Are urbanized areas source of life satisfaction? Evidence from EU regions

Lenzi, Camilla; Perucca, Giovanni

doi:10.1111/pirs.12232

Cited by 54 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 83 publications

(132 reference statements)

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“…The quality of life in cities has improved considerably over the past decades, certainly in developed countries. But other problems persist: residents of large cities compared with small towns and rural areas experience more traffic congestion (Broersma and Van Dijk, 2008) and pollution (Burgalassi and Luzzati, 2015), are more exposed to infectious diseases (Alirol et al, 2011), suffer greater social isolation (Scharf and DeJong Gierveld, 2008), and, especially in Western Europe and North America, report lower levels of subjective wellbeing, despite greater material wealth (Berry and Okulicz-Kozaryn, 2011;Lenzi and Perucca, 2018).…”

Section: Examining Urban Promisesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why bright city lights dazzle and illuminate: A cognitive science approach to urban promises

et al. 2018

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Despite the many uncertainties of life in cities, promises of economic prosperity, social mobility and happiness have fuelled the imagination of generations of urban migrants in search of a better life. Access to jobs, housing and amenities, and fewer restrictions of personal choices are some of the perceived advantages of cities, characterised here as 'urban promises'. But while discourses celebrating the triumph of cities became increasingly common, urban rewards are not available everywhere and for everyone. Alongside opportunity, cities offer inequality, conflict and poor living conditions. Their narrative of promise has been persistent across different times and places, but the outcomes and experiences of urban life compare poorly with the overoptimistic expectations of many newcomers. And yet, millions still come and stay regardless of odds, raising the question why we have such positive and persistent expectations about cities. To examine this question, this paper considers the process of urban migration from the perspective of decisionmaking under uncertainty. It discusses how decisions and evaluations are based on imperfect information and offers a novel contribution by examining how the cognitive biases and heuristics which restrict human rationality shape our responses to urban promises. This approach may allow a better understanding of how people make decisions regarding urban migration, how they perceive their urban experiences and evaluate their life stories. We consider the prospects and limitations of the behavioural approach and discuss how biases favouring narratives of bright urban futures can be exploited by 'triumphalist' accounts of cities which neglect their embedded injustices.

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Section: Examining Urban Promisesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why bright city lights dazzle and illuminate: A cognitive science approach to urban promises

et al. 2018

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“…Second, population decline usually inspires fear in policy‐makers because it is considered to be associated with negative consequences. However, by using a survey, Lenzi and Perucca () found that inhabitants living in less populated cities within a metropolitan area reported to be more satisfied with life, which is contingent on the amenities they can accede. Furthermore, Hollander and Németh () and Pallagst et al () have identified some of the potential benefits of city shrinkage such as the possibility of having greener cities.…”

Section: Quality Of Life In Citiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing the quality of life of cities that gained and lost population: An assessment with DEA and the Malmquist index

Amado

Barreira

Santos

et al. 2019

Papers in Regional Science

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This study compares the quality of life (QoL) of cities that lost population with that of cities that gained population. A unique dataset composed of observations for 11 dimensions of QoL for all mainland Portuguese cities is used. By employing a non‐parametric approach (data envelopment analysis), and by using a Malmquist‐type index, this study identifies differences in QoL between the group of cities that lost population and the group of cities that gained population, as well as differences within each group. Despite the heterogeneity in cities that shrunk, this group presents, on average, higher QoL than cities that have grown.

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“…Duranton and Puga 2004), the relative strength of agglomerative forces is still not fully understood. More specifically, there seems to be room to seek for more broadly defined dependent variables in agglomeration economy regressions (this is the case of the recent wave of studies on urban wellbeing and quality of life; see Lenzi and Perucca 2016, for a recent review) and independent variables (i.e. how to measure sources of urban efficiency).…”

Section: On Urban Hierarchy and Central Place Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

A Research Programme on Urban Dynamics

Camagni

Capello

Caragliu

2019

Research for Development

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Over the last three decades, the research group on regional and urban economics at the Politecnico di Milano has carried out studies on theoretical and empirical issues concerning the structure, competitiveness and growth of cities. A broad critical synthesis of this line of research is presented in Camagni et al. (Urban Empire, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2019). In what follows, we focus on two crucial issues that the group has tackled, i.e. optimal city size theory and the empirics of central place theory. Although other issues, like self-organization dynamic models and the concept of city networks, have been elaborated by the group, they are not discussed in this paper.

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Are urbanized areas source of life satisfaction? Evidence from EU regions

Cited by 54 publications

References 83 publications

Why bright city lights dazzle and illuminate: A cognitive science approach to urban promises

Why bright city lights dazzle and illuminate: A cognitive science approach to urban promises

Comparing the quality of life of cities that gained and lost population: An assessment with DEA and the Malmquist index

A Research Programme on Urban Dynamics

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