Liveability Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

A state-of-the-art, quantitative systematic review of scientific literature on the theme of multifunctional streets was conducted, including scientific papers of the last 10 years, filtered from Web of Science and Scopus. The review is part of a 3-year research project (2019-2021) named: “Smart streets” (Smarta gator) led by Alexander Ståhle (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) and financed by Vinnova (Swedish governmental agency for Innovation systems). The research project aims to develop a Street Multifunctionality Index (Gatufunktionsindex) to assess how existing and designed streets combine five different street functions - Social, Ecologic, Economic, Technical and Traffic - and also produce design guidelines for the design and planning of future multifunctional streets, either in new infrastructure or via retrofits. Within this project, the aim of the systematic review is twofold: first, to assess the degree in which the multifunctionality of streets is addressed in recent literature and provide an overview of the field by identifying where the general literature on the subject is trending, which are the recurrent issues studied, what themes are missing or being understudied; second, since an end product of the research project is to provide guidelines for urban design and planning practice, the review aims to identify the physical factors which have been empirically proven to support the different street functions, and especially those which support multiple functions. The second aim is pursued through focused thematic reviews, which complement the general overview of the field.

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- Street Design, Liveability, Green streetscape, Pedestrian Safety

Liveability assessments of informal urban settlements are scarce. In India, a number of slum upgrading schemes have been implemented over the last decades aiming at better living conditions. However, these schemes rarely consider improvement in liveability as an explicit criterion, assuming that better physical conditions and the provision of basic services inevitably lead to better liveability. We use Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs) to analyse liveability in four different informal settlements in Pune (India). We compare the liveability by conducting semi-structured interviews with residents and by analysing them in individual and aggregated FCMs. Each settlement represents an archetypical form of the upgradation process: non-upgraded (base case), in-situ upgraded, relocated, and temporary resettlement. The FCMs show that the liveability indicators availability of community space, proximity to public transportation, feeling of belonging, and good relationship with neighbours and community are central elements of these neighbourhoods' liveability. The results suggest that upgradation may lead to an improved overall liveability but can also reduce it if not designed properly. The fostering of community agency, an integration of the neighbourhood into the formal city fabric, and the maintaining of cohesion during the shift from horizontal to vertical living emerged as critical factors. To ensure sustainable integration of liveability considerations in slum upgrading schemes, we suggest using indicators well-adapted to the local context, co-created with local experts and stakeholders, as well as periodic post-occupancy liveability evaluations.

- by Subhashree Nath and +1
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- Research Methodology, Fuzzy Cognitive Maps, Slum upgrading, Liveability

• Green space is needed in central city areas to provide health and wellbeing benefits for current and future residents, commuters and visitors, and increased amenity, liveability and economic benefits. Green spaces also provide ecosystem and resilience benefits that will help mitigate and adapt the city to climate change and other environmental shocks.
• We report here on a detailed study of the provision of public green space in central Wellington City in relation to current and projected future population levels.
• The study focused on the three Census Area Units (CAU) of central Wellington City. These CAUs contain a total of 41.19 ha of public green space. More than half of the central city’s public green space is located not in City parks and gardens but in road reserves or in other non-council areas, and some is of relatively low quality and poorly accessible.
• The amount of green space per capita in each CAU is highest at 41m2 in Thorndon-Tinakori Road CAU, 23m2 in Lambton CAU, and lowest at 6m2 in Willis St-Cambridge Terrace CAU. There is a very significant lack of greenspace within 300m of the population-weighted centre of the Willis St– Cambridge Terrace CAU.
• Green space amount per capita in central Wellington City declines substantially - by half on average - when projected population growth to 2043 for the three CAUs is considered.
• Increasing the total amount, accessibility and quality of green space in the central city will need to be achieved in order to accommodate future population growth and fulfil a vision of “central city green spaces that enhance community and ecosystem health”.
• A central city green space policy that achieves the maximum possible protection and optimal use of current green space, augmented by purchase of additional land in population growth areas, is most likely to meet the needs of residents and visitors, now and in the future.

