Abstract
The magnitude increase of Urban Quality of Life studies is directly connected with the increase of the urban population in the world. Urban Quality of Life is a hierarchical multi-attribute concept whose attributes can be defined and evaluated by several kinds of methods such as Monetary (Hedonic Price, Willingness-to-pay, Cost-Benefit, Positional Value), Subjective (life satisfaction, subjective wellbeing, ranking/rating evaluation) and Quantitative (how many urban attractions there are in the city, and how they are distributed on its planimetry). As real examples of monetary approaches, 107 empirical literature results are briefly shown, quantifying the increase of property value in relation to urban factors such as green, open space, noise, public transport, pleasant view, etc. The result of a Willingness-to-Pay survey, and the definition of Positional Value are also shown; it is the part of property value coming from the characteristics of the area in which the property is. An analysis of Turin illustrated that the quality of the area (the Positional Value) can change the value of a property up to 143 %. This value is, in a certain way, a monetary mirror of the quality of life of the areas. As a concrete example of subjective approaches two rating method surveys on Turin are rapidly exposed, as well as a recent subjective wellbeing study comparing the life satisfaction in cities and in the countryside. As quantitative approaches are proposed the concepts of Isobenefit Lines and the Isobenefit Orography, both from the spatial urban amenities distribution and quantity.
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Notes
Part of a research conducted by the author in Turin in 2010 (Politecnico di Torino), and currently under writing process.
The survey was built by the author in 2010 when he researched at Politecnico di Torino.
Age: ‘18–30’ 162, ‘31–50’ 281, ‘51–70’ 66, ‘>70’ 3. Without degree 53, graduated 214, pos-graduated 245.
D’Acci (2012a).
Data from D’Acci (2007).
They were introduced by D'Acci (2012d, e, f) and underlined by the MIT Technology Review as: "Isobenefit Lines rewrite rules for understanding city life. A new way of map** cities according to the benefit they give residents has the potential to change the way planners think about city design. […] In recent years, city planners have begun to place more emphasis on develo** additional centers within cities. So it's increasingly common for a city to have several centers performing different functions. D'Acci's new model is designed to cope with this increased complexity. […] D'Acci's approach is clearly a step forward. He points out that there is a strong correlation between isobenefit lines and property prices. That's a good indication that the model captures some important elements of human behavior" (MIT Technology Review 2012). MIT Technology Review was founded at MIT in 1899.
If we want to consider also the disamenities, U will give some problems. Therefore, for U, we should separately consider amenities and disamenities.
For the next simulation of the social benefit orography of Turin, the non-attractiveness, being constant during the analysed years, will not be considered because, as constant, they will not change the result of the comparison.
We should numerically judge how much an attraction can satisfy its pretension to be an ‘Attraction’ for the majority of citizens. It could be sensible to judge A by referring to the usual, average number of citizens (not tourists) using the attraction and by then comparing each amenity with the best place/s in the city and with the neutral ones. In a similar way, but in different contest and aim, urban economists have often been interested in using population levels as a measure of urban success. High levels of population “tell us that people are voting with their feet to move to a particular place” (Glaeser 2008). There is no doubt about the relativity, and then the validity, of our own preferences also if divergent from other people, or even from the average peoples preferences: that which for a person can be a wonderful attraction, i.e. a shop** mall, for another can be a boring, consumerist place. Idem for the judgment of amenities such as parks, historical areas, and so forth. For this is also proposed another kind of Isobenefit Analysis by the Personal Isobenefit Lines (D’Acci 2012d, e, f).
We can visualize the Breaking point of equal attraction among amenities (which can be personal) as the point at which a marble placed in the Isobenefit surface settles (D’Acci 2012d).
The Positional Value colour legend has been inverted in order to allow a better visual comparison.
For the coefficient of variation of the Property Value it was possible to use the values of a high number of areas for each city thanks to the Gabetti Agency data set. This allows us an excellent measurment of the value spatial distribution. For this coefficient we considered just the most important cities in Italy (Roma, Milano, Napoli, Torino, Genova, Bologna, Firenze, Bari), thinking it is more correct for a comparison with the urban dimension of Turin. The years used are 1997 and 2005 because there are some differences among the urban areas used in the data of 1997 and in 2008, and we would utilize the same values to get a more correct result. The increase for each city is: Roma = +9 %, Milano = −16 %, Napoli = −10 %, Torino = −30 %, Genova = −20 %, Bologna = +68 %, Firenze = −19 %, Bari = −21 %. The outlier considered is Bologna. I want to evidence that the data set of Roma does not give too much assurance because I had had to use just a few areas to have the same areas in 1997 and 2005, because some differences among the data set of Gabetti used during the considered years.
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D’Acci, L. Monetary, Subjective and Quantitative Approaches to Assess Urban Quality of Life and Pleasantness in Cities (Hedonic Price, Willingness-to-Pay, Positional Value, Life Satisfaction, Isobenefit Lines). Soc Indic Res 115, 531–559 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-012-0221-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-012-0221-7