The role of urban green areas for quality of life

Abstract

This paper presents the issues of residential areas dating from the time of political and economic changes in the early nineties and the transition to a market economy in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The main focus are the new urban residential developments, since compared to the older neighbourhoods, the newer ones are typically single-use residential, while their open spaces are reduced in size and programme. Key research problem deals with the quality of life (QOL) in these areas, measured especially in the context of needs of the most vulnerable users, like the elderly and children. Both depend on well accessible green areas in near proximity to their homes. This paper explores how the residents experience the new spatial organisation of their living environment, and how the poor quality open spaces may affect their behavioural patterns, which in the end influences their health status. A lack of appropriate accessible open green areas results in spending the majority of time indoors. The indoor air is known to be polluted with several chemicals, nano-particles, microorganisms, electrosmog etc. Spending time indoors should therefore be balanced with the time spent outside. The research has three methodological phases: 1. a comparison between urban residential areas by selected criteria and indicators of QOL, 2. behaviour mapping and 3. interviewing of residents. The 1.phase confirms differences between open spaces of the selected residential areas: in comparison with older neighborhoods newer are denser and have less potential for spending time outside while being inhabited by more children. The second phase, observation and behavioral mapping, results in identification of outdoor activities: a lack of outdoor programs increases transition activities. The interviewing process, which is determined on the basis of CHMS (CINDI Health Monitor Survey), involves the actual inhabitants of settlements, providing their personal view of their home environment and behavioral style.