- by Maibritt Pedersen Zari and +1
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- Green Infrastructure, Density, Public Space, Wellington
- by Lotte Vermeij
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- Volunteerism, Village, Liveability

This paper focuses on public space in the city. It reviews the discourse of urban liveability and aims to explore how public space can be a key drive to archive that. Judging various basic elements that make the city liveable-from healthy and green environments to safe, accessible and well-designed open spaces, from good public transport, connectivity and walkability to recreational opportunities, and so on-many of these are closely related to major public spaces in the city. Further on, the paper tries to suggest several types of public space that may have greater impact on the city and its user, such as main street, promenade, district, transportation hub, (central) market and (central) park. To achieve a livable city 'for all', these types of public space should be truly public-that is, catering for all kinds of users from all walks of life, and fully accessible by all. Through an introduction of several practical urban planning and design projects, the paper demonstrates these types of public space, and shows that public spaces should be planned and designed more attractively and inclusively for all kinds of users. Finally, it briefly makes an overall evaluation across the projects, and explains how local contexts can provide great clues for the urban planning and design concepts. Overall, the arguments and the demonstration projects in this paper show that even small changes can make a difference if they are sensitively planned, designed and implemented to meet expressed community needs, especially with community participation. This kind of approach in urban planning and design paves way towards achieving liveable cities for all in the future.

- by Kien To
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- Public Space, Liveability, Liveable City

Traditional cities emerged and grew according to the residents' needs; thus they were a reflection of the community's culture and traditions. But lately cities have witnessed numerous changes and challenges. Nasr City in Cairo was planned as a suburb in the late sixties to tackle the housing shortage in Cairo. Nasr city's master plan aimed at accommodating modern planning concepts where it featured an abundance of open public spaces when compared to other districts of Cairo. However, these spaces are empty of people most of the time, which detracts from the character and the experiential qualities of the area. This paper aims to explore the way in which the residents of Nasr city envision 'their' public spaces, comprehending the reasons why their usage of such spaces is currently hindered and discovering their recommendations for enhancing public spaces in their neighbourhoods in a way that would encourage them to visit them regularly. In addition, this paper assesses Nasr city's public spaces, in an attempt to bridge the gap between the offered built environment and people's needs. This assessment shall be achieved through the use of questionnaires, observations of people's reactions towards offered public spaces, urban surveys of the provided public spaces and interviews with officials. Based on these studies the paper proposes recommendations incorporating people's needs for a vivid public realm, in order to help planners and officials to understand the malfunctions inherent in modern city planning and management models that have hindered planned public spaces from conveying and fulfilling their role as centres of social interaction.

- by Merham Keleg
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- Liveable Communities, Cairo, Liveability, Liveable City

The last few decades have witnessed increasing trends in urbanization as a global phenomenon. In this regard, the concept of liveability has appeared as elementary for evaluating the degree of living standards of cities. The present review investigates a comparative critical assessment of the existing liveability approaches in urban studies. Based on the assessment, the review concludes that a gap prevails concerning liveability approaches between global cities in different parts of the world.

- by Arpan Paul
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- Cities and globalization/Global cities, Wellbeing, Liveability, Living Standards

With rapid development of cities, there are concerns over sustainability and liveability of cities. People perceive different parts of the city in different ways, since cities are not uniform and parts of it have varying character, densities and growth patterns, which attain varied levels of livability. Various organisations have devised Livability ranking and indices to assess the Liveability of cities. There are several indicators, which can influence the liveability of cities in different geographical regions of the world. This research particularly investigates the parameters in the Indian context and attempts to develop a rationale methodology at the neighborhood scale, since there is no approach at the neighborhood level in the Indian context, which can help to assess the liveability. There is a lack of empirical method to assess the parts of the city, to understand the governing factors influencing the livability. The intent of the paper is to develop framework and methodology to understand residential areas of the city with respect to the quantitative parameters like density, Floor space Index, ground coverage, per capita built up space, open space, land use and people's perception as a qualitative parameter to assess level of liveability. The bottom up approach to assess the liveability of smaller portions of the city can help to formulate Micro indexing of Indian cities for Liveability.

