Life in Bandar Tun Razak Area of Kuala Lumpur City, Malaysia," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 13(4), pages 991-1013, December.
    7. Archana Sinha & Bibhas Chandra & Arvind Kumar Mishra & Shubham Goswami, 2023. "An Assessment on Quality of Life and Happiness Indices of Project Affected People in Indian Coalfields," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-24, June.
    8. Dagmara Stangierska & Iwona Kowalczuk & Ksenia Juszczak-Szelągowska & Katarzyna Widera & Weronika Ferenc, 2022. "Urban Environment, Green Urban Areas, and Life Quality of Citizens—The Case of Warsaw," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-15, September.
    9. Lucia Petrikovičová & Victoria Kurilenko & Amantius Akimjak & Beáta Akimjaková & Peter Majda & Anton Ďatelinka & Yulia Biryukova & Ľubomír Hlad & Peter Kondrla & Daliborka Maryanovich & Lyubov Ippolit, 2022. "Is the Size of the City Important for the Quality of Urban Life? Comparison of a Small and a Large City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-17, November.

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