Urban Quality Assessment Research Articles

Guidelines for Urban Quality Assessment to Uplift Sustainable development of the Built Environment. Case Study of AL Rehab Neighborhood

A high-quality built environment is an urban environment that is bound to grow healthy and strong in the turmoil of time and crisis. Egyptian society had always been one that holds values that create a strong urban built environment strongly social and engulfed with the unbreakable bonds of culture and history. But there have never been the proper assessment guidelines for urban quality elements to aid an integrated fully functional sustainable development plan. This research paper presents guidelines for urban quality assessment to uplift sustainable development. Developing countries are in desperate need of new techniques to improve the quality of their urban quality, the lives of people drastically change when they feel like one with their community. The culture and personal needs of the Egyptian urban community should be taken into consideration to improve the quality of urban life.

Assessment of Urban Quality of Life Index at Local Scale with Different Weighting Approaches

Assessment of Urban Quality of Life Index at Local Scale with Different Weighting Approaches

Urban Quality Assessment of Public Housing Estates in Murcia, Spain (Vistabella 1940–1950s, La Paz 1960s, La Fama 1970s). Threats or Opportunities for the Medium-Sized Contemporary City?

The public housing built under the Franco regime in Spain (1939–1975) brought about the largest urban growth in the country’s recent history. It shares similar characteristics with other public housing built in Europe during the 20th century, and today it houses a predominantly multicultural and socioeconomically precarious population. This study analyses and evaluates three estates that make up a new urban axis in the city of Murcia. The objective is to evaluate the benefits and shortcomings of these developments in order to establish rehabilitation plans, which will seek to improve the lives of their inhabitants and enhance their experience of the urban area from environmental, functional and interactive perspectives. The methodology used for this study is based on the application of three systems of indicators in order to obtain a quantitative and qualitative evaluation of each neighborhood. The quantitative analysis evaluates the urban area in terms of environmental sustainability, while the two qualitative systems explore the neighborhoods’ functionality and ability to instil a sense of attachment, and therefore responsibility, among their inhabitants. In its conclusions, the article provides concrete lines of action for updating and regenerating these residential areas that form a significant part of the city of Murcia.

Towards quality of life indicators for historic urban landscapes – Insight into a German-Polish research project

Cultural heritage was long absent from mainstream sustainability debates but its potential to contribute to more liveable, viable and equitable environments is now widely acknowledged. The actual contribution of cultural heritage resources to sustainability and a high level of quality of life for current and future generations is however seldom proven. The presented research initiative addresses this desideratum with a methodological study on how to improve the assessment of urban quality of life by means of indicators that take into consideration cultural heritage resources. The study was undertaken within a binational cooperation project of the programme INTERREG Poland-Saxony 2014–2020 funded by the European Fund for Regional Development (EFRE). Ten historic small and medium-sized towns in the German-Polish border area, that partake in the project REVIVAL! – Revitalisation of historic towns in Lower Silesia and Saxony, serve the research initiative as case study. The article presents the methodological study as an integral part of the project REVIVAL! and illustrates how both intend to leverage the potential of cultural heritage on the basis of integrated landscape management. In the study, urban quality of life studies were analysed and a draft list of cultural heritage related indicators compiled. Contribution of cultural heritage resources to urban quality of life and sustainable development were explored on the basis of desk research, expert consultations and focus group discussions. In the case study, cultural heritage was found to contribute to all three pillars of sustainability and predominantly to socio-psychological dimensions of urban quality of life, if adequately managed.