- by Dr. Karteek Guturu
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- Urbanization in Developing Areas, Urbanism, Urban Design, Liveability

A MICRO-SCALE ASSESSMENT MODEL OF WALKABILITY FOR
MORE LIVEABLE CITIES
Walkability, one of the planning and design topics with a rising importance in Turkey and the world, has been recognized as an urban strategy to conserve and regenerate the historic city centres, to create healthy societies and to generate sustainable and liveable cities. In Turkey, it has been seen as a means of increasing the accessibility of people with disabilities to the urban space in the early-2000s. With the onset of the Healthy Nutrition and Active Life Program of Turkey, walkability has been recognized as a way of combatting obesity and promoting healthy life since 2013. Despite these promising advances, it is still questionable how far Turkish cities have been planned and designed in consideration of walkability. This research, focusing on this question, aims to develop a micro-scale assessment model for examining the walkability capacity of urban space. After investigating
the notion of walkability as a component of liveability and quality of life, it describes the measures of the micro-scale ‘walkability’ assessment model and explains in depth the research methodology. Using the historic city centre of Mersin as a pilot study area, it examines the walkability capacity of Ataturk and Uray Streets in detail. In the final section, it discusses the major planning and design strategies that can improve not only walkability capacity of the historic city centre, but also its liveability and quality of life. Additionally, with reference to a rule-based planning and design approach, it underlines the contributions of the model to the current planning practice, and makes a debate on how the model can be used and developed in the future not only for assessing the walkability capacity of urban space, but also for modelling and investigating the alternative urban scenarios to improve liveability and walkability of cities.

- by Züleyha Sara Belge
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- Urban Planning, City planning, Urban Design, Walkability

Denmark regards affordable housing of quality as a critical duty of the its welfare state for all of its citizens. The Danish interpretation of social housing is called Almen bolig, and it can more appropriately be defined as " non-profit rental housing " in the Danish context. The social housing stock in the country is of critical importance as it consists relatively deprived settlements and vulnerable communities. Gyldenrisparken in Copenhagen is one of those settlements built in 1970s. Nevertheless, in time, it had become one of so-called 'ghetto's. Fortunately, a regeneration process was undertaken in the last decade through comprehensive master planning and collaboration of various stakeholders. This study describes a methodology developed to comprehend the physical implementation steps taken during the project towards a sustainable and liveable settlement. It utilizes a matrix as a tool to categorize these actions. The matrix provides the possibility to evaluate the actions according to " sustainability " goals, " scale " , and some pre-defined " spatial concepts ".

- by Burak Bican
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- Architecture, Regeneration, Urban Regeneration, Transformational Leadership

‘Liveability’ continues to attract considerable attention internationally, in the media, among urban policy-makers, and from academics. In this paper, we extend consideration of liveability beyond the elite, professional migrants who are the primary target of inter-urban competition to low-wage migrants in two different urban contexts in Asia. Drawing upon narratives of South Asian men in Dubai and Singapore, we highlight friendship and sociality as vital components of quality of life – in emotional and affective as well as practical or material terms. We highlight investments in spaces, times and technologies of friendship, and also in cultures of welcome and hospitality, as key ways of extending urban liveability. While recognizing important critiques of liveability as seemingly irredeemably bound up with neoliberal inter-urban competition, we consider how such competitiveness and the ‘discursive power’ (McCann, 2004) of liveability may be steered towards the making of more welcoming and friendly cities.

- by Laavanya Kathiravelu
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- Ethnography, Singapore, Migration Studies, Friendship

This paper focuses on the concept of university campus form, aiming at exploring
the sustainability and liveability parameters in relation to campus form.
The research intends to provide a theoretical framework to evaluate physical and
morphological dimensions of campus form which affect sustainability and liveability
of campus setting and surrounding urban context. The study primarily has
conducted an extensive literature review on the subjects of sustainability, liveability,
urban form, and university campus physical features. Then, it has done a content
analysis of fifty university campus masterplans, selected from throughout the
world to identify common strategies, and actions of campus development plans.
Afterward, it has identified the principal criteria which influence the sustainability
and liveability of campus form. To evaluate the university precincts according
to the proposed set of criteria, a Histology Atlas of Campus Form has been developed
which provides a model to measure each morphological dimension of
campus according to a 3-point Likert scale system. The developed model has been
applied to case studies to assess their performance. The ultimate objective of this
study is to investigate the campus form attributes on the ability to generate liveability
and sustainability.

