Exploring the Promotion Path of Urban Reading from the Perspective of Urban Cultural Soft Power

As a form of urban culture, urban reading plays an important role in the improvement of the citizens’ quality, urban quality, and urban spirit. In the new era, there are imbalances in the supply and demand, content construction, regional structure, and ecological structure of urban reading. It is necessary to analyze and grasp its development trend, optimize the development path of urban reading, and promote the improvement of urban cultural soft power.

Real Estate Values and Urban Quality: A Multiple Linear Regression Model for Defining an Urban Quality Index

Urban quality, real estate values and property taxation are different factors that participate in defining how a city is governed. Real estate values are largely determined by the characteristics of urban environments in which properties are located and, thus, by quality of the location. Beginning with these considerations, this paper explores the theme of urban quality through a study of property values that seeks to define all physical (and thus measurable) characteristics that participate in defining urban quality. For this purpose, a multiple linear regression model was developed for reading the residential real estate market in the city of Pescara (Italy). In addition to the intrinsic characteristics of a property (floor area, period of construction/renovation, level, building typology and presence of a garage), input also included extrinsic data represented by the Urban Quality Index. Scientific literature on this theme tells us that many independent variables influence real estate prices, although all are linked to a set of intrinsic characteristics (property-specific) and to a set of extrinsic characteristics (specific to the urban context in which the property is located) and, thus, to the quality of urban environments. The index developed was produced by the analytical and simultaneous reading of four macrosystems with the greatest impact on urban quality: environment, infrastructure, settlement and services (each with its own subsystems). The results obtained made it possible to redefine proportional ratios between various parts of the city of Pescara, based on a specific Urban Quality Index, and to recalculate market property values used to calculate taxes in an attempt to resolve the inequality that persists in this field.

Intervention follows diagnosis: analysis' impact on open space regeneration in mass housing estates

Diagnosis and design are part of the same process. This statement is particularly true for urban regeneration efforts, in which the way that complex obsolescence processes are understood implies a particular design method. In the specific case of the regeneration of mass housing estates, most experiences are approached from the building perspective. Even though open spaces are central to ensuring a high degree of urban quality, urban regeneration projects often fail to recognise the problems and opportunities relating to their layout. The aim of this paper is to discuss the relevance of incorporating pertinent open space diagnoses into integrated urban regeneration efforts in mass housing estates. To this end, the paper explores in depth three different experiences of urban regeneration in Spain.

The Analysis of Research Hotspots in the Field of Urban Quality

Urban areas are subject to continuous spatial and structural changes [...]

Assessing Urban Quality of Life: Developing the Criteria for Saudi Cities

Urban quality of life (QOL) is a complex and multidimensional concept. A wide range of urban QOL assessment tools has been developed worldwide to measure and monitor the quality of urban life taking into account the particular conditions of cities/regions and the needs of their residents. This study aims to develop an urban QOL assessment tool appropriate for the context of Saudi Arabia (SA). For this purpose, this study developed and used a structured approach that consists of an in-depth analysis of 21 urban QOL assessment tools in use worldwide, combined with focus group analysis and feedback from a panel of experts. The results revealed that there is a lack of consensus among the existing tools regarding the usage of QOL indicators and domains, and that the majority of the tools demonstrate a lack of proper coverage of QOL subdomains. The results also show wide variations in the number of indicators used and that most of the examined tools are using objective measurable indicators. This study has identified 67 indicators distributed across 13 domains that constitute the core criteria of the proposed QOL assessment tool. The selected indicators and domains cover all the attributes of urban QOL and are evaluated by experts as important criteria to assess/measure QOL. Moreover, the results demonstrate the advantage of the developed framework and comprehensive list of criteria (CLC) as a structured and efficient approach to design better QOL assessment tools.

A Geographic Visualization Approach to Multi-Criteria Evaluation of Urban Quality of Life

This paper proposes to use principles of geographic visualization in conjunction with multi‐criteria evaluation methods to support expert‐level spatial decision‐making. Interactive maps can be combined with analytical tools to explore various settings of multi‐criteria evaluation parameters that define different decision‐making strategies. In a case study, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used to calculate composite measures of urban quality of life (QoL) for neighbourhoods in Toronto. The AHP allows for an interactive exploration of decision‐making strategies, while offering a view on spatial patterns in the evaluation results. In particular, an interactive blending between a classical and a contemporary QoL model is supported. This feature is used in a pilot study to assess the usefulness of geographic visualization in urban QoL evaluation. Three user interviews provide positive feedback on the utility and usability of the tool that was operated by the investigator.