Urban quality in the city of the future: A bibliometric multicriteria assessment model

Abstract Assessing the quality of urban areas is considered as a difficult task. The main reason lies in the multidisciplinary nature of the field, and in the complexity of components that must be accounted for. This study aims to identify the most discussed topics in literature by weighing the main themes currently under investigation and defining their potential interdependencies. We provide a theoretical and conceptual framework to analyze contributions in literature on urban quality assessment in the city of the future by combining a bibliographic analysis and a multi-criteria approach. In detail, we reviewed literature and implemented a methodological approach, which combines a bibliometric analysis and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). According to the principal keywords “urban quality assessment” and “future city”, we initially identified in SCOPUS database 1024 articles and a selection of most cited sub-keywords. Then we fine-tuned the research according to a sequential approach. We performed a statistical analysis on preliminary results and implemented a relative AHP model to obtain a priority ranking of the most relevant sub-keywords. This approach allows for analyzing articles, by combining multiple keywords with the identification of the degree of relationship among the different sub-keywords with respect to the main topic.

Review of Concepts, Tools and Indices for the Assessment of Urban Quality of Life

The rapid urban growth poses a huge challenge in sustaining the quality of local environment and life characteristics in contemporary cities. There is a growing body of literature on sustainable cities, QoL, livability; yet a transparent and verifiable knowledge on its assessment at the urban scale is both limited and disparate. Very recently, the use of computational models, tools and indices has seen a sudden upsurge in QoL assessment at the city and sub-city level. This research, through an exhaustive review of scientific and policy literature postulates that despite promulgation of numerous and comprehensive indices and tools, yet these demonstrate a great deal of inconsistency and incomparability. This necessitates an investigation into what ought to be the preferred attributes/features of an ideal model, thereby demanding a systematic, transparent and objective appraisal of urban QoL assessment tools used worldwide. Addressing to the above objective, the research examines peer-reviewed papers to derive eight fundamental study criteria (type of dataset, scope or parameters, sample- coverage and unit, approach, technique, model type, interphase and application) that could typically characterizes such tool. It then reviews scientific and policy literature, open-access webpages on the internet to identify a first of its kind, exhaustive inventory of 26 urban QoL models and then critically evaluates these on the basis of the eight study criteria. The ensuing results bring to the fore a plethora of new, interesting and some inconvenient findings, most importantly that not even a single tool captures all the seven theoretical dimensions of QoL. Despite meant to evaluate quality in cities, only few tools conduct qualitative, subjective, bottom-up, GIS based simulation modeling that could effectively be put to use for more public and policy oriented applications. Lastly, the research demonstrates with credible evidence that a majority of tools/index continue to understand the city as a homogenous entity, with limited know-how on the variability of QoL at the neighbourhood level.

Assessing urban quality: a proposal for a MCDA evaluation framework

The paper focuses on the assessment of urban design quality and sustainable urban spaces. In particular, the study is concentrated on the evaluation of urban quality provided by a good design of open spaces, including green areas, walkable areas and squares. In fact, despite the advancement of research during the past two decades and empirical evidence about the relationship among quality of life, quality of open spaces and urban sustainability, there is still a lack of studies on urban quality assessment. This paper brings forward a multidimensional methodology for assessing the quality of open spaces. More precisely, the contribution of this research is the proposal of a multidimensional and multi-methodological framework for assigning a numerical score to the quality of open spaces. The Multi-Attribute Value Theory has been used for addressing the problem under investigation with the aim of defining a synthetic index for the measurement of the urban quality of open spaces on the basis of different attributes, namely (a) accessibility; (b) liveability; (c) vitality and (d) identity. The methodology has been applied on a recently renovated district in the city of Milan, Italy. The proposed multi-methodological framework provides a robust basis for running different kind of analysis and for supporting policy and investment decisions both in the private and in the public sector.

Urban environment quality assessment using a methodology and set of indicators for medium-density neighbourhoods: a comparative case study of Lodi and Genoa

Abstract One of the main issues in urban sustainability and environmental assessment relates to the selection of indicators (SOCCO, 2000), as there are already many international and recognised core sets (DELSANTE, 2007; LEE; CHAN 2009). Nevertheless, specific local contexts are still in need of appropriate, original indicators and indices (MALCEVSCHI, 2004). This paper deals with the urban quality assessment of medium-density neighbourhoods, which typically include dwellings but also public functions, public spaces and urban infrastructure. The evaluation method is based on a set of 74 indicators used within a specific computational method that is based on scores and defined through pairwise comparison matrices (SOCCO, 2003) to convert qualitative and quantitative evaluations into scores (0 to +100). The assessment involved two different urban contexts in the cities of Lodi and Genoa (Italy). It tests if the set can be used in other sites and cities; the results show significant findings and potentialities, but also some limitations. As significant connections have already been found between urban quality and well-being surveys of inhabitants (ORLANDO, 2007), the possibility to act comparatively in different contexts increases overall research potentiality.