- by Hani RAZAVI FARD and +1
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- Liveability, University Campuses, Sustainability

/ Poster Design by Emine Köseoğlu

Since the 1960s, new town developments within large metropolises have been widely adopted to decongest the city centres, especially in Asian cities. This paper provides a brief account of the liveability dimensions of two new townships developed in large metropolitan areas: Senri New Town in Osaka and Purbachal New Town in Dhaka. The study primarily draws on master plans of the two developments to identify how the components of the plans reflect the physical, social, functional and safety dimensions of a proposed liveability framework. The methodology combines a review of masters plans with scholarly and grey literature on the two new town developments. The findings show while the social and functional dimensions are integrated with Senri New Town; Purbachal New Town, though more recent, appears to have missed opportunities for diversifying density, social mix and mass transit. The paper concludes that the comparative case, Senri-New Town provides insights on how public-private people participation can leverage citizen-centred design for more liveable residential living environments in developing cities.

- by Hourakhsh A Nia and +2
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- Dhaka, Osaka, Liveability, New Town Development

Streets are the most important element of the urban environment. They are where people go to work, walk and engage in social activities. Streets represent a significant component of users' mental image of their cities. Designing streets to encourage walkability is a major topic in urban design discourse. Studies show that enhancing the urban environment may encourage walkability, especially in streets designed and built for cars. Many researchers have considered how to provide users with such memorable experiences. However, most studies have mainly evaluated gross qualities, such as neighborhood density, street connectivity, and the distance to parks. Individually, such gross qualities may not explain much about the experience of walking down a particular street. Specifically, they do not capture people’s overall perceptions of the street environment. Other urban studies point to subtler qualities that affect the perception of users and influence walkability, including “Imageability- Enclosure, and others". This research used a technique developed by The Active Living Research Program to study and evaluate five urban qualities in five mixed-use streets in the city of Jeddah.

- by alshimaa aboelmakarem
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- Landscape, Urban Design, Walkability, Liveability

Arts are the main human expression encouraging man to expose his practices, ideas, and fears. This in turn affects and shapes his environment, an environment which keeps evolving into cities. Nowadays, human expression through art is playing a major role in the development of the urban landscape by shifting the old-fashioned paradigms of the rigid and static urban structuring and development, especially with the new urban trends floating on the surface. The case study of the Medina of Tunis is a paradigmatic example that illustrates the bottom-up approach of social participation in urban life through art. The research question asked here is to what extent has the artistic practices been influencing the urban development of the city's user experience? Can this be regarded as a necessary tool for the regeneration of the historical urban landscape? First, a general overview of urban development and the influence of the artistic practices have been presented. Issues such as urban transformation are highlighted. The second part exposes specific examples of artistic manifestations influencing public spaces and urban life in the studied example of the Medina of Tunis. The next step is about elaborating the main examples in their context in the form of case studies. The analysis of these case studies directs towards the outcomes and conclusions regarding the impact of artistic practices in changing the way a city is perceived, used and designed.

- by Sarah Ben Salem
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- Cultural Heritage, Urban Art, Urban Public Open Space, Art in public space

In the Dutch policy discourse it is increasingly thought that active citizenship will positively affect satisfaction with the living environment. This article challenges this assumption by examining whether and how volunteering in village life and individual perceptions of liveability are interrelated. Through a series of hierarchical regressions, we found that having the opportunity to volunteer in village life is not a significant pre-dictor of perceived liveability. Moreover, by classifying rural inhabitants as non-participants, nominal participants and active participants in volunteering in village life, we determined that active residents evaluate liveability less positively than the other two groups. Accordingly, determinants other than volunteering and active citizenship are better able to predict perceived liveability, although the specific variables differ for each group of rural inhabitants. This suggests that governments overestimate both the willingness of rural residents to volunteer and the benefits of becoming active in village life.

