Spatiotemporal modelling of urban quality of life (UQoL) using satellite images and GIS

ABSTRACT

In modern cities, life is primarily formed in interaction with various environmental, social, economic, infrastructural, hygienic, safety, political and cultural conditions. Urban quality of life (UQoL) is the result of such interactions. In general, both objective and subjective approaches are used in the study and modelling of UQoL. So far the studies have been conducted in forms of social and large-scale geographical studies mainly ignoring spatial differences of quality of life (QoL) in complicated urban environments. Moreover, QoL as one of the attributes of geographical environment is a dynamic and variable concept which has received little attention. Spatiotemporal modelling of this concept can contribute to monitoring the UQoL and planning for its improvement. The current study aims to develop a method for spatiotemporal modelling of UQoL. For this purpose, multi criteria decision making (MCDM) method and fuzzy logic are used. Moreover, given the variability of some indicators, temporal modelling of UQoL was conducted based on snapshot method in seasonal scale. In order to evaluate the proposed procedure, modelling of QoL was done at urban blocks scale in regions 3, 6, and 11 of Tehran, Iran. The results show the existence of a fairly regular pattern as an increase in desirability of UQoL from south to north of the area. The seasonal changes of UQoL show the improvement of environmental condition in spring and autumn compared to winter and summer. The result of sensitivity analysis shows the reliability of the modelling results. Since the effect of inputs on the fuzzy gamma output (2.5%) are less than the corresponding amount in VIKOR-fuzzy method (48%), it can be concluded that the output of fuzzy-gamma is more reliable.

Acknowledgments

This study supported by the Tehran urban planning and research centre (department of social and economic studies); a research institute in Tehran, Iran [grant number 137/60749]. Authors are especially indebted to USGS for satellite imagery, Iranian statistic centre for census data, Tehran municipality for noise, air pollution and traffic data and all scientists and experts who have been supportive of this research for application work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Tehran urban planning and research center [137/60749];