Mapping Quality of Life in Polish Functional Urban Areas: A Functional Data Analysis Approach

This article assesses quality of life in the Functional Urban Areas (FUAs) of Poland’s provincial capitals. FUAs were established to promote joint development and improve the quality of life for residents by investing in the economy, labour market, and environmental protection. Good living conditions are essential for attracting residents and promoting territorial development. This improvement also responds to the issues faced by large urban areas, such as transport and waste management, and is in line with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 of the UN 2030 Agenda. Quality of life is a multidimensional phenomenon which is often measured using static indicators. This article takes a different approach, using the Functional Principal Component Analysis (FPCA) method to measure this phenomenon. FPCA is an extension of traditional PCA for functional data. This method enables the temporal and spatial dynamics of the phenomenon to be analysed. The study showed that the highest quality of life (as measured objectively) is found in the functional urban areas of Poland’s largest and most economically developed cities. Conversely, the lowest quality of life was found in rural areas centred on smaller central cities, particularly in the south-west and east of the country, where labour market conditions were poorer and environmental pollution was higher. FPCA proved to be a robust method for identifying and quantifying spatial differences in quality of life within the Polish urban hierarchy.