- by Joost Gieling and +1
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- Volunteering, Rural studies, Liveability

- by Merham Keleg
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- Public Space, Urban Public Open Space, Needs Analysis, Liveable Communities

The growth of high-rise developments raises questions about how the emotional and social leisurescape of the city is evoked, produced and represented. In this article, we examine how advertising images and texts promoting new high-rise developments produce notions of ‘liveability’ through the depiction of idealized spatial experiences that typify urban leisure lifestyles. The focus of our analysis is three high-rise developments in Brisbane, a self-proclaimed ‘New World City’, and the capital of Queensland in Australia's northeast. We identify how marketing images evoke particular emotions to construct desirable relationships between consumers, domestic space and urban leisurescapes. Our analysis revealed social tensions between different constructions of the liveable city and the implications for leisure planning. While Brisbane City Council sought to be inclusive in its planning for urban liveability, developers imagined urban renewal projects through exclusive lifestyle practices and normalized consumer identities (white, middle class, heterosexual, without children).

- by Simone Fullagar and +1
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- Real Estate, Urban Geography, Space and Place, Recreation & Leisure Studies

Preventing sprawl and concentrating future urban growth at transit centres, typifies many urban planning strategies in a number of Australian, New Zealand and North America cities. Newer iterations of these strategies also argue that compact development delivers public benefits by enhancing urban ‘liveability’ through good urban design outcomes. Where neoliberal economic conditions prevail, achieving these aims is largely dependent on market-driven development actions requiring the appropriate urban planning responses to ensure these outcomes. However, there are growing concerns that urban planning approaches currently used are not effectively delivering the quality urban design outcomes expected and enhancing residents’ liveability. This paper reports on an evaluation of three medium density housing developments located in areas designated for intensification in Auckland, New Zealand. Examined is the extent to which the development outcomes are aligned with the statutory urban planning requirements for quality urban design. The results indicated contradictions and points to limitations of the statutory planning system to positively influence quality outcomes, leading to enhanced residents’ experiences.

- by Hourakhsh A Nia
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- Urban Design, Intensification, Urban consolidation, Liveability

Hong Kong’s economic position has been driven in the last decades by a high density land development model relying on a mass transit network combined with a real estate value-capture system. This high-rise living model raises questions of liveability, social equity
and resilience. The Hong Kong 2030+ Plan requires more space: Can this go on for ever or is a paradigm shift needed? Having inspired Vancouver, Shanghai and Beijing, will the City-State, under tight control by Beijing, remain a reference for other cities in the future?

- by Alain Chiaradia
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- Hong Kong, Liveability, hyper density, governance by design

En este texto se presenta un marco de trabajo inicial de lo que entendemos como una teoría del diseño basada en los lenguajes de patrones. Esta teoría del diseño se incluye dentro de una reflexión más amplia sobre las condiciones de habitabilidad de nuestra especie. Reflexión que denominamos “filosofía del habitar o de la habitabilidad”. Con ese objetivo, recuperamos algunas de las investigaciones del arquitecto y urbanista Christopher Alexander. Argumentamos a favor de una pequeña corrección del modelo que él propone para analizar los patrones. Complementamos esta reflexión reclamando pensar el diseño dentro de una teoría de las necesidades (Max-Neef) y un enfoque basado en procesos (Reschel). Todo ello acuerdo con una perspectiva que asume rigurosamente los límites biofísicos del planeta. Se trata, por tanto, de avanzar en un programa de investigación sobre el diseño de habitabilidades ecológicamente viables.

- by Antonio Hidalgo
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- Design, Design Patterns, Ecology, Urban Ecology

Current studies on the design of mega floats focus on engineering and scientific aspects such as stability, strength and safety. Emphasis is on sustainability issues while live ability aspects have not been given sufficient attention. The current study aims to identify the live ability factors for the design of long term habitable mega floats. Data on perception of potential inhabitants has been collected using questionnaires and statistically analyzed. 57.0% of the respondents are 21 to 40 years of age, 50.30% are employed and 53.9% are related to marine industry. The respondents are jointly agree (mean value 4.33 ~ 4.56) that some important live ability factors to be considered are social environment, physical environment, functional facilities and services, safety environment, resources sustainability, information and communication system, economic sustainability and governance. The result reveals that safety environment is the most important factor with correlation to the rest of the factors accounts an average Pearson r 2 value of 0.78. The second most important is functional facilities and service factors with average r 2 of 0.75 and the joint third most important are resources sustainability factor, economic sustainability factor and information and communication system factor. Safety environment pairs itself strongly with resources sustainability with r 2 value of 0.89. The study concludes that for the sake of live ability, safety and resources sustainability must be given great emphasis when designing and operating mega floats.

