‘The City and Quality of Life’ is published by Elgar Publishing Limited. The author, Peter Karl Kresl, is Professor Emeritus of Economics and International Relationships at Bucknell University, USA and the Co-founder and Past President of the Global Urban Competitiveness Project. His recent experience as Chief Expert for the High-quality Development Research Institute of China and as a research consultant for the Guangzhou Urban Strategy Institute, inspired the book ‘The City and Quality of Life’. The subject of the book is the role and importance of the city on quality of life; it describes the consequences of quality of life on three aspects: happiness, competitiveness, and the economy. It discusses how the evolution of an economy affects various working population groups and analyses how certain health behaviours (alcoholism, suicide and drug use) are increased by drastic economic changes, such as the rapid transition from an industrialised era to that of robotics, computerization and advanced communication transforming the production of goods and services. The book refers to the recent coronavirus pandemic and how, altering the classic office job to remote work, it impacted public transport, housing conditions, and the attractiveness of living in a city, as well as the sets of skills required to adapt to new living conditions and job demands. The overall message is that, in light of recent economic changes, quality of life has become ever more important for contemporary cities.
The book is structured into 8 chapters. The introductory chapter describes the importance of the quality of urban life, while the second one elaborates the contemporary analysis of quality of life. They describe how, in the past, economists were not concerned with quality of life (QoL) as a variable, but, nowadays, have started recognizing its contribution to human wellbeing, friendship, collegiality, and other non-material aspects of social interaction. The author acknowledges that many of these variables are not quantifiable and proposes six pillars defining ‘urbanite happy’, including a variety of amenities within 15-minutes cycling of one’s home, diversity, inclusivity and business climate. The pillars draw on the work of other authors through different approaches to assessing quality of life at different scales (nation and city level).
In the third chapter, the author describes the impact that quality of life has on an urban economy, its competitiveness, its cohesion, its relationship to firms in the private sector and to categories of the labour force. At the national level it presents the notion of Gross National Happiness index as opposed to Gross National Product. At the level of the city, attention is drawn to the everyday amenities and the impact that increased income has on housing, working conditions, wellbeing, education and leisure, urban transport and the “sprawl” effect that has dominated most large cities. Three approaches to measuring quality of life are presented: 1) based on social indicators, health and medical facilities available, public security and crime; 2) measures of the perception of subjective well-being as expressed by individuals; and 3) economic indices that include items such as income, prices and unemployment. The author critically discusses how the three should be treated in unison for an accurate understanding of quality of life, referring to the city as an actor in a competitive world economy and not just an entity where things happen, thus focusing on what quality of life can do for cities’ economies.
Within the fourth chapter, the author firstly describes the nature and the structure of a city’s economy (and its branding), which is dependent upon specific industries that can be linked to elements of quality of life. Secondly, he discusses the degrees of freedom that a city will have in selecting a branding strategy, arguing how quality of life can have an impact on the city’s long-term sustainability, its relationship with national government and with other cities. Finally, the author reviews the concept of ‘degrowth’ and how this might affect quality of life by presenting the case studies of Chicago and Pittsburgh and how they restructured from heavy manufacturing to meatpacking, retail and service economies, arguing that GDP should not be the only economic indicator and that a better measure might be the Genuine Progress Indicatory (GPI), designed to measure wellbeing rather than just output. Quality of life is depended on a city’s assets and is measured by the UN City Prosperity Index, including five dimensions: productivity, infrastructure, quality of life, equity and social inclusion, and environmental sustainability. Branding is a tool to increase competitiveness but also ‘a wide-ranging strategic choice that includes the place’s internal and external customers and users and its economic, social and cultural consequences’.
Chapter five addresses the issues of age distribution and demographics and how they affect quality of life. A variety of factors, such as fertility and mortality rates, mobility, age distribution, ethnicity, religious beliefs, and sexual orientation might influence the economy and community life. Demographics might impact economies in different ways; the author analyses the impact of eight aspects of demography: 1) migration, 2) age distribution, 3) ageing, 4) population growth rate, 5) population size, 6) religion, 7) racial composition and tension and 8) sexual identification. The author highlights the fact that demographics can create conflict and tension among cities’ residents: from the reasons behind and perceptions of migration, to the cost-benefits of an ageing society and the pressures posed by population growth on amenities, housing prices, etc. The issue of an optimal city size is discussed in relation to how population size and make-up affects the functioning of neighbourhoods and social cohesion, and the impact this has on quality of life, arguing that progress in matters of co-existence of varied population groups would lead to major improvements in the QoL of city residents.
Chapter six elaborates the seven urban attributes that have an impact on quality of life of a city’s residents and how they may positively or negatively impact QoL: 1) civic pride, 2) image of the city, 3) architecture, 4) imaginative spaces, that is, parks and waterfronts, 5) optimal size 6) isolation or connectedness and 7) effective government. The chapter further discusses the ‘broken window’ phenomenon and the role of architecture in quality of life, drawing attention to the importance of equal opportunities, especially for the younger generations. The author argues that effective governance plays a significant role in quality of life of the urban environment, highlighting how citizen participation in decision-making to identify problems, debate issues and generate ideas can lead to effective solutions through creativity, which local governance on its own may not be able to achieve.
In chapter seven the author delves into urban amenities, defined as ‘a pleasant useful feature’ or ‘pleasantness of a place’. He establishes 8 amenities that are central to quality of life: 1) congenial neighbourhoods (friendly and safe), 2) social services, 3) good public education, 4) access to recreation facilities, 5) cultural institutions, 6) municipal transportation, 7) public security and 8) suitable or quality housing. Here the author widens the question of ‘amenities’, arguing that climate should be included in the debate on QoL, but has usually been neglected, and addresses the issue of what amenities are most necessary or desired by different population groups, arguing that policy should aim toward equity with regards to residents’ experience of a positive urban quality of life. Lastly, the author discusses the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy and quality of life. He highlights the vital role that cities play in the functioning of the global economy but also how inadequacies in healthcare, housing and education have been brought to the fore, using the example of Chicago to discuss the exacerbation of inequalities.
The book concludes with chapter eight, discussing various potential events that may influence the future of quality of life in cities and what are the major issues and challenges that the pandemic has highlighted, as well as what cities should be focusing on, referring to specific social issues such as discrimination, healthcare, higher-education, inequalities, public transportation and the physical environment. The book brings a new and original perspective on the quality of urban life and the various issues and challenges that future generations will face and need to address in order to thrive in an urban environment. The City and Quality of Life is essential reading for policy makers whishing to understand how to implement quality of life for their citizens, as well as a useful reference for academics and students in economics, geography and urban studies.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Daphne Kleopa
Daphne Kleopa is a Ph.D. candidate at Cyprus University of Technology. Her Ph.D. research is about the development of the Cy-NOTes (Cyprus Neighborhood Observational Tool for community) that aims to measure environmental inequities within the City urban environment as well as identifying differences in the Health related Quality of Life. She holds also a degree in BSc (Hons) Bioscience Nutrition, MSc International Public Health Nutrition and an MSc in Epidemiology and Biostatistics.