Abstract
Global challenges such as urbanization, aging societies, climate change, and environmental and water crises are becoming increasingly important in terms of the impact they might have on the quality of life (QoL) in cities. Appraisal instruments for QoL assessment, such as rankings and guides, should therefore include these aspects. The aim of this research was to verify the significance of water and climate-related aspects in assessment tools. A comparative analysis of 24 selected QoL assessment tools shows to what extent these aspects are included in the domains, criteria, and indicators proposed in the instruments. The method of verification is a comparison of the position of winning cities in QoL rankings and city resilience rankings. The results show that water and climate-related aspects are still underestimated in the QoL rankings and guides, and only a few cities with the highest quality of life ranked highly in sustainability and climate resiliency ratings. Our results suggest that the tools for the evaluation and comparison of cities need remodeling, taking into account the most important global risks and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in order to create aging-friendly and climate-neutral cities.
Highlights
Comparing the top ten cities in the QoL rankings with those in the sustainability and resilience rankings allowed us to identify which cities have most effectively combined strategies to improve the quality of life along with adaptation to climate change, as well as environmental and water crises
Comparison of the content and type of indicators related to water and climate aspects in selected QoL assessment tools allowed us to notice that, in the vast majority of Sustainability 2021, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW
Environmental, and water crises affect the quality of life and well-being of residents in many ways, comprising one of the most urgent and important challenges facing modern cities
Summary
Cities are becoming the main place of human habitation on Earth and are areas with the greatest concentration of ecological and climate challenges [1]. One of the most important indicators of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [2] is the quality of life of citizens. Indicators used to assess the quality of life (QoL), including dynamic processes and growing threats, can support decision makers in developing policies and transforming urban structures, making them more user-friendly and climate neutral [3]. Research units and international bodies, as well as business entities, evaluate the quality of urban life using appraisal instruments based on selected domains and metrics, comparing cities and countries, and selecting the most livable locations
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