- by Dr Sunarsih
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- Liveability

Today, 3 billion people which is more than half of the world population live on coastal areas including waterfront lines all around the earth. The projection for the next two decades points out around 6.4 billion people who prefer or force to live in coastal areas due to various reasons. Constantly increasing pressure on coastal areas and waterfront lines have brought out environmental problems.Irreversible losses of coastal area sources due to environmental damages pertaining from land use policies and practices have oriented many countries to move for taking
measures. This movement has developed the "sustainability" term for coastal areas and waterfront lands. Different approaches and policies have been developed and applied in order to limit the land use on waterfront lines, prevent from irreversible damages, protect public welfare during land use, and prevent from waterfront speculations. Turkey is surrounded by sea from three sides and this geographical location defines the country as a peninsula. The total length of coastal line is about 8.333.

- by Tolga Özden
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- Landscape Architecture, Environmental Sustainability, Liveability, Liveable cities

- by Gianna Stavroulaki
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- Street Design, Liveability, Green streetscape, Pedestrian Safety

How the rating works:
The concept of liveability is simple: it assesses which locations around the world provide the best or the worst living conditions. Assessing liveability has a broad range of uses, from benchmarking perceptions of development levels to assigning a hardship allowance as part of expatriate relocation packages. The Economist Intelligence Unit’s liveability rating quantifies the challenges that might be presented to an individual’s lifestyle in any given location, and allows for direct comparison between locations.
Author: The Economist Intelligence Unit

- by Oscar Blanco-Sanchez
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- Survey Research, Liveability

Cities are widely considered to be the engines of economic growth, as they contribute for more than 70% of global economy. However, the haphazard urbanisation trends are today resulting in widespread problems of urban sprawl, pollution, housing, crime and disaster and so on. While India is one of the least urbanised large developing countries of the world, the country is witnessing rapid urbanisation (projected to add 404 million of urban population by 2050). However, the associated problems are impacting the liveability of the cities in India. In light of that, this study aims to evaluate the liveability of Tier-1 cities of India. In reference to the existing literature, eleven key indicators have been identified for the evaluation of liveability. For the ease of analysis, these indicators are broadly clustered under five categories, that is, health, environment, transport, geography and socio-economy. The correlation analysis between the indicators and the number of Covid-19 cases in selected cities of India reveal a significant relationship between the individual categories such as 'quality of life' and 'health index'.

- by Kamakshi Thapa and +1
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- Urbanization, Liveability, Liveable cities, COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Traditional cities emerged and grew according to the residents’ needs; thus they were a reflection of the community’s culture and traditions. But lately cities have witnessed numerous changes and challenges. Nasr City in Cairo was planned as a suburb in the late sixties to tackle the housing shortage in Cairo. Nasr city’s master plan aimed at accommodating modern planning concepts where it featured an abundance of open public spaces when compared to other districts of Cairo. However, these spaces are empty of people most of the time, which detracts from the character and the experiential qualities of the area. This paper aims to explore the way in which the residents of Nasr city envision ‘their’ public spaces, comprehending the reasons why their usage of such spaces is currently hindered and discovering their recommendations for enhancing public spaces in their neighbourhoods in a way that would encourage them to visit them regularly. In addition, this paper assesses Nasr city’s pu...

- by Melda Acmaz Ozden
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- Urban Waterfronts, Liveability

There will never be one definition for the concept of Urban Liveability, and due to the controversial nature of this topic there will be constant debates about the best process to measure it. The most common methods used to measure urban liveability, are the Mercer Index and the Quality-of-Life index. This paper explores the idea of how urban liveability is affected by The University of Pretoria, specifically in the Hatfield area. The University of Pretoria has always had a large impact on the economy and development of the areas which surround it. When the number of student enrolments increases there is a need for more accommodation, this then becomes a main driver for the increased construction. This research project attempts to explain how the residents in Hatfield are affected by the University of Pretoria, the constant development and influx of students.

