How to make cities the home of people – a ‘soul and body’ analysis of urban attractiveness

Abstract

Cities – and, in general, urban agglomerations – have in recent years become foci of social science research and policy interest. Prominent attention has been given to agglomeration advantages, mobility patterns, urban decay, inequity problems, residents’ quality of life, safety and crime, labour and housing markets, public amenities, and urban planning issues. Less attention however, has been paid to the basic question: what makes the city a ‘real’ and attractive city? This question prompts essentially a research challenge on the ‘raison d’etre’ of cities, in particular on the residential satisfaction and quality-of-life motives of urban inhabitants. The present paper aims to pinpoint attractiveness characteristics of cities based on perceptions of urban quality by residents and their affinity with city life. This paper offers a micro-based (individual) assessment of motives and appreciations of citizens, in terms of their love for the city. A typological distinction will be made between the ‘soul’ of the city (its spirit, history, cultural identity, ambiance, social capital, etc.) and the ‘body’ of the city (its built environment, infrastructure, public amenities, supply of housing, green areas, etc.). The empirical analysis – applied to the four largest cities in Sweden (Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmoe and Umea) – will be undertaken in two steps: (i) an exploratory statistical analysis of the findings from an extensive micro-based survey questionnaire among inhabitants in these four urban agglomerations; (ii) an explanatory evaluation of the individual appreciation scores using a regression approach. Our results show that the ‘City Love Index’ is a useful construct that can be decomposed into ‘soul’ and ‘body’ aspects of the city. Our multivariate regression analysis demonstrates clearly that both factors matter. More detailed results suggest that it is the perceptions regarding the city’s ‘walkability’ and ‘vibrancy’, both part of the ‘soul’ of the city, that have a significant influence on the City Love Index - for all cities studied.