A Quality of Life-Oriented Framework for Sustainable Cities: The Contributions of Neighborhood Planning to Quality of Urban Life

Rapid urbanization, spatial inequality, and environmental pressures highlight the need for planning approaches that strengthen urban sustainability and quality of urban life (QoUL). While these issues are often assessed at metropolitan scales, the key processes shaping daily urban experience occur at the neighborhood level. This study examines how neighborhood planning contributes to QoUL and sustainability through a comparative analysis of three neighborhoods with different urban development patterns in Konya, Türkiye. A neighborhood-scale spatial multi-criteria QoUL assessment framework was developed, consisting of four dimensions—Core Services, Physical Structure, Spatial Quality, and Social Dynamics—covering eleven sub-criteria and 55 measurable criteria. The framework uses objective data from planning documents, institutional sources, and field observations to ensure a robust and comparable neighborhood scale QoUL and sustainability performance evaluation. Findings reveal significant variations in livability between neighborhoods. Accessibility to services, human-scale design, and opportunities for social interaction emerge as more influential than the quantity of services alone. Neighborhoods with permeable street networks, mixed land use, and accessible public spaces demonstrate higher QoUL performance. The study highlights the critical role of neighborhood-scale planning in enhancing livability and supporting the transition toward more sustainable urban environments, while offering practical insights for planning and policy development.