- by Kayleigh Duncan
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- Urban Geography, Liveability, Liveable City

Ongoing changes in the urban environment have renewed interest in the transformation of cities and suburbs as liveable places. This article examines the limitations inherent in a functional (objective) notion of liveability that commonly underpins government policy directions. Through an examination of key debates in the literature we consider how the delivery of the social (subjective) dimension of liveability, linked to community, social interaction and social cohesion, poses unique challenges for policy makers, urban planners and developers. We argue for a deeper understanding of the social constructs of liveability that acknowledges the complexity of changing urban environments in contemporary society.

- by Simone Fullagar and +1
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- Urban Planning, Urban Studies, Urban Sociology, Community

Qatar has witnessed a rapid development in urbanism within the last few decades especially after the oil discovery. Modern style projects have been imported to the country in-order to reflect aluxurious image. The Fareej (traditional Gulf) neighbourhood has almost disappeared and a modern lifestyle has replaced it. The Pearl Island in Qatar was one of these luxury projects contributing to the new impression. However, its social spaces lack social interaction, cohesion and vibrancy; thus, the space is less attractive except to a select group of people. Visitors are quick to notice the absence of social activities in the area, which reduces the liveability of the place. This paper focuses on investigating the social spaces of Pearl, Qatar to provide insight into what is missing and how the space could be revitalized to improve the quality of the space for users. Some recommendations are suggested to serve this aim. The paper in conclusion notes that the usage of the space can be optim...

- by Raffaello Furlan
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- Sociology, Social Interaction, Urban Planning, Identity (Culture)

In recent years, a number of liveability and benchmarking indices and studies have been published to assess the relative position of various ‗global cities ‘ against each other in various categories. These liveability measures are typically used as a tool to make comparisons between cities with various outcome ‗scores ‘ receiving widespread media attention. Results are increasingly publicised by cities that score highly, particularly to secure business and human capital, and by companies to determine remuneration and conditions for expatriates. In Australia, there has been considerable attention devoted to focusing more on the general quality-of-life of a city from the perspective of existing citizens under the guise of ‗liveability‘. There is growing evidence that such measures are being taken up increasingly by larger urban local governments to track progress in improving elements of liveability in the community. However, to date, there is no established theoretical framework or u...

- by Geoffrey Woolcock
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- Key words, Social Planning, Liveability, Community wellbeing

The inherent conflict between the residential amenity and traffic access functions of local streets causes debate on what constitutes a true "local" road. The concept of "environmental capacity" was developed to identify a suitable maximum traffic volume on such local streets. It was first introduced by Buchanan and Appleyard in separate research in the 1960's. Both authors settled on broad-brush traffic thresholds of 2,000-3,000 vehicles per day. Since then, other research has relied heavily on the original Buchanan and Appleyard findings; this paper investigates that presumption in the present day. A residents' survey was applied to four "local" streets with varying traffic volumes in Christchurch, New Zealand. Residents living on those streets with higher volumes felt that their streets were busier, noisier and less safe. There was also an increasing trend for residents along higher volume streets to have their houses turned away from the str...

- by Glen Koorey
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- Town planning, Liveability, Environmental Capacity

