Subjective Assessment of Urban Quality of Life Indices, Case Study: Yazd, 2011-2012

Urban quality of life represents more than the private “living standards” and refers to all the elements of the conditions in which people live, that is, all their needs and requirements. In economic literature, urban quality of life is usually assessed through the standard revealed-preference approach, which defines a QOL index as the monetary value of urban amenities. This paper proposes an innovative methodology to measure urban QOL with special highlight on subjective criteria. According to this methodology, urban QOL is usually measured through subjective criteria resulted from monitoring and assessing citizens’ perceptions from and satisfaction with urban life or using objective criteria derived from secondary data and it is rarely assessed using both of these two criteria. This methodology is applied to derive QOL indices for the city of Yazd. In this study, 400 families were selected from among the chosen neighborhoods using two-step clustering method. Statistical methods such as factor analysis, Friedman test and Kruskal–Wallis were used for measuring and comparing residents’ satisfaction with life quality indices. The results of the studies showed that satisfaction level with quality of life in Yazd was at a relatively low level. On the other hand, the highest dissatisfaction rate of the residents of Yazd was with utility, facilities, services and transportation. It can be concluded that appropriate strategies should be considered separately in each of the mentioned fields in order to promote the QOL in city of Yazd.