Adopting a Quality-of-Life Approach to Urban Development: Proposing a New Framework Based on Structural, Fairness, and Perception Lenses

Given the lack of integrated, cross-cutting approaches in urban Quality of Life measures, a new framework is proposed here that draws upon a city-level index co-created under the Quality of Life Initiative implemented by UN-Habitat. Using a conceptual narrative review with a systematic structure, themes relevant to the urban context were clustered into three areas or ‘lenses’ through which decision-making in development and policy might be viewed, namely: Structural (i.e., adequacy, affordability, objective safety), Fairness (i.e., equity, inclusion, opportunity), and Perception (i.e., belonging, perceived safety, meaning and purpose). In support of creating sustainable communities, structural foundations and needs, such as housing, transport, food, and infrastructure, typically need to be addressed first. These structural realities are then filtered through a fairness lens—who benefits, who participates, and who is left behind? Finally, the filtered urban experience culminates in perception-level outcomes in terms of how people feel, connect, and find meaning in their urban experience. While presented sequentially in the framework, this is not prescriptive. Cities may start with any one lens dependent upon the context of the sustainable development challenge they are seeking to address while still recognizing the dynamic tensions among the lenses. The power of the framework lies in moving beyond siloed thinking to examine interconnections and intersectionality. To explore the potential practical application of the framework it was applied to three key urban Quality of Life challenges, namely, informality, migration, and sustainability. The framework is offered as an adaptable tool for policymakers and practitioners to support the design of more equitable, inclusive, and meaningful urban development interventions that support delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals and the global agenda to leave no one behind.