Denmark regards social housing as a crucial tool for its welfare state and, thus, there is strict governmental control at national and local levels over the sector. For years, this sector has strived to keep the quality of existing stock through renovation, transformation, and/or complex regeneration activities. In addition, new settlements are recently built or integrated into larger urban development projects. For one following the recent spatial practices of social housing in Denmark, a pursuit for sustainability and liveability is evident. Based on a review of systems, policies and regulations circumscribing the Danish social housing sector, the current study questions how the underlying mechanisms control the spatial decisions related to social housing, how planning regulations, governmental policies address its practice and spatial quality and how the sector’s historical evolution are all interrelated. In this sense, the present article discusses how such seemingly dispersed elements connect to each other to shape a sustainable future for social housing. Emphasising significant historical and social facts, this article provides a structured contextual outline of the Danish approach to social welfare and housing market, while highlighting critical local, national and international principles in place to secure the future and the quality of urban space within social housing settlements in the country. To this end, reference will be made to the discoveries of local actors, which render social housing a practical tool, in that a social housing settlement can be durable and affordable once it is built for liveability to secure future demand; that enhancing spatial quality can be a dependable means to regenerate an estate through holistic and participatory approaches; that new social housing can be instrumentalized to arrange social mix by innovative planning and architecture; and that architectural quality has the potential to transform a building into a self-promoting investment. The study concludes that the history of socio-economic survival in Denmark works hand in hand with that of social housing, which has been a means of sharing and cohabitation under the severe and unexpected circumstances of national economy and unrest. Moreover, in line with the expansion of the Danish economy, success of regenerative trials in recent years, and the growth of qualified architectural know-how, the sector has found its sustainability in further promoting spatial quality.

- by Burak Bican
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- Design, Architecture, Urban Planning, Housing

The physical formation of city, where all members of society live, is created by non-living and tangible elements such as buildings, roads, public squares, and vegetation. On the other hand, city acquires meaning by the existence of citizens, who reinvigorate it, their behaviours within the city and the interactions between them as well as with the city. The more the citizens are actively present in the streets, the more the city is a vivid and living place. There are many studies on vitality and liveability in urban spaces. In this study, urban vitality is defined according to the information gathered from previous researches. By scrutinizing the definitions of vitality made by Lynch and Jacobs, who are leading figures in the subject of research, social interaction, sense of belongingness, and security, inclusion of different functions, transformability, aesthetics and accessibility were identified as criteria determining the urban vitality. As a result of the study, it is asserted that the cities which bear these qualifications are liveable and vivid places which can maintain their existence.

- by Avanti Publisher and +1
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- Architectural Engineering, Architecture, Urban Planning, Urban Studies
- by Müge Akkar Ercan
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- Architecture, Urban Planning, City planning, Urban Design
- by Kathleen Lloyd
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- Urban Geography, Space and Place, Recreation & Leisure Studies, Urban Planning

Abstract: Cities throughout the world are currently experiencing increased levels of urbanisation resulting in pressure for densification. Questions about the impact on mental health and general liveability are being raised in response to very dense developments proposed in many cities including Melbourne, Australia. In some cases, high density towers in close proximity are proposed with anticipated ‘views’ facing directly into other residential towers. Though not a problem for ‘off-the-plan’ investors, ongoing users may be impacted, potentially not able see water, any form of vegetation or even glimpse the sky.
As city densities increase, ‘view-quality’ becomes increasingly important. There is a growing need for tools which can quantify how much water, sky or vegetation can be seen from each dwelling to assess and guide the form of development.
This paper explores a new analysis and design approach which perverts light simulation modelling within animation and game production software, combined with Java based raster image-processing software ImageJ, to calculate the quality of view from within buildings at a precinct scale.
This approach results in the quantification of view-quality based on visual access to these specific elements either separately or simultaneously. The approach can weight view elements depending on preference using different weighting. Existing urban morphology can be assessed, as can potential urban form of proposed developments.
The approach could be used by urban designers and planners when setting up precinct design guidelines to respond to the ‘visual amenity’ aspect of liveability; by architects and developers during design process; by mental health researchers exploring benefits of water, vegetation and sky views. The approach also has potential for application at ground level in assessing the visual amenity of streets as a contributing factor of walkability.

- by Marcus White
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- Urban Design, Urban Modelling, Liveability, Sky View Factor
- by Marcus White
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- Urban Design, Urban Modelling, Liveability, Sky View Factor

Exploring liveabilities as more than survival, this commentary underscores how survival remains important in these #COVIDtimes. Discussing our privileges and resistances as queer women with various intersectionalities, we offer... more

- by Kath Browne
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- Transnational Feminism, Liveability, COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Challenges in good urban life:
high density city and volumetric urban design
liveability and well being

- by Alain Chiaradia
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- Liveability, High density, Volumetric urban design, Incremental regeneration