Quality of Life Experienced by Human Capital: An Assessment of European Cities

This paper aims to provide an assessment of urban quality of life (QoL) of European cities from the perspective of qualified human resources. The competitiveness of cities relies increasingly in their capacity to attract highly educated workers, as they are important assets for firms when choosing a location. Qualified human resources, on the other hand, tend to value QoL over other urban features. This is why policymakers and urban planners need to evaluate QoL of cities and be provided with tools that can guide action to improvements in this area. We assess urban QoL by means of a composite indicator constructed using data envelopment analysis, based on Urban Audit data and Mercer’s framework of analysis, to give account of 246 European cities. Besides presenting a ranking of the best and the worst scores of QoL, this methodology allows benchmarking strategies.

An assessment of Urban Quality of Life by Using Analytic Hierarchy Process Approach (Case study: Comparative Study of Quality of Life in the North of Iran)

Problem Statement: Researches of quality of life are concentrated mainly on the urban nature in the recent years and the urban quality of life gained many attentions in empirical studies. The concept of urban quality of life is a multi-dimensional and complex issue. So, needless to say that this concept can be used in planning when there is an appropriate and reliable framework for measuring. Approach: The present study tried to create a framework on the base of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for objective measuring of urban quality of life and then it would be applied for a comparative study of two northern cities of Iran. Results: The results showed that using analytic hierarchy process model creates opportunity to involving the different groups’ views of urban users with respect to their duties and functions in the stage of criteria weighting. Conclusion: This process not only provided an appropriate bed for objective measuring of urban quality of life but it facilitated the participation of urban authorities in the process of measuring and analyzing the urban quality. Also one of the advantages of the model was its high level of clarity and simplicity which could be perceived by all urban decision makers.

Inhabitants' and Experts' Assessments of Environmental Quality for Urban Sustainability

In the context of sustainable urban development, we discuss the assessment of residential environmental quality and the importance of considering inhabitants' perceptions of natural resources in urban areas. Two series of studies, conducted in Guildford (United Kingdom) and in Rome (Italy), addressed the correspondence, or contrast, between inhabitants' and experts' assessment of urban quality concerning two crucial natural resources: air quality and biodiversity. The Guildford study emphasized the accuracy of the assessment of urban air quality by experts and the public. The Rome study focused on the evaluative criteria employed by scientists and the public in assessing the quality of urban green spaces. The results from both studies shed more, albeit complex, light on the simple conventional wisdom about public versus expert understanding and assessment of environmental quality. Study implications are discussed for the support of programs, methods, and tools for urban development, particularly with regard to effective communication and better structuring of residents' participation in urban environmental decision making.

Subjective assessment of urban quality of life in Singapore (1997–1998)

Large-scale sample surveys of 1093 and 2187 respondents from 81 census divisions in Singapore were conducted in 1997 and 1998, respectively, to measure overall life satisfaction (or quality of life, QOL) as well as levels of importance and satisfaction towards various aspects of life. It was found that in 1997 the mean QOL score for Singaporeans, or QOL index, was moderately high at 3.61 (using a 5-point Likert scale) but this later dropped by 2% to 3.55 in 1998. On importance and satisfaction of different aspects of life, respondents consistently rated health and family life as more important than other aspects of life, and they were most satisfied with the aspect of family life. Respondents considered aspects of life such as politics, religion and leisure as least important and they were least satisfied with aspects of life such as wealth and consumer goods. The findings can be used by planners for assessing and monitoring the quality of life of Singaporeans, and for identifying related problems and devising policies and strategies.