Territorial assessment of the ecological and social comfort of the population living environment of large industrial cities (by the example of Kryvyi Rih)

Abstract

Providing a favourable and comfortable living environment for the population is one of the main tasks of optimising urban development. The level of comfort is formed with the territorial interaction of natural and socio-economic conditions for the region’s development. This interaction is especially manifested in large industrial centres, characterised by a strong negative anthropogenic impact on the environment. The territorial assessment of the comfort of the living environment involves a comprehensive spatial analysis of the population comfort main factors. The purpose of this work is a spatial analysis of the population living comfort of one of the most industrialised regions not only Ukraine, but also Europe – the city of Kryvyi Rih. Functional zoning was carried out using GIS Map Info with the allocation of the following areas: residential zones, public and business zones, industry and warehouse zones, resort and recreation zones. The distribution of the residential area according to the level of comfort of the population living environment was carried out according to 3 groups of factors: transport accessibility, development of social infrastructure and ecological state. The first group characterises the habitat from the point of view of the city’s provision with transport routes for various types of public transport. The second group characterises the population’s social conditions, namely the number of educational, cultural and medical institutions. The third block includes the ecological state of the territory according to the criterion of atmospheric pollution. The method of scoring made it possible to compare individual parts of the area under study across the entire range of natural, ecological and social population comfort. The combination of indicators of the totality of all three groups factors was carried out using overlay operations. As a result of the research, a map characterising the spatial differentiation of indicators of the living comfort in the city of Kryvyi Rih has been created. The specialisation of the city as a large industrial centre has determined the leading role of the group of environmental indicators in the situational model of the living environment comfort in the region.