Quality of Life Defining a Quality of Life Model Issues in Analysing Quality of Life Social Accounting: The Roots of Quality of Life Analysis Quality of Life: Indicators in the City Patterns of Quality of Life in Cities Conceptual Models of Quality of Life - The Aggregate Satisfaction Model - The Gap Theoretic Approach In Summary

Defining A Quality of Life Model Contributors to QOL: Available resources. Available opportunities. Available environments. Attitudes towards resources, opportunities and environments. Constraints to QOL: Socio-economic constraints. Ethnic constraints. Lifestyle status constraints. Access to political power constraints. Environmental quality constraints. Quality of life is some function of these contributors and constraints.

Issues in Analysing Quality of Life 1.Are all attributes equal in weight? 2.What is the function? Do the attributes sum, multiply? Both? 3.What variables could we use to measure the attributes? 4.What do people perceive as being a constraint or contributor? 5.Are the attributes consistent across all geographic scales? 6.Are the attributes consistent across time? 7.Do people value attributes equally? 8.What exactly is quality of life?

The Roots of QOL Analysis QOL has been a concern since cities were invented because they provide the best and the worst of what’s on offer in life. Thomas Moore, Ebenezer Howard, Dickens, Booth and many others wrote about the dark side of cities. The 1960s brought the concern to a scientific level: Attitudes changed. Data, expertise, computing began to become available. The good, bad and ugly about cities could be analysed. Increasing awareness that livable cities are ones that are easier to govern. But has come at a time when economic constraints are becoming profound.

Ebenezer Howard’s Three Magnets. The differing characteristics, bad and good, of the town, the country and his idea of the mixed town-country that would have only the good. People would benefit from living in a mix of town and country or in the Garden City

Charles Booth’s Poverty Maps of London, 1899

Detail from one of the poorest areas.

London Poverty and Health 2012 and 1899 Incidence of type 2 diabetes 2012 Incidence of malnutrition 1899

London Poverty 2012 and 1889 And the reason why…

Manchester Riots and Index of Deprivation,

Early Epidemiology - Dr. John Snow’s Map of cholera deaths and the Broad Street Pump

Toronto’s “Three Cities”

Quality of Life Indicators Socio-economic: Socio-economic status. Demographic profiles. Basic health indicators. Crime rates. Availability of and access to public programs. Etc. Built and physical environments Quality and quantity of housing stock. Availability of and access to public facilities. Transportation infrastructure Etc. Such approaches have positive and negative aspects.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly about QOL Indicators The Good They identify gaps and needs in a community/nation. They can provide measurable remedial action to improve people’s lives. They can provide objective and comparable data with which to measure progress and change. The Bad What is good for one group is not necessarily good for another, resulting in a decrease in their QOL. Worse, what is necessary for the improved QOL of one group may require decreased QOL for others. The Ugly What variables measure QOL anyway? Do we have the right ones? Are they independent or co-dependent such that changes are interrelated and possibly counter productive?

What’s Been Used Most QOL analyses and rankings have been based on multiple variables, and some on sophisticated factor analyses of these variables. But there are some very good single variables that are good indicators on their own due to the underlying attributes that give rise to them. One such variable is infant mortality, which is a very good correlate of levels of development due to the fact that high infant mortality rates are a product of significant problems in the basic needs for life – medical care and especially maternal health, money, public health, transportation.

Infant Mortality Rates in Detroit, 1975, Compared to Foreign Countries. Source: Bunge and Bordessa, Wealthy suburbs Middle income inner. Low income core.

Most often sets of indicators are used, frequently with factor analysis methods. /who-healthy-cities-indicators

Wellbeing Toronto Indices Web tool that measures wellbeing across Toronto neighbourhoods, allowing users to custom select, combine, and weight data, and see results instantly on a map. Based on work for the Strong Neighbourhoods Task Force, Wellbeing Toronto has the ability to measure and monitor well-being across all of the City’s 140 neighbourhoods. A research based indicator tool that provides a common fact base across both neighbourhoods, and over time. Consolidates a variety of City (and now community) operational metrics, socio-demographics and infrastructure service data (a “system-level” lens at addressing neighbourhood wellness).

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xx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx x xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxx x xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxx xxx xxxxx xxxxxx x xx xxxxxx x xx Neighborhood Social Status Quality of Life Low High Correlation of QOL and Socio-Economic Status, Trondheim X: Neighborhood Prevailing trend

The Economist’s Liveable Cities Ranking Rank world’s cities with 5 categories and 31 variables. Highest ten cities

The Economist’s Liveable Cities Ranking Rank world’s cities with 5 categories and 31 variables. Lowest ten cities

Alternate Views – A Response to Toronto’s Creative City Planning Framework

The Best Experience Gap (Compared to past experience) The Social Comparisons Gap (Compared to what others have) Short-term Expectations Gap (Compared to a given year) #1 Aspirations Achievement Gap Satisfaction With Life 61.7% 26.3% 25.3% 6.0% Each of the three gaps contributes to the overall Aspirations Achievements Gap in the proportions given. The Gap Theoretic Model

Melbourne, Australia The World’